Louisville Cardinals vs. Oregon Ducks Odds Preview: NCAA Tournament Prediction

There are always plenty of cheerleaders for underdogs in March Madness, making Oregon a popular bet as a No. 12 seed against top-seeded Louisville Friday.

But fans with Louisville in their office pool and some sportsbook managers with big, long-shot bets on the Ducks are cheering against Oregon.

Oddsmakers have the Ducks lined up as 10-point underdogs for the Midwest Regional semifinal at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis (7:15 pm ET, CBS). And one book, which had Oregon as 300/1 odds to win the national title, will be cheering for Louisville to win and cover its 10th straight point spread.

Kevin Bradley of Bovada.lv commented on the game, saying, "That $100 wager at 300/1 odds is enough to turn us into Louisville fans."

The Cardinals reached this point in the season by going 12-1 in non-conference play earlier this year, then claimed a share of the Big East regular-season title by going 14-4 in league play before finally winning the Big East Conference tournament.

As the top seed in the Midwest, they opened this NCAA tournament with easy victories over North Carolina A&T and Colorado State. So the Cardinals are playing in the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in the last nine seasons.

And they have dominated the betting at this stage of the bracket, going 6-0 against the spread the past six trips to the Sweet 16. And they are 6-0-1 ATS in their past seven tournament games overall.

On the underdog side of this matchup, Oregon went 11-2 during non-conference play earlier this season, then went 12-6 in the Pac-12 to finish in a tie for second place. But the Ducks floundered a bit down the stretch, going 5-6 over their last 11 regular-season games.

However, Oregon recovered to win three games in three days in taking the Pac-12 conference tournament title and proved the selection committee rated them too low at No. 12.

Perhaps in response to its perceived slight, Oregon opened the Big Dance with a 68-55 upset of Oklahoma State last Thursday, then pulled another surprise by beating Saint Louis Saturday, 74-57.   

On the season, Louisville is 12-5 straight up and 11-6 ATS against teams that eventually qualified for the NCAA tournament.

Oregon, including its two victories last week, is 6-5 both SU and ATS versus tournament teams this season.  

Louisville played its first two tournament games last week in Lexington, about an hour-and-a-half from home. Now the Cardinals are playing in Indianapolis, less than a two-hour drive from home.

Oregon, on the other hand, played its two tournament games last week in San Jose but is now playing 2,300 miles and two time zones from home.

The OddsShark.com computer has predicted an 83-75 win for Louisville.

As of Wednesday morning, Bovada had Louisville at 10/13 to win the Midwest Regional and  3/1 odds to win the NCAA tournament, while Oregon was getting 10/1 to win the Midwest and 40/1 to win the tournament.