March Madness Betting: North Carolina Leads East Odds over WVU, Kentucky

The top-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels (28-6) have one of the toughest roads to get to the Final Four this year, but that has not kept them from being set as heavy favorites on the odds to win the East Region at +160 (bet $100 to win $160) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

The Tar Heels won the ACC’s regular-season and tournament championships, which earned them status as the No. 1 seed in the East section of the NCAA tournament bracket. However, the East’s top seed has not made it to the Final Four since 2008.

There is not really another elite team in the East to challenge North Carolina, but there are a lot of solid squads capable of pulling off upsets to get to the Final Four. The second-seeded Xavier Musketeers (27-5) are +500, which is the fourth-lowest price on the betting board.

The Musketeers were the second-best team in the Big East this season behind the Villanova Wildcats, who are the No. 2 seed in the South. The Big 12’s West Virginia Mountaineers (26-8) have the second-lowest price in the East behind the Tar Heels at +375 as the No. 3 seed.

The fourth-seeded Kentucky Wildcats (26-8) might have the most value in the East at +450 compared to years past when they had a lot more depth and talent. But some of the Wildcats still have enough NCAA tournament experience to make them dangerous after advancing to the Final Four the last two years under head coach John Calipari.

Kentucky point guard Tyler Ulis and shooting guard Jamal Murray might comprise the most talented backcourt in the country, which makes the SEC champs a serious threat to North Carolina in a potential Sweet 16 matchup if both schools get that far as expected.

Other sleepers in the East for March Madness include the fifth-seeded Indiana Hoosiers (25-7) at +800, the sixth-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish (21-11) at +1200 and the seventh-seeded Wisconsin Badgers (20-12) at +1200.

The Hoosiers won the Big Ten regular-season title, while the Fighting Irish and Badgers both fared well in the 2015 NCAA tournament after winning the ACC and Big Ten tournaments, respectively.

Notre Dame made it to the Elite Eight last year before losing to Kentucky, and Wisconsin lost in the national championship game to the Duke Blue Devils after topping UK in the Final Four.