Since we’re living in an entirely new landscape of college sports with NIL and transfers, sportsbooks have a really tough job of accurately pricing futures markets. College basketball might be the toughest of the bunch, as 364 teams are competing for the 2024-2025 championship. After one week of play, BetMGM moved two programs’ odds in substantial ways: the Gonzaga Bulldogs and Auburn Tigers.
Gonzaga ranks 4th on KenPom’s rankings and boasts the No. 1 adjusted offensive efficiency rating there. The Bulldogs embarrassed Baylor 101-63 in their season opener and followed that up with an 88-80 win over Arizona State on Sunday. Veteran point guard Ryan Nembhard is averaging 11.0 assists per game while Braden Huff (17.5 PPG), Khalif Battle (15.5 PPG), Nolan Hickman (13.0 PPG) and Graham Ike (12.0 PPG) have contributed to Mark Few’s balanced attack.
Only Kansas (+900), UConn (+900), Duke (+1000) and Alabama (+1000) have shorter odds to cut down the nets.
Auburn ranks 1st on KenPom’s rankings with the No. 2 adjusted offensive efficiency rating and No. 4 adjusted defensive efficiency rating. The Tigers crushed Vermont 94-43 in their season opener and then defeated Houston 74-69 on the road after their first plane had to be diverted due to a fight between teammates. They have Wooden Award candidate Johni Broome (16.0 PPG, 8.0 RPG) as their leader and added some impact transfers and freshmen to instantly contribute for Bruce Pearl.
The Tigers are tied with Houston for the 6th-shortest odds to win the championship.
This is just the beginning of what’s going to be a long, dramatic season, but BetMGM clearly felt like these two teams were mispriced after seeing what they could do last week.
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