Iowa vs. Colorado Sweet 16 odds, best bets

It’s no secret that women’s college basketball has exploded in growth over the past few years, and perhaps nothing demonstrates its popularity more than sportsbooks’ reaction to this season.

DraftKings is now listing odds for every game in the NCAA Women’s March Madness Tournament, and FanDuel is adding four different tabs to its Women’s College Basketball menu.

• NCAAW Games: Odds for each tournament game
• Props to star players: Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo and Sonia Citron, NC State’s Asiaha James, UW’s Paige Bakkers, Indiana’s Mackenzie Holmes, USC’s JuJu Watkins, and more. bet on
• NCAAW Futures: Regional and National Champions

The fourth tab is a big reason why the first three were added to FanDuel’s overall menu this season. The title is simply “Caitlin Clark.”

There’s no better player, male or female, than Iowa’s sharp-shooting triple-double threat, and sportsbooks appear to be capitalizing on her growing popularity.

In the lead-up to Iowa’s Sweet 16 game against Colorado, which will be aired on national television on Saturday (yes, the network is also opportunistic, as it will be broadcast live on ABC), FanDuel has created seven separate props just for Clark. listed, along with five more tournament specials for the Iowa guard.

If that’s not enough, you can bet on her already in her first season in the WNBA, even though she hasn’t been drafted yet. There’s very little drama about the dolphins).

Leave it to Fever for Clark and her first season. She will be working on one of her props Saturday afternoon against Colorado.

Caitlin Clark prop vs. Colorado

Caitlin Clark 32.5 points or more (-112)

Saturday’s game will be a rematch of a year ago in the Sweet 16, when the Hawkeyes defeated the Buffs by 10 points to advance to the national title game.

Clark scored 31 points and added eight assists in the game, helped by Kate Martin, McKenna Warnock and Monica Zinano all scoring in double figures in an 87-77 win at Iowa.

Even with the departure of Warnock and Zinano, Clarke continues to receive contributions from his team-mates. But it seems like every night is a different combo.

In tournament play (three in the Big Ten, two in the NCAA), Clark averaged 29.0 points per game, with six teammates scoring in double figures at least once.

Only one Colorado player was on the team that beat Iowa during Clark’s tenure. That’s guard Maddie Nolan, who was part of the 2022 Michigan team that defeated the Hawkeyes by eight points.

Michigan went into that game focused on shutting down Clark’s teammates and letting the dynamic guard take what was his. Clark made 29 shots and scored 46 points, a career high at the time. None of her teammates scored more than her 13 points.

Colorado coach J.R. Payne was asked during his Sweet 16 press conference earlier this week if that was a tactic that could be used against Clark and Iowa on Saturday.

“That’s definitely something that our staff will have to analyze and discuss and probably not share with everyone,” Payne said.

No doubt Payne will have already watched the Michigan-Iowa game and what West Virginia did to the Hawkeyes in the Round of 32. The Mountaineers held Iowa to 64 points, their second lowest score in more than two years.

While Clark scored exactly half the points, his teammates struggled against WVU’s physically pressurized defense, going 0-of-17 from beyond the arc, especially from long range.

This type of defensive plan will give Michigan a win in 2022, and last week’s matchup between the Hawkeyes and Mountaineers was much more competitive than expected (Iowa was a 15.5-point favorite).

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In hopes of pulling off an upset, Colorado will employ similar defensive tactics on Saturday, with Clark expected to once again score the majority of the team’s points.

Her point prop (32.5) over seems quite possible. I also find it rewarding to see her predictions for people over 40.