The field for the 2025 NCAA Tournament will be set for Sunday evening, but bettors may want to scoop up some futures tickets to beat the rush before the bracket is complete.
Betting a perfect winner before watching the draw is a bit of a risky game, but there are potential benefits to scooping up some long shots before the Selection Sunday broadcast airs.
For one, if you think that a long shot has the potential to be a sleeper, there are probably many other people who feel the same way. Some of them may even be on the Selection Sunday broadcast.
As soon as words come up about sleepers, the numbers decrease and the value is lost.
Another reason to bet on the team before the brackets are released is that they may be lucky in their draw or wind up with a higher seed than expected.
The obvious drawback is that it is the opposite, which is why it is called gambling.
This year's tournament looks great, but the general consensus is that things get tight after Duke (with the Cooper Flag fighting the Sprain left ankle), Auburn, Houston and Florida.
If you see some heavyweights down, there are many teams that can run to the final four.
I highlighted my three favorite long shots based on their prices:
Texas Institute of Technology (40/1, Caesar)
The Red Raiders placed second in the Big 12, earning many impressive vibe victories and are the team in the No. 7 rankings for Kenpom.
It's hard to peer through the hole in the Red Raiders' statistical profile, but the mid-length stretch to close the regular season makes it fly a bit under the radar, even though it's predicted to be the second seed in the tournament. This good thing to get 40/1 on a team feels like a gift.
There are several reasons why Gonzaga is flying under the radar right now. For one, college basketball fans are used to the bulldogs who are disappointed in tournaments.
Zags have never won anything big despite their favours doing so several times.
What's more, this year's story around Gonzaga was that the team's iterations didn't reach the same level as the recent roster of a few marks.
It may be, but they are still pretty good – and the numbers say the Bulldogs are underrated. Gonzaga ranks 341st in the country by Kenpom's luck rating.
Gonzaga is predicted to be seventh in the tournament, but is ranked as the seventh team, according to the ninth team per Kenpom and Baatlvik model.
Gonzaga is a sleeping giant.
Do you bet on college basketball?
Wisconsin (1st 65, DraftKings)
Badgers have a similar profile to Gonzaga.
They are strong on both ends of the court, but there is no green friction. Wisconsin sits at 272nd in each Kenpom luck rating, so these badgers may have a much higher ceiling than the records show.
The Badgers, who advanced to the Big Ten Tournament Finals, graded out as the 11th best team in Kenpom's models, ranked 13th overall by Barttorvik, but ranked 18th in the Big Ten Tournament.
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Michael Lubov is a patient and abundant islander fan, but is a long-time for-profit sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters acquire a pool of brackets, find long shots, and learn how to win the market in mainstream and niche sports.
