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At the end of a rambunctious first week, there’s still a chalk favorite entire half of the bracket remaining, as well as some familiar faces elsewhere — looking at you, Duke and Villanova.
The undisputed winner of the weekend has to be Kentucky, though. This 5-seed went into the tourney on a 7-1 tear, ripped through the SEC Championship, and has seen the 1, 2, 3, and 6 seeds evaporate from its region. The other beneficiary, on paper at least, has been Duke. Though I’m still not sure why. Kansas is a weak No. 1, but Clemson is a really tough out.
There are a couple of regional dark horses to keep an eye out for, notably FSU: The long, athletic, uptempo ‘Noles are destroying people. The nation’s No. 8 offense (Nevada) may be worth keeping your eye on too. I’d like Clemson (8/1) a lot better if they weren’t in the same region as Duke and Kansas.
From Bovada:
2018 NCAA Championship - Odds to Win
Duke 13/4
Villanova 9/2
Gonzaga 7/1
Kentucky 7/1
Michigan 8/1
Kansas 17/2
Purdue 16/1
West Virginia 16/1
Texas Tech 22/1
Clemson 25/1
Nevada 25/1
Texas A&M 25/1
Kansas State 28/1
Florida State 40/1
Loyola Chicago 50/1
Syracuse 66/1
Regional Odds
Odds to win the Midwest Region
Duke 2/3
Kansas 2/1
Clemson 8/1
Syracuse 18/1
Odds to win the West Region
Gonzaga 7/5
Michigan 7/4
Texas A&M 4/1
Florida State 8/1
Odds to win the South Region
Kentucky 5/6
Nevada 7/2
Kansas State 9/2
Loyola Chicago 11/2
Odds to Win the East Region
Villanova 1/1
West Virginia 15/4
Purdue 4/1
Texas Tech 9/2
Sweet 16 Lines
Loyola Chicago +2½
Nevada -2½
Texas A&M +3
Michigan -3
Kansas State +6
Kentucky -6
Florida State +5½
Gonzaga -5½
Clemson +4
Kansas -4
West Virginia +5½
Villanova -5½
Syracuse +11½
Duke -11½
Texas Tech +1½
Purdue -1½