Sportsbook offers unique March Madness bet: Purdue and UConn vs. everybody
To be the best, you have got to beat the best.
That’s often the name of the game in the NCAA Tournament, and one Las Vegas sportsbook recently created a fascinating betting market involving two of the best college basketball teams in the country.
Circa Sports is pitting Purdue and UConn against the world.
"We looked at the landscape of college basketball, and it’s top-heavy to a select number of teams with UConn, Purdue and Houston," Circa Sports’ director of operations Jeff Benson told FOX Sports. "We thought [Purdue and UConn vs. The Field] made for a fun prop that would get good two-way."
Benson’s crew opened the two powers as +270 underdogs to cut down the nets in Phoenix, with the field favored at -330.
As of Thursday, The Field was -275 with Purdue/UConn at +220.
"Being able to hang the ‘no’ side is something we love," Benson admitted. "It’s gotten a lot of good action so far and people have plenty of opinions on Purdue’s early exits in recent years. It’s a pretty straightforward prop, though. You take the title odds for both teams, convert those into implied probabilities and come up with a fair price. And we’re taking up to $5,000 on it.
"We’ll keep it up throughout the tournament and continue to adjust the price presuming both teams are still alive."
I think it’s fair to say most people will advance UConn into the Final Four of their brackets, especially after last year’s dominant run to a national title. The Huskies have an abundance of size and talent and will be a very tough out.
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Then there’s Purdue.
The narrative is that the Boilermakers always choke in March. I don’t necessarily think what Purdue did in 2018 or 2021 has anything to do with what this year’s Purdue team does, but the elephant in the room is obvious: Purdue lost to Fairleigh Dickinson last year, a No. 16 over a No. 1.
"Purdue has a veteran team with Zach Edey, the likely Player of the Year," Benson countered. "Obviously, Purdue has had some first-round flameouts and hasn’t done particularly well in the tournament under Matt Painter, but they’re a great team this year, and they’ll be big favorites in a lot of their games."
There’s a lot to like about both of those surefire No. 1 seeds this year, but gee, it feels like maybe 15 teams could win a national championship.
I would much rather have the stable of Alabama, Arizona, Auburn, Baylor, BYU, Colorado, Creighton, Dayton, Duke, Florida Atlantic, Florida, Gonzaga, Houston, Illinois, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Marquette, New Mexico, North Carolina, San Diego State, St. Mary’s, TCU, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.
If a giant slayer comes out of nowhere, you get it, too.
"I’ll be looking to lay the field at a cheaper price," one professional bettor told FOX Sports from Las Vegas. "Last year, all the talk was Alabama this and Houston that, and neither one made it to the Final Four. You could make a case for the field being a strong bet under three dollars.
"I like Purdue and UConn, but neither one is invincible."
At the end of the day, the betting math makes this baby go. And while some people want no business laying -270 on a prop, all it takes is two early fouls on Edey and UConn’s offense to have one cold night to ruin the party for people holding +220.
I love this racket.
Now don’t mind me, I’ll be over here rooting for Kentucky.
Sam Panayotovich is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and NESN. He previously worked for WGN Radio, NBC Sports and VSiN. He'll probably pick against your favorite team. Follow him on Twitter @spshoot.
