Can Kansas Men, South Carolina Women Do It Again?
The college basketball season is upon us. The opening night schedule on the men's side has 20 of the 25 ranked teams favored by at least 20 points. Defending men’s champion Kansas lost most of its top players. South Carolina is favored to win the women's title.
North Carolina is the favorite to win the national championship. Kentucky and Gonzaga are also favorites. The Las Vegas odds list forward Armando Bacot as the front-runner for the player of the year award.
Kansas and South Carolina won the national championship in 2010.
Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark will return to the Houston Cougars for the 2021-22 season. Jarace Walker will join them. The Cougar team is +1000 in the odds to win the national title.
Kansas is the defending champions. Four of the top five scorers from the previous team are gone. Jalen Wilson and Dajuan Harris Jr. returned. Kevin McCullar will be a new addition to the team. Kansas is favored by 34½ points in Monday's season opener against Nebraska Omaha.
Arkansas landed No. 3 recruit Nick Smith, No 11 recruit Jordan Walsh and No 15 Anthony Black. Six of the top 15 incoming freshmen landed at either Arkansas or Duke. Arkansas is priced at +1000 in the odds to win the program’s first national title since 1994. Duke checks in at -1600 in its first season with Jon Scheyer at the helm following the retirement of Mike Krzyzewski.
Aliyah Boston is the best player in the country. Destanni Henderson is coming off a solid season with the WNBA’s Indiana Fever. Zia Cooke, Laeticia Amihere, Brea Beal and Victaria Saxton combined for 31.7 points per game last season. Raven Johnson missed the entire season, Saniya Rivers and Sania Feagan combined to score 119 points. South Carolina signed three of the top four players in their class.
Stanford has the second-best odds to win the title this season. They are priced at +450 to do so.
Caitlin Clark was the leading scorer in the country last season. Iowa lost in second round of NCAA Tournament to Creighton. Six of the seven players who averaged more than 10 minutes per game return for the Hawkeyes this season, the only one leaving is Tomi Taiwo, who transferred to TCU.
Tennessee is ahead of UConn and Texas in the national championship odds per the college basketball betting lines. Uconn is sixth in odds to win the championship. Tennessee brings back leading scorer Jordan Horston and Tamari Key. Texas saw Aliyah Matharu transfer to Florida and Audrey Warren land at Georgia.
