Sportsbook offers college basketball bet: UConn and Purdue or field?

For the non-believers in No. 1 UConn and No. 3 Purdue, fading these elite college basketball programs has become much interesting.

Circa Sportsbook, an increasingly influential Vegas-based, pro-focused sportsbook willing to take action from anyone, is offering +260 on Purdue or Connecticut to win the NCAA Tournament.

The opportunity to bet on the other 66 teams — the field — has -330 odds, a rare opportunity to bet no on a futures bet.

But that’s the kind of thing that sets Circa apart from the rest — their willingness to offer “no” on a market like this gives bettors the true price.

This is to say if the price for “yes” is too low, the price for “no” would show value and get steamed by pros with big bankrolls.

It would appear that some of the Vegas pros did lay some money down on no, as the line moved ever so slightly, currently sitting at +270/-340.

The odds are actually quite good on this prop, as the theoretical hold comes in at just 2.14 percent. The sharp sportsbook has the Boilermakers at +700 to win it all, while UConn comes in at +500.

Fading UConn is not something that bettors did early in the college basketball season, as the Huskies and Dan Hurley’s group has garnered the most money to win the college basketball national championship (15.3 percent) at fellow casino, BetMGM Sportsbook.

Meanwhile, Purdue is fourth on that list with 10.5 percent of the handle.

Getting a 1-seed will increase both teams’ chances of winning the tournament, as 63 percent of champions were top dogs in their respective regions.

The Huskies are coming off a surprising blowout loss to the Creighton BlueJays on Tuesday.

The Huskies burned bettors despite having won 14 games coming into that one, and head coach Dan Hurley lashed out after the game.

We will see if UConn burns the public again when March Madness rolls around.