by Vegas Writer
Thursday, Mar 21, 2024Quick, without using Google, name five men's college basketball players off the top of your head.
Now name five women.
Something tells me you've seen names like Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink, JuJu Watkins, Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese regularly more than you have any other college basketball names.
And don't think for a moment bettors haven't taken an interest, particularly with Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes, any prop they can find on the WNBA-bound sharpshooter - once the NCAA Women's basketball tournament is over - and futures on who will win what might be the most popular season in history.
"We've had bettors coming into our property asking for lines on women's games all season," said one manager of an off-Strip property. "The interest in women's basketball, especially in this town with the rise of the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA and the UNLV Lady Rebels, has been tremendous."
Thus, I'm here to tell you that South Carolina, LSU and Iowa aside, there's good reason to invest in the overall best conference in women's basketball: the Pac-12.
The league had its final conference tournament at the MGM Grand Garden, and now rests its hopes on one of seven teams to send the conference out in style, with a national championship before it's disbanded forever.
No. 1 USC, No. 2 Stanford and No. 2 UCLA gives the league three teams seeded one or two, which is a Pac-12-era record.
The Pac-12 leads all conferences with six ranked teams, including three in the top six of the latest Associated Press Top-25 poll: No. 3 USC, No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 UCLA, No. 12 Oregon State, No. 17 Colorado and No. 21 Utah.
So which team can win it all?
It's hard to argue against Stanford and Tara VanDerveer, the all-time winningest coach in college basketball history. The Cardinal has the talent with Cameron Brink, Kiki Iriafen and Hannah Jump. You give me a team like this 15-1 odds, and I'm going to be holding a ticket with hopes I can get it in the Final Four and hedge back.
Then there's USC at 40-1, which is ludicrous, considering this is a Top 5 team, a No. 1 seed, and is bolstered by arguably the best overall player in the game. Clark can fire at free will, and Brink is a defensive power, but Watkins is the future. And after seeing what she did in the Pac-12 Tournament (outside of the title game), she will be on a mission here. When she did have an off game, in the Pac-12 championship, a group of grad-transfers and upperclasswomen who have been there led the way. Coach Lindsay Gottlieb has the coaching smarts to get this team to the final weekend, and with a 40-1 ticket, I'm a buyer.
I also wouldn't mind holding a ticket with UCLA at 40-1. The Bruins' seeding and final ranking before the tournament would have been higher had they not lost to the Trojans in the semifinals. They're still dangerous, with Lauren Betts, Charisma Osborne and Kiki Rice. Coach Cori Close is an adjustment wizard and can get her girls to compete against any team in the nation.
Take your pick among the other Pac-12 teams if you want longer odds: Oregon State (100-1), Utah (150-1), Colorado (250-1), Arizona (2000-1).
Fact is, you'll have nothing but value in your hand with a futures ticket on Stanford, USC or UCLA - any of which can win the whole thing - and legitimate longshots with any of the other five, all of which give you presentable opportunities to hedge at some point.
By the way, I'm betting you still haven't come up with five men's college basketball names.
Now name five women.
Something tells me you've seen names like Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink, JuJu Watkins, Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese regularly more than you have any other college basketball names.
And don't think for a moment bettors haven't taken an interest, particularly with Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes, any prop they can find on the WNBA-bound sharpshooter - once the NCAA Women's basketball tournament is over - and futures on who will win what might be the most popular season in history.
"We've had bettors coming into our property asking for lines on women's games all season," said one manager of an off-Strip property. "The interest in women's basketball, especially in this town with the rise of the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA and the UNLV Lady Rebels, has been tremendous."
Thus, I'm here to tell you that South Carolina, LSU and Iowa aside, there's good reason to invest in the overall best conference in women's basketball: the Pac-12.
The league had its final conference tournament at the MGM Grand Garden, and now rests its hopes on one of seven teams to send the conference out in style, with a national championship before it's disbanded forever.
No. 1 USC, No. 2 Stanford and No. 2 UCLA gives the league three teams seeded one or two, which is a Pac-12-era record.
The Pac-12 leads all conferences with six ranked teams, including three in the top six of the latest Associated Press Top-25 poll: No. 3 USC, No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 UCLA, No. 12 Oregon State, No. 17 Colorado and No. 21 Utah.
So which team can win it all?
It's hard to argue against Stanford and Tara VanDerveer, the all-time winningest coach in college basketball history. The Cardinal has the talent with Cameron Brink, Kiki Iriafen and Hannah Jump. You give me a team like this 15-1 odds, and I'm going to be holding a ticket with hopes I can get it in the Final Four and hedge back.
Then there's USC at 40-1, which is ludicrous, considering this is a Top 5 team, a No. 1 seed, and is bolstered by arguably the best overall player in the game. Clark can fire at free will, and Brink is a defensive power, but Watkins is the future. And after seeing what she did in the Pac-12 Tournament (outside of the title game), she will be on a mission here. When she did have an off game, in the Pac-12 championship, a group of grad-transfers and upperclasswomen who have been there led the way. Coach Lindsay Gottlieb has the coaching smarts to get this team to the final weekend, and with a 40-1 ticket, I'm a buyer.
I also wouldn't mind holding a ticket with UCLA at 40-1. The Bruins' seeding and final ranking before the tournament would have been higher had they not lost to the Trojans in the semifinals. They're still dangerous, with Lauren Betts, Charisma Osborne and Kiki Rice. Coach Cori Close is an adjustment wizard and can get her girls to compete against any team in the nation.
Take your pick among the other Pac-12 teams if you want longer odds: Oregon State (100-1), Utah (150-1), Colorado (250-1), Arizona (2000-1).
Fact is, you'll have nothing but value in your hand with a futures ticket on Stanford, USC or UCLA - any of which can win the whole thing - and legitimate longshots with any of the other five, all of which give you presentable opportunities to hedge at some point.
By the way, I'm betting you still haven't come up with five men's college basketball names.
