The 2023 Men’s Basketball National Tournament has seen its share of upsets and has a Final Four that nearly no one correctly predicted. Here’s a look at the improbable Final Four and how much a parlay on the correct four teams would have paid out.
What Happened: The 2023 Men’s Basketball National Tournament was expected to have $15.5 billion in wagers made from 68 million Americans.
The tournament has seen huge upsets, including a 16-seed winning for only the second time ever since the field expanded in 1985.
A 15-seed also advanced to the Sweet 16 for only the fourth time since the field expanded.
While the first and second-round upsets were among the largest ever, the remaining four teams that make up the Final Four break history for the tournament.
The teams left in the tournament are 4-seed Connecticut, 5-seed Miami, 5-seed San Diego State and 9-seed Florida Atlantic.
Here’s a look at the payouts of each team to reach the Final Four prior to the start of the tournament, according to John Ewing, who works on data and PR for BetMGM, a joint venture from Entain and MGM Resorts International MGM.
- Connecticut: +500
- San Diego State: +875
- Miami: +2000
- Florida Atlantic: +3500
Betting $100 on a parlay of all four Final Four teams would have paid out $4.4 million according to Ewing.
Sports reporter Darren Rovell reported two people bet on a Final Four parlay of Connecticut, Miami, San Diego State and Florida Atlantic with DraftKings Inc DKNG, though it is unknown when they placed the bets. A $25 bet on the four teams paid out $26,853.75 according to Rovell.
The 2023 NCAA Tournament makes history with this year’s Final Four which does not include a 1, 2 or 3 seed for the first time since the field expanded in 1985. This year also marks only the fourth time since 1985 that a 1-seed has not made it to the Final Four.
The total of the seeds left in the NCAA Tournament is 23, which is unusually high with no 1-seeds or 2-seeds left. Ewing reports that the tournament is not the highest total for the Final Four seeds. That honor belongs to the 2011 tournament, which totaled 26 from 3-seed Connecticut, 4-seed Kentucky, 8-seed Butler and 11-seed VCU.
Related Link: March Madness Perfect Bracket Odds
What’s Next: The semifinal Final Four matchups and NCAA Championship game will air on CBS, a unit of Paramount Global PARAPARAA, on April 1 and April 3, respectively.
Strong viewership from the games in 2023 could be good news for Paramount and also for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc WBD, which shared rights up until the Final Four.
A large number of upsets has been good news for sportsbooks and could show in quarterly financial results when the companies report.
Connecticut is the only remaining team from the top 12 most-bet teams to win the championship at BetMGM. If Connecticut doesn’t win the tournament, sportsbooks could see one of their most profitable futures market for the tournament in modern history, according to Action Network.
The current odds to win the NCAA Men’s Tournament National Championship at DraftKings are:
- Connecticut: -125
- San Diego State: +370
- Miami: +475
- Florida Atlantic: +650
One of the biggest liabilities at sportsbooks according to Action Network is Florida Atlantic with Caesars Entertainment Inc CZR. A bettor placed three $100 bets on FAU to win the tournament at odds of 2,500-to-one and later placed another bet at 500-to-1. If FAU wins the tournament, the bettor would get $800,000.
In the Tournament Challenge hosted by ESPN, more than 20 million brackets were filled out with only 37 correctly predicting the Final Four. The current leader has 1,020 points out of 1,280 but selected Houston to win the tournament. Several people in the top 10 picked Connecticut, San Diego State or Miami to win.
The brackets of Joe Biden and Barack Obama didn't fare as well in 2023, with no Final Four teams correctly picked by either and Biden getting two Elite Eight teams right to Obama's one correctly picked.
Read Next: Think Last-Second Shots Don't Matter In Basketball? The Cost Is Millions Of Dollars For Bettors
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