2024 NCAA Tournament odds: Gonzaga Bulldogs listed at +3000 to win national championship

Bulldogs are not among the favorites to cut down the nets in April according to major sportsbooks

For what it's worth, there isn't an overwhelming favorite to win the 2024 national championship.

In fact, there are three teams that are tied for the shortest odds to win the NCAA Tournament — Kansas, Purdue and Duke — though none have shorter than +1000 odds. The rest of the top 10 teams in the preseason AP Top 25 poll — Michigan State, Marquette, UConn, Houston, Creighton, Tennessee and Florida Atlantic — are all listed at +2000 odds or longer on different sportsbooks. Florida Atlantic has the worst odds of the top 10 teams at +6000 odds on two different sportsbooks despite bringing back most of the roster that advanced to the Final Four last season.

It is a wide-open field to start the season, which bodes well for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. The Zags are listed at +3000 odds to win their first national championship according to Bet MGM, which is tied for the eighth-shortest odds with UCLA, North Carolina, Creighton, Texas and Tennessee. Preseason No. 1 Kansas (+1000) has the shortest odds, followed by Duke (+1300), Purdue (+1400) Kentucky and Michigan State (both at +1600).

Along with the Blue Devils, Wildcats and Boilermakers, other title contenders on the schedule include USC (+4000) on Dec. 2 and reigning national champion UConn (+2000) on Dec. 15 in Seattle. There's also potential for matchups against Marquette (+2000) and Tennessee at the 2023 Maui Invitational.

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Here's a look at Gonzaga's championship odds across other sportsbooks:

Fanduel: +3000

Caesars Sportsbooks: +3000

PointsBet: +2500

DraftKings: +3500

The Zags have grown accustomed to being among the favorites to win the title for the past few seasons, though that won't be the case to start the 2023-24 season. The tamed expectations boil down to the abundance of newcomers and unknowns that make up the majority of the bench depth. Regardless, preseason odds haven't meant much in the past anyway.

North Carolina missed last season's NCAA Tournament after sharing the shortest preseason championship odds with the Zags at +900 heading into the 2022-23 season. UConn won it all at +8000 odds to start the season, similar to when the program hoisted the trophy in 2011 when they opened with +4000 odds. In fact, six of the past seven champions started at +1350 odds or worse before winning it all.

Of course, odds will fluctuate, but for those looking to get ahead of the action, predicting this season's national champion is anything but easy. 

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