College basketball best bets: Purdue, Gonzaga anchor futures plays

The sports betting holiday that is the Super Bowl is still one week away so you are probably watching more hoops this weekend than you have all season.

While the NBA has been in full swing for weeks (and we have been crushing it) you might be finally meandering into college hoops so here are a few storylines, and numbers to look at. We now have a good chunk of games in the rearview yet Selection Sunday a still a few weeks away. We are at a great point to take a look at some of the teams of note this season. Now is a perfect time to get down a futures bet that anchors your portfolio moving forward. 

The Purdue Boilermakers are for Real ... Probably (+800)

As this is being written the Boilermakers are the top team in the polls and big man Zach Edey is the favorite for National Player of the Year. No, he is not the best pro prospect in the game, but his size and skill make him the most dominant player in the college game this season. For years Purdue coach Matt Painter has been among the best in the sport and this season they look like they have a shot. At that price, they are second in the championship futures market and the only reason to discount them is the fact that their top two ball handlers are freshmen. Veteran guards are what you want for a deep run. But I can see this being the year for Purdue. 

Gonzaga is Undervalued ... Maybe (+3000)

The Zags have never won it all. This season they began the year as a consensus top-5 team but a few losses have many knocking them out of real consideration. Heck, they might not even win the West Coast Conference this season (they are currently a game back and suffered a rare home loss this season). However, look at that price for them to win it all right now. They still have Drew Timme (who was a preseason NPOY candidate), and a Hall of Fame coach (Mark Few), and maybe all they need is to just be in a spot where they can take a breath as opposed to the weight of expectations.  I do not think they are the best team in the country, but there is no team they can't beat either. 

Defense Will Likely Win The Championship (Houston +650, Tennessee +1200)

It seems like it doesn't matter what sport we are talking about but defense wins championships, right? That is the primary reason that Houston is at the top of the odds table and has been pretty much all season. This is a veteran team that leans hard on defense (currently 7th in defensive efficiency at KenPom) while still having enough individual talent that they can close games effectively. They just seem to never take a possession off and that intensity grinds teams down. The Cougars are the only team in the top 10 in offensive and defensive efficiency. Meanwhile, Tennessee probably has more overall talent, though their history is that they never seem to never be peaking at the right time. Whether it is fair to blame that on the coach, who knows, but that might be the only reason not to like the Vols this season. At nearly double the price of Houston, you can do a lot worse, and they are the top team in the nation defensively.

You could do a lot worse than a portfolio of the top defensive teams:

Tennessee +1200
Rutgers +8000
UCLA +1500
St. Mary's +4000