NCAAW Tournament Preview: Top Seeds & Early Championship Odds

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00:00It is only February but we near March in not just men's college basketball but of

00:05course on the women's side. So let's get you caught up to speed in everything

00:09that we have seen. Much like the early bracket preview on Saturday afternoon

00:13for the men's big dance, same story for the women's NCAA tournament. Here were

00:18the four number one seeds in that early bracket preview. None should be overly

00:23shocking. UCLA, South Carolina, Texas and Notre Dame. But that came out on Sunday

00:30afternoon ahead of a huge game for South Carolina at home hosting UConn. The game

00:35Cots got beat bad by 29 matching their third largest home defeat in

00:41nearly 25 years in ending South Carolina's 71 game home win streak. I

00:49still think South Carolina's probably on the one line when all is said and

00:54done. Still with a couple of weeks remaining in the regular season in

00:57conference tournament action the opening full week in March to determine

01:01everything seed lines and spots in the NCAA tournament. But now let's go to the

01:06odds perspective. We start with the national championship prices. South

01:10Carolina remains that favorite at plus 290. But UConn who just won by 29 in

01:17Columbia, led by AZ Fudd in a 28 point performance. Not all that far behind for

01:23Gino Auriemma and his Connecticut Huskies team. Plus 330 on UConn. UCLA

01:29last week, first loss of the season with a historic and generational

01:34performance from Juju Watkins in a home game for USC against the Bruins. First

01:41loss of the year for UCLA after 23 straight wins. The Bruins are going to

01:46be fine and they have one of the best bigs in the sport in Lauren Betts. I

01:50already bet UCLA about a month ago at 5 to 1 to win the title. That number now

01:54down by a buck. Earlier today I bet Texas had a 5 to 1 place to win the

01:59national championship for reasons I will tell you in just a moment. But Notre

02:03Dame at 5 to 1 as well. And I just want to take a moment. Oftentimes we have

02:08seen dominance in women's college basketball. UConn for the better part of

02:13the early aughts and in to the 2010 South Carolina here as of late. You'll

02:18have a very short favorite in comparison to the rest of the field. You see right

02:23there, five teams separated by just over $2 on a 5 to 1 price or better. That is

02:31awesome. Awesome for women's college basketball as we get ready for March. In

02:36Notre Dame, the top team in the country, double digit home win last night in a

02:39top 15 tilt against Duke and Hannah Hidalgo, one of the best guards in the

02:45country as well. On the right side of that page, Notre Dame's point guard has

02:49the second best place to win the wooden award. Juju Watkins after that

02:53generational performance in the rivalry game against number one UCLA to hand

02:58the Bruins their only loss of the year is now the wooden award favorite at

03:02minus 1 45. Anissa Morrow has been incredible for LSU. Paige Becker's great

03:09this year for UConn as well. Lauren Betts, as I said, for the Bruins, one of

03:13the best bigs in the country. And if I may just take a moment to highlight even

03:18more individual performance before I get to my reasons why I bet the Longhorns at

03:22a 5 to 1 price to win the national championship. We didn't get into this

03:26yesterday. Our apologies. Michaela Blake's the freshman for Vandy setting a

03:31D1 D1 women's basketball record on Sunday afternoon, scoring 55 points in an

03:39overtime thriller for Vanderbilt on the road against Auburn. Again, the D1

03:45women's record for the most points scored in a single game by a freshman

03:49moving past an all time great in Elena Della Don. She also, Michaela Blake's

03:54scored 53 points against Florida just 2.5 weeks ago. So to set the D1 record

04:01is insane. To do it with 55 points is ridiculous. To score 30 points in the

04:07final six minutes of regulation and in OT to lead her team in Vandy to a 13

04:13point comeback when they were down by that many with six minutes remaining in

04:17regulation is insane. To also score 53 about 2.5 weeks prior. Words really just

04:24cannot describe. Now to Texas. The reason I bet Texas at 5 to 1 is because the

04:30Longhorns right now are making history, capped off by a victory against LSU at

04:36home on Sunday afternoon. Texas is the first team and women's college

04:41basketball in two decades since the 2000 and 405 season to beat three top 10

04:48opponents in a row, which started with handing South Carolina its first loss in

04:54more than 55 consecutive SEC games. Then they went on the road and beat

04:59Kentucky. No drop off for UT. Then at home, beat LSU on Sunday. Texas is a big

05:07game hunter and that 5 to 1 price. I think the Longhorns will be a final four

05:11team this year in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. The early line

05:16turns tomorrow, 8 a.m. Eastern.

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