The North Carolina Tar Heels are your new NCAA champions. UNC defeated Gonzaga 71-65 in the title game as 54% of tickets and 55% of spread dollars were on Roy Williams’ team to cover as 1-point favorites. Here is a recap of all the betting action from the 2017 NCAA tournament.
Tournament Betting Trends
- Underdogs were 32-29 ATS
- Betting against the public (<50% of tickets): 37-23 ATS
- Betting against the public (<40% of tickets): 20-10 ATS
- Teams getting <50% of spread dollars: 39-22 ATS
- Over 40-26 (60.6%)
The national championship game went way under its total of 154 but despite the poor results in the last game this has been the most profitable OVER tournament in our database.
ATS results by seed
7-seeds were the most profitable thanks to South Carolina’s surprising run to the Final Four. 5-seeds are a trendy upset pick over 12-seeds each year but they crushed bettors going 1-6 ATS.
| Seed | ATS Record |
|---|---|
| 1 | 7-9-2 |
| 2 | 3-5-3 |
| 3 | 5-7-1 |
| 4 | 7-4-2 |
| 5 | 1-6 |
| 6 | 1-4 |
| 7 | 8-2-1 |
| 8 | 6-1-1 |
| 9 | 1-4 |
| 10 | 1-3-1 |
| 11 | 9-4 |
| 12 | 3-2 |
| 13 | 1-3 |
| 14 | 2-2 |
| 15 | 2-1-1 |
| 16 | 2-2 |
Most profitable conferences
The SEC had three teams in the Elite Eight helping the conference become the most profitable in the tournament. Despite UNC winning the title the ACC was the least profitable 4-14 ATS (-10.15 units).
Biggest Money-line Upsets
- USC +315 vs. SMU
- Xavier +310 vs. Arizona
- Oregon +282 vs. Kansas
- South Carolina +270 vs. Duke
- Xavier +270 vs. Florida State
- Wisconsin +213 vs. Villanova
The Trojans’ win over the Mustangs in the opening round was just the 27th largest tournament upset we have in our database dating back to 2005. There were some surprises but few major upsets from a betting perspective.
Overtime
WHAT. A. SHOT. Wisconsin ties it at 72-72. We're headed to our first overtime game of #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/GRR4t8lfOV
— Spark Sports (@Spark_Sports_) March 25, 2017
This shot won’t be remember since Wisconsin lost the game in the overtime but it was a huge play as no other tournament game had gone to overtime. Bettors had laid $565 to win $100 before the tournament that at least one game would go to an extra session.
Buzzer-Beater
Florida's Chris Chiozza Hits Incredible Game-Winning Buzzer Beater To Beat Wisconsin In Sweet 16 pic.twitter.com/7TDrYknOwZ
— SportsCast (@SportsCast_THN) March 27, 2017
Florida’s Chris Chiozza makes an incredible runner at the buzzer to beat the Badgers in the Sweet 16. It was the first and only buzzer-beater of the tournament. It was a big win for all the “Yes” bettors (-265) that said there would be a buzzer-beater in the tournament.
Bad Beat
These two plays swung the betting results for countless fans depending on which side of the game you were one.
In today's edition of great moments in gambling, Jawun Evans hits the buzzer beater to cover the -2.5 spread for OK St. #marchmadness pic.twitter.com/nQbJJMbA0X
— Chat Sports NCAA (@ChatNCAA) March 17, 2017
Jawun Evans hits pointless three pointer as time expires to give Oklahoma State bettors the cover. Only 34% of bets were on the Cowboys.
Great moments in covering the spread: Chimezie Metu's meaningless buzzer beater covers the 5-point spread for #USC against #Baylor. pic.twitter.com/qa378v8pF7
— Tom Downey (@WhatGoingDowney) March 20, 2017
USC opened +6.5 but 59% of bets were on the Trojans and the team closed as 5.5 point underdogs. The buzzer beater got USC the cover.
Bet Labs Pro Systems
All 2017 NCAA tournament Pro Systems combined to go 33-28 (54.1%), +$318. This is a great return on investment for all users, especially those trying Bet Labs for a month with the $49 Starter Membership.
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14 Pro Systems generated a profit of $11,700 in 2016