It’s the most wonderful time of the year — tournament time! The first day of the Women’s NCAA Tournament is tomorrow, and it should be an incredibly entertaining — and profitable — March Madness. I’m women’s basketball expert and bettor Dani Bar-Lavi, and I’ve recently joined forces with OddsShopper to bring you all my daily best bets. First off, a no-brainer: We are looking at the best team in college basketball and its spread for the first-round Presbyterian-South Carolina matchup.
Women’s March Madness Best Bet: Presbyterian-South Carolina
After upsetting 7.5-point favorites Sacred Heart in its First Four match-up, Presbyterian will be rewarded by having the opportunity to be completely and utterly annihilated by the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks tomorrow. Books opened the Gamecocks as 47.5-point favorites, and that’s been bet up now to -53.5. Despite this dauntingly high spread, I am recommending a 1.5-unit play on South Carolina to cover -53.5.
South Carolina is far and away the most dominant team in college basketball right now, having not dropped a single game this season and boasting a net rating of 29.8 points per game. The Gamecocks have been clearing their Power 5 opponents by an average margin of 30 points, and now they face a team from the relatively weak Big South Conference.
Adjusting for strength of schedule, I put this spread somewhere in the mid-60s. South Carolina played Presbyterian earlier this season, winning in a 99-29 beatdown. Look to South Carolina to repeat this performance, absolutely locking down Presbyterian’s offense while running up the score with elite 3-point shooting.
