Sports betting NCAA Tournament brackets have seen a lot of upsets and it continued last week when the number one seed out West, the Syracuse Orange lost. Many people predicted that Syracuse would make it to the Final Four but they are just another of the top seeds to fall in online sports betting.
Sports betting odds favored Syracuse to make the Final Four but the Orange were upset last Thursday by Butler. The Bulldogs could end up playing in the Final Four at home in Indianapolis is they get past Kansas State in the Elite Eight.
The Big East was highly touted before the 2010 NCAA Tournament began but heading into the Elite Eight they had just one team remaining and that team was West Virginia. The Big East has really struggled against the non-power teams in the Sweet Sixteen in the past decade. It seems every online sports betting season they lose a big game. Syracuse lost to Butler this year. Last season it was Pittsburgh losing to Xavier. Two years ago it was West Virginia getting upset by Xavier. Pittsburgh lost to Marquette in 2003 and to Kent State in 2002. Connecticut lost to Southern Illinois is 2002 and Miami lost to Tulsa in 2000.
Syracuse was not expected to lose to Butler in sports betting odds but Butler was the tougher team. It was the 23rd win a row for the Bulldogs. “We said this word over and over in Indianapolis, and that word is ‘resolve.’ These guys have resolve,” Butler coach Brad Stevens said. “It’s hard to measure, but they’ve got it.” Butler is now the first Horizon League team to ever make it to the Elite Eight. They have the longest winning streak in the country at 23 in a row. Butler turned it over just seven times compared to Syracuse’s 18 turnovers. Syracuse started the season 24-1 but finished the year 6-4 in their last ten games. “The game was a story of turnovers. They didn’t make turnovers,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “They were really good with the basketball. We just had 18 turnovers and you can’t give away that many possessions.”
Syracuse sounded like a team that was not prepared to win in sports betting. “We knew they pride themselves on defense and they played us tough,” Syracuse forward Wesley Johnson said. “We accomplished a lot this season as the expectations for this team weren’t very high. We won games we weren’t supposed to and won the Big East Conference outright. We have a lot to be happy about. But to lose like this, it hurts.”
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