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The South Carolina Gamecocks are in the Final Four for the first time in program history. They achieved the milestone on Sunday afternoon in New York City when they defeated the Florida Gators in the East Regional final at Madison Square Garden. With that said, eyes now turn their attention towards Glendale, and the Gamecocks will still have to fight for respect from Vegas oddsmakers.
As of this moment, they’re the ‘longest shot’ to win the NCAA Tournament 15/2 odds per Bovada. These, of course, aren’t ridiculous long shot odds, but juxtaposed next to the North Carolina Tar Heels, the favorite, who have 7/5 odds, 15/2 seems paltry in comparison. Gonzaga meanwhile has 9/5 odds as the second-best mark while the Oregon Ducks are sandwiched with 11/2 odds.
As far as the Gamecocks’ upcoming matchup with the Bulldogs, they are currently 6.5-point underdogs to the, well, Bulldogs of Gonzaga. That’s the heaviest of marks, as UNC is merely a 4.5-point favorite over Oregon in the other Final Four matchup.
For what it’s worth, you could be in contention for some serious action if you bet on South Carolina at any point prior to the NCAA Tournament. Their odds, all the way back on April 6 of last year, October 6 of last year and March 1 of this year were 200/1. Their odds shrunk on January 6 to 150/1 (at the time, they were 11-3 and had just beaten the Georgia Bulldogs for their first SEC win of the year) and it trickled down to 100/1 a month later on February 1 (at that point, they were 17-4 going into the day with a 7-1 mark in conference play).