The Cincinnati Bearcats are the higher seed in the 2015 NCAA Tournament compared to their opponent. UC was given a 8 seed by the Selection Committee and the Purdue Boilermakers a 9.
However, the odds makers in Las Vegas tagged the Boilermakers as 1.5 favorites over the Bearcats.
I’m a little surprised by that but at the same time I’m not. That sounds like a stupid statement, I understand.
On the one hand, Cincinnati is the higher seed. They have the better RPI (40 v. 53), more RPI top 25 wins (2 v. 0), and the slightly better record (22-10 v. 21-12). The Bearcats were also the best 8 seed, 29th overall, and Boilermakers the worst 9, 36th overall.
On the other, Purdue does in fact hail from a power conference the Big Ten. And that’s about it.
So that’s why I’m not necessarily surprised the Boilermakers are favored in Vegas. It’s not “fair” in any sense of the word but that’s the reality of the world UC lives in; they’ll be overshadowed by those in the Power Conferences. The American might have a National Championship to its name but they’re still thought of as second class citizens.
At the same time, though, a 1.5 point favorite is essentially a push in college basketball. The line is so low that Vegas is telling bettors that Purdue is more likely to win, which I can’t necessarily disagree with this far from tipoff. Plus it’s still very early and this could move in UC’s favor over the next couple of days. So I wouldn’t get too upset over the opening line and if you believe it will shift to the Bearcats by Thursday, you might want to put some money down on Cincinnati now.