As shocking as it may sound, the Loyola Chicago Ramblers have a very good chance at advancing to the Final Four for the second time in the last three NCAA Tournaments with the way this bracket is setting up. They will need to get past the No. 12 seed Oregon State Beavers in Saturday’s Sweet 16 matchup.
Before diving in to where bettors have been going with their money, give a look to the odds history for each team and how they’ve fared throughout the season to get to this point.
Here are the odds and bet splits for No. 12 Oregon State vs. No. 8 Loyola Chicago in the Sweet 16 of the 2021 NCAA Tournament from DraftKings Sportsbook:
Against The Spread
Oregon State: +7 (62% of handle, 58% of bets)
Loyola Chicago: -7 (38% of handle, 42% of bets)
Is the public right?
Oddsmakers set a very good line, and it can go either way, but I’m going to side with Loyola Chicago. It may be recency bias but with the way they looked against the Illinois Fighting Illini, which came in as one of the best teams in the entire country, they should be able to control an Oregon State team that wouldn’t have made the NCAA Tournament without a Pac-12 title run.
Moneyline
Oregon State: +240 (63% of handle, 46% of bets)
Loyola Chicago: -295 (37% of handle, 54% of bets)
Is the public right?
The majority of bettors are right, but the majority of the money is heading in the wrong direction. Loyola will enter with one of the top defenses in the country according to KenPom’s adjusted efficiency ratings, and defense travels in the NCAA Tournament. Oregon State’s strength comes on the offensive end, but the Ramblers will limit the Beavers on the offensive end to leave with a win.
Point Total
Over: 125.5 (79% of handle, 82% of bets)
Under: 125.5 (21% of handle, 18% of bets)
Is the public right?
Nope, the under is a much better play. As mentioned earlier, Loyola has one of the best defenses in the entire country and just limited Illinois to 58 points. Additionally, both of these teams play incredibly slow. The Ramblers rank No. 344 out of 347 college basketball teams in possessions per game, while Oregon State is No. 307 in that category.
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