Just two teams are left standing in the chase to pick up college basketball’s most illustrious award. Don’t miss all of the action on the March Madness betting lines for the one final game of the year, and here at Bankroll Sports, we’re giving you the inside edge for which one of these two dynamite teams you should be backing on the National Championship Game odds.

The Michigan Wolverines (March Madness Odds: 1.65 to 1 @ 5Dimes Sportsbook) has shocked the world out of the No. 4 seed in the South Region to not just make it to the Final Four, but to ultimately win the National Semifinals as well. We have continually said that this is a touched team, and we are sticking by that logic in the National Championship Game as well. This is the toughest test that the team has faced all season long, though. For as great as teams like Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Illinois, and Minnesota really were this year, Louisville is the best team that the Wolverines will be challenged by. The hope is that Big Blue doesn’t fall by the wayside the same way that Iowa did against Baylor in the NIT Final earlier this week. What we will say about Michigan though, is that it does have the best player that is going to be on the court. G Trey Burke didn’t play all that well against the Syracuse Orange, but he had some help from his friends. The Wooden Award winner is joined in the backcourt by the talented G Tim Hardaway Jr. and the streaky G Nik Stauskas. F Glenn Robinson III has done a remarkable job in this tournament, but the real man of the hour has been F Mitch McGary, who has averaged 16.0 points and 11.6 rebounds per game after averaging under seven points and under six rebounds per game in the regular season.

List Of NCAA Tournament Basketball National Champions (Since 2000)
2012 NCAA Tournament Champions: Kentucky Wildcats
2011 NCAA Tournament Champions: Connecticut Huskies
2010 NCAA Tournament Champions: Duke Blue Devils
2009 NCAA Tournament Champions: North Carolina Tar Heels
2008 NCAA Tournament Champions: Kansas Jayhawks
2007 NCAA Tournament Champions: Florida Gators
2006 NCAA Tournament Champions: Florida Gators
2005 NCAA Tournament Champions: North Carolina Tar Heels
2004 NCAA Tournament Champions: Connecticut Huskies
2003 NCAA Tournament Champions: Syracuse Orange
2002 NCAA Tournament Champions: Maryland Terrapins
2001 NCAA Tournament Champions: Duke Blue Devils
2000 NCAA Tournament Champions: Michigan State Spartans

The Louisville Cardinals (Odds To Win National Championship: 1 to 1.75 @ 5Dimes Sportsbook) are the team to beat for sure. Though they did have a tough time with the Wichita State Shockers in the Final Four on Saturday, they have definitively been the toughest team in America to knock off for the mass majority of the season. Ironically, there is only one player, G Russ Smith that is averaging double digits in scoring per game for Head Coach Rick Pitino, but that doesn’t make the team any less talented. C Gorgui Dieng usually doesn’t have a man that can match his combination of size and strength on the inside, while G Peyton Siva has a leadership quality that isn’t able to be taught even in the best practices. F Chane Behanan has been relatively quiet in this tournament, but though he has really not done all that much, F Luke Hancock became a star instantaneously when he scored 20 points against the Shockers. Head Coach Rick Pitino is the master of getting the most out of his team, and Louisville has been the bona fide favorite on the odds to win the National Championship for the duration of this tournament. If Louisville were to win it all on Monday, it would be just the third time in the history of the dance that the No. 1 overall seed went on to claim glory at cut down the nets at the Final Four.

2013 Odds To Win NCAA Tournament @ 5Dimes Sportsbook (as of 4/7/13):
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Louisville Cardinals Win NCAA Championship -175
Michigan Wolverines Win NCAA Championship +165

Louisville Cardinals -3.5
Michigan Wolverines +3.5
Over/Under 138

2013 College Basketball National Championship Odds @ JustBet Sportsbook (as of 4/7/13):
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Louisville Cardinals -185
Michigan Wolverines +165

Louisville Cardinals -4
Michigan Wolverines +4
Over/Under 137.5

Online Sportsbooks are coming out NCAA Tournament props each and every day. Check out some of the NCAA Tournament prop picks that are currently on the board, and be sure to check back to this page for the rest of the march towards the NCAA Tournament, as we analyze some of the college basketball betting lines for the teams that are going to get in, or be left out of the NCAA Tournament.

Prop List Updated As Of 3/17/13
All Props Listed Courtesy of 5Dimes Sportsbook

Boise State Makes NCAA Tournament -210
Boise State Doesn’t Make NCAA Tournament +160

We’re a bit surprised to see the Broncos favored by this much to get into the NCAA Tournament, knowing that they are one of the last few teams into the dance according to Joe Lunardi. Still, we think that playing in the Mountain West will be enough to get the boys from Boise into the dance.

Middle Tennessee State Makes NCAA Tournament +100
Middle Tennessee State Doesn’t Make NCAA Touranment -140

The Blue Raiders went 28-5 and lost in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Tournament. However, they have an RPI of 29, the 11th best non-conference SOS in the nation, and at least 28 wins with fewer than six losses. Know how many teams have ever missed out on the tournament with those credentials? Zero. We have to think there’s better than a 50/50 shot that the Blue Raiders are headed to Dayton.

Ole Miss Makes NCAA Tournament -265
Ole Miss Doesn’t Make NCAA Tournament +185

It’s going to be really tough to keep the Rebels out, even if they get beaten by Florida by 40 today. They are the one team in the SEC that really took care of the business that they needed to tend to in order to get into the dance. It’d be tough to imagine that a team that finishes the season 25-9 in the SEC would even have a shot of missing the dance. The SEC was weak this year. It wasn’t that weak.

La Salle Makes NCAA Tournament -170
La Salle Doesn’t Make NCAA Tournament +130

The Explorers are the last team that Joe Lunardi has in his bracket, and many have this team as either the last or next to last team in the field. La Salle can send a thank you card out to the rest of the teams in the A-10. The power of this conference are going to get the Explorers in, though at this price, we’d probably have to pass. You don’t want to be laying -170 on a team that is the last squad in the dance.

Virginia Makes NCAA Tournament +220
Virginia Doesn’t Make NCAA Tournament -300

Do we think that Virginia is going to get into the dance? We do not. However, this is a nice price on the Cavaliers. If they don’t get in, they’ll have the best BPI in the nation amongst teams that are in the NIT in all likelihood. A lot of their losses came early in the season when they were fighting injuries. There are some good wins, and even a few great ones, but that really doesn’t make up for it all as we see it. UVA will be close, and perhaps it will be the first team out. We still think that it is worth the risk at this price.

Maryland Makes the NCAA Tournament +170
Maryland Doesn’t Make the NCAA Tournament -230

The Terps were probably just a few points away from dancing. They couldn’t quite figure out how to kill off the lead that North Carolina had in the last few minutes of the semifinals of the ACC Tournament, and as a result, they are going to be stuck as one of the high seeds in the NIT. We don’t see any way that Maryland is getting in, and we would be laying the -230.

Tennessee Makes NCAA Tournament -120
Tennessee Doesn’t Make NCAA Tournament -120

The Volunteers might be the team looking forward to the SEC Championship Game the most. If Ole Miss wins that game, it’s going to be tougher to justify putting the Vols in the dance, as the SEC really doesn’t deserve four teams. If Florida wins though, the victory over the Gators looks that much stronger, and perhaps Tennessee gets the nod. It’s a vintage tossup between the Vols, Blue Raiders, and Explorers, two of the three of which will get in. We wouldn’t want any part of this prop bet.

Southern Miss Makes NCAA Tournament +250
Southern Miss Doesn’t Make NCAA Tournament -350

We have seen the Selection Committee make some wild picks for the dance in the past, but this one would be to bizarre. The Golden Eagles literally don’t have a single win against a good team this year; winless against the RPI Top 50. You’re not going to get into the dance, even with this crazy field, without one great victory to fall back on.

Kentucky Makes NCAA Tournament +350
Kentucky Doesn’t Make NCAA Tournament -530

It’s easy to suggest that there is at least a one in four shot of the Wildcats getting into the NCAA Tournament, just based upon name recognition alone. However, unless F Nerlens Noel is going to pull a Willis Reed and get back on the court, the sad facts aren’t avoidable. UK is 4-4 in its last eight games, and the last of those games was a crushing defeat at the hands of a Vandy team that finished the season below .500. If UK gets in, it’s name and name alone that gets it there.

Massachusetts Makes NCAA Tournament +350
Massachusetts Doesn’t Make NCAA Tournament -530

There’s just no chance here whatsoever. The Minutemen aren’t even going to sniff the NCAA Tournament after losing to VCU and turning the ball over 22 times on Saturday.

Alabama Makes NCAA Tournament +450
Alabama Doesn’t Make NCAA Tournament -750

At least there’s some intrigue here. Alabama doesn’t have much in the way of even decent wins, but it doesn’t have a bad loss either. Losing to Florida by 10 in the SEC Semifinals wasn’t the end of the world, but that was a game that the Tide really needed to win. We think that this might be one of the last teams being considered to get into the field. Alabama won’t likely get in, but we could see it showing up on the line at least one out of five times. It might be worth a lottery ticket play.

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Let’s get one thing straight before I get started with this little rant: Mississippi State and Minnesota don’t deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament in they don’t win their respective conferences on Sunday. But neither do Illinois, Florida, Rhode Island, Seton Hall, or any other teams that are sitting on this proverbial “bubble” that we have come to know and love.

Come to think of it, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Wake Forest, and probably about 12 other teams shouldn’t get the right to play for the National Championship either.

And you want to expand this field to 96 teams next year???

Regardless of whether I like it or not, the Golden Gophers and Bulldogs are both going to get to win their way onto the dance floor the old fashioned way: by winning their conference tournaments.

These two teams should both take lessons from the teams before them. Washington was considered a bubble team until it removed all doubt by winning the Pac-10. San Diego State could say the same thing with the Mountain West.

The other lesson that Mississippi State and Minnesota should take into consideration: Don’t complain if you don’t get into the field.

The Golden Gophers have some unsightly losses on their resume, including a 28-point defeat to Michigan which capped a season sweep for the Wolverines over Minnesota, a loss at Northwestern, and ‘L’s to Portland and Miami. Winning more than one legitimate road game (@ Illinois) in conference would’ve helped quite a bit, too.

Hey Mississippi State, why the heck are you losing at home to Rider? It doesn’t matter that that loss came on the first night of the regular season. It’s Rider! Tournament teams don’t lose to Western Kentucky or to Arkansas, Alabama, or Auburn in conference play. The only road wins in SEC play came at Ole Miss, LSU, and South Carolina.

Don’t get me wrong… Anyone that wins their conference tournament is deserving of a spot in the field of 65. It’s all of these bubble teams that annoy the heck out of me.

I’ll admit this much: I smirked just a bit when Utah State and UTEP both lost their conference finals, which is probably going to take a bid away from one of these teams that doesn’t deserve to go dancing.

And once again, I’d love nothing more than to see the Dawgs and Gophers take care of business, pull upsets in their conference finals, and take automatic bids to the dance. Then there will be two more teams deserving of their tickets to the NCAA Tournament, while more teams will be left at home, complaining that the system doesn’t work and that there should be more teams allowed in the NCAA Tournament.

But don’t worry, all of you 21-10 teams. When the field expands to 96 teams, you’ll all be in the tournament. Then all we’ll have complaining is all of the 18-14 teams why they’re not allowed to play for college basketball’s biggest prize.