Cal Has Longest Odds in Pac-12 to Win 2024 NCAA Basketball Title

Oddsmakers who set betting lines for college basketball and the gamblers who bet on them apparently are not impressed by the overhaul of Cal's roster through the transfer portal.

On May 4, the BetOnline.ag website listed the odds of 103 teams to win the 2024 NCAA championship, and even though new Bears head coach Mark Madsen has added four transfers that seem to improve the team, Cal has the longest odds of any Pac-12 school to win the national title.

The odds of Cal winning it all next April are 1,000-to-1, which matches DePaul, Davidson, Minnesota, Temple and Tulane for the longest odds listed by BetOnline. It's the same odds Cal had back on April 4, before Madsen added Texas Tech transfer Fardaws Amiq, Northern Arizona transfer Jalen Cone, Portland transfer Mike Meadows and Memphis transfer Keonte Kennedy.

A number of schools saw their odds shortened because of transfer additions. Colorado, for example, went from 100-to-1 on April 4 to 40-to-1 on May 4, and Stanford went from 300-to-1 to 150-to-1. On the other hand, USC went from 25-to-1 on April 4 to 50-to-1 on May 4 because of some losses through the transfer portal, but those odds were posted before Bronny James committed to the Trojans.

At the moment Duke is the overall favorite at 10-to-1, followed by Kansas at 11-to-1 after the Jayhawks landed Michigan transfer Hunter Michigan. UCLA and Arizona have the shortest odds among Pac-12 schools at 25-to-1.

Here is how the Pac-12 teams stack up in terms of odds to win the 2024 NCAA championship, according to BetOnline, with the team's May 4 odds first (followed in parentheses by its April 4 odds):

Arizona -- 25-to-1 (20-to-1)

UCLA -- 25-to-1 (20-to-1)

Colorado -- 40-to-1 (100-to-1)

USC -- 50-to-1 (25-to-1)

Oregon -- 66-to-1 (50-to-1)

Arizona State -- 150-to-1 (150-to-1)

Stanford -- 150-to-1 (300-to-1)

Washington State -- 250-to-1 (150-to-1)

Utah -- 300-to-1 (300-to-1)

Oregon State -- 500-to-1 (500-to-1)

Washington -- 500-to-1 (1,000-to-1)

Cal -- 1,000-to-1 (1,000-to-1)

Look on the bright side if you are a Cal fan. If you place a $10 bet on the Golden Bears to win the NCAA tournament next year, and the Bears pull it off, you would rake in $10,000.

Cover photo of Mark Madsen by Rob Schumacher, USA TODAY Sports

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