March Madness is all about Cinderella and this time around it did not disappoint.
No. 11 NC State and No. 6 Clemson shocked the college basketball world with Elite Elight runs, upsetting national championship contenders along the way as massive underdogs.
Before the tournament, the Wolfpack and Tigers were 200/1 and 150/1, respectively, to cut down the nets – two numbers well outside the top 25 on the odds board of most major sportsbooks.
It’s just the sixth time in NCAA men’s tournament history that two or more 150/1 national championship long shots have made it to the Elite Eight since rankings began in 1979, according to Action’s Evan Abrams Network.
They are also only the second pair of teams from the same conference at pre-tournament +15000 to make an appearance in the Elite Eight, joining Notre Dame and Syracuse in 2016, who also came out of the ACC, according to Abrams .
Both teams will need to pull off the upset to qualify for the Final Four.
Clemson is a 3.5-point underdog against No. 4 seed Alabama on Saturday night.
As of Sunday, the Wolfpack are a 6.5-point dog against No. 4 Duke.
As unlikely as it may seem, if either team can win three more games and capture the national championship, they will become the greatest pre-tournament chance to win the title since 1978, surpassing UConn in 2014, who was 95/1 before the tournament. tournament, according to Sports Odds History.
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Last season, the Huskies – who are currently +100 favorites to win the 2024 title – became the eighth-biggest shot to win the national championship after entering the tournament at +1800.
Heading into Saturday’s action, NC State and Clemson have the lowest title odds in the field, with FanDuel pegging them at +3,000 and +4,000, respectively.
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