Perhaps it’s the Caitlin Clark effect, but one thing’s for certain – betting on women’s college hoops has never been more popular.
In fact, it’s not even close.
According to DraftKings, betting on NCAA Women’s Basketball is a whopping 14 times higher year-over-year by handle and 13 times higher year-over-year by total bets placed.
Sunday's Big Ten Tournament Final overtime thriller between Iowa State and Nebraska was yet another reason why the sport has been so popular this season. The Hawkeyes have been a must-watch event all year long because of Clark, and she once again put on a show in Iowa's 94-89 come-from-behind overtime win.
Iowa trailed for nearly the entire game, but she hit the game-tying bucket with just over 33-seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime. She finished the game with 34 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds to help deliver Iowa its third straight Big Ten title.
The Hawkeyes' win further shook up the NCAA Women's title odds as March Madness approaches. Not surprisingly, sportsbooks are seeing the most action on Iowa as Caitlin Clark-mania has taken the sports world by storm. She’s made national news this year as she marched up the record books and passed Pete Maravich for the most career points in NCAA history.
She entered the weekend averaging 32.3 points per game and will be turning pro after this year’s NCAA tournament.
As a result, sportsbooks have a ton of liability on Iowa as a whopping 34.8% of all tickets is on the Hawkeyes to win the NCAA tournament. The next highest is South Carolina with 17.9% of tickets and Ohio State at 9.8%. There’s been significant movement regarding the latter schools over the past week. Odds for the Gamecocks to win the title shifted from +100 to -130 at FanDuel while the Buckeyes have moved from +2000 to +1500.
South Carolina is a perfect 29-0 and atop the AP Top 25 rankings. Despite the Clark hype, South Carolina has the highest handle by a significant amount (43.5%) while Iowa has 22.8%, and LSU has 12.0%.
NCAA Women's Basketball Odds
Odds via FanDuel as off Sunday, Mar. 10.
| Team | Odds |
|---|---|
| South Carolina | -115 |
| LSU | +550 |
| Iowa | +600 |
| Stanford | +1200 |
| Ohio State | +2000 |
| UCLA | +3000 |
| Connecticut | +3000 |
| USC | +3000 |
| NC State | +4000 |
| Texas | +4000 |
| Notre Dame | +12000 |
| Oregon State | +12000 |
| Virginia Tech | +15000 |
| Utah | +15000 |
| Kansas State | +15000 |
| Indiana | +15000 |
| Baylor | +15000 |
| Colorado | +15000 |
| Gonzaga | +15000 |
| Oklahoma | +15000 |
