UConn huge odds-on favorite in women's tourney

After several years away from the favorite spotlight, the UConn Huskies will go into the NCAA women's basketball tournament as the odds-on favorites to capture a record-extending 13th national championship.

UConn is -265 to win this year's women's college basketball title, per DraftKings odds, the shortest odds for a pre-tournament favorite since 2018, which was also the last time the Huskies were favored going into the Big Dance.

There's a sizable gap to the next team, the UCLA Bruins, who have +550 odds to win the tournament. The SEC dominates the next four spots between Texas (+700), South Carolina (+800), LSU (16-1) and Vanderbilt (50-1). Duke (75-1) and Michigan (80-1) round out the teams shorter than 100-1.

"UConn has been incredibly dominant, winning 29-straight games by double digits. It's one of the more remarkable runs we've seen in recent memory," Caesars Sportsbook college basketball trader Patrick Berbert said over email. "In our view, UCLA presents the biggest potential challenge, but overall, it's hard to see many teams standing in UConn's way if they continue playing at this level."

The Huskies began the season favored at +225 and were tailed closely by the Gamecocks at +280 and Bruins at +400. Those three teams, plus the Longhorns, are all odds-on favorites to reach the Final Four. In early submissions, UConn was selected to win the national championship by 46% of ESPN Tournament Challenge brackets.

UConn, UCLA and South Carolina have been public favorites throughout the season, garnering a combined 57.4% of the future handle at BetMGM. Those teams' short odds all season won't cause sportsbooks much headache, but BetMGM does report liabilities on Michigan and Vanderbilt.

Due to the top-heavy nature of the women's bracket, most of the field sits at 100-1 or longer. However, there's confidence from at least one bettor in a long shot: Texas Tech (200-1) has 2.4% of the handle at BetMGM, making the Lady Raiders the book's largest liability.