Gonzaga ninth in national title odds, Drew Timme fourth in player of year race
Jan. 4—Gonzaga is playing its best basketball of the season over the past month. Drew Timme is arguably playing the best basketball of his career.
Oddsmakers don't seem overly impressed.
The Zags, who were preseason favorites to win the national championship in BetOnline.ag's odds, are currently ninth at 18/1. Houston is the favorite at 8/1 — the same odds GU had when the season began in November — with UConn next at 11/1, followed by the Pac-12's UCLA at 12/1 and Arizona, guided by former Gonzaga assistant coach Tommy Lloyd, at 14/1.
Kansas, Purdue, Texas and Tennessee are tied for fifth at 16/1. Purdue (84-66) and Texas (93-74) handled Gonzaga last month. Tennessee beat the Zags 99-80 in an exhibition game in late October.
Gonzaga (12-3) has won seven straight after a 64-63 loss to Baylor in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Bears are 22/1 to win the national title, sharing the same odds as Alabama, which lost to the Zags 100-90 in Birmingham. Houston's only loss was to Alabama.
The ninth-ranked Zags also defeated Kentucky, which is at 25/1 after opening the season at 10/1, and Xavier, which is going in the opposite direction at 50/1 after opening at 100/1.
Saint Mary's and Michigan State, which lost to GU 64-63 in San Diego, are among 10 teams at 100/1. North Carolina, second to Gonzaga at the outset of the season, is 40/1.
Purdue (from 75/1 to 16/1) and UConn (66/1 to 11/1) have made the biggest jumps among the top-10 favorites.
Gonzaga is tied for seventh with Baylor and Purdue in BetMGM's latest odds. Houston is the favorite, followed by UConn and Kansas.
Timme is fourth at 12/1 in BetOnline's odds to win the Wooden Award, presented annually to college basketball's most outstanding player. The senior forward was third at 15/2 to start of the season, just behind Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe and North Carolina's Armando Bacot, both at 7/1.
Purdue center Zach Edey is the new favorite at 4/7, followed by reigning player of the year Tshiebwe at 7/1 and Kansas forward Jalen Wilson at 17/2. Arizona's Azuolas Tubelis is fifth at 18/1 with UConn's Adama Sanogo and Houston's Marcus Sasser are tied for sixth at 20/1. Alabama freshman Brandon Miller and Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis are at 25/1.
Timme has averaged 28.8 points, 10.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists in Gonzaga's past six games against Division I competition. He scored 35 points against Pepperdine on Saturday and 32 vs. Montana on Dec. 20. He's hiked his scoring average to 22.7 points, fourth nationally.
Arizona center Oumar Ballo, a former Zag, and UCLA forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. are tied for 10th at 50/1. Sanogo, Tubelis and Ballo were off the board at the start of the season.
Gonzaga junior wing Julian Strawther, who was 12/1 in November, is off the board.
