FanDuel’s Dog of the Day: Gonzaga the Cinderella Pick in NCAA Tournament’s Midwest Region?

The No. 1 Houston Cougars and the No. 2 Tennessee Volunteers are the favorites. Don’t sleep on the No. 8 Gonzaga Bulldogs and the No. 12 McNeese State Cowboys.

The Midwest Region is the toughest looking out of the four. According to FanDuel Sportsbook, Gonzaga has the third-best odds to come out of the Midwest Region at +900 (Houston is the favorite at +120 followed by Tennessee at +850). The Zags have the 12th best odds to win the national championship at +5000. One of the biggest brand names in college basketball seems to be a solid pick to make a deep run.

The No. 1 seed and Big 12 Conference champion Houston Cougars are one of the best on both sides of the ball entering the Big Dance. KenPom has coach Kelvin Sampson’s group ranked No. 10 in offensive adjusted efficiency and No. 2 in defensive adjusted efficiency. Led by former Baylor Bears guard, LJ Cryer is the force on offense with his 15.2 points per game on an efficient shooting clip of 41.5 field goal percentage/42.2 three-point percentage/80.1 free throw percentage.

The last time the Cougars made the Final Four was not too long ago, back in 2020-21 along with Gonzaga.

As for the No. 2 Tennessee Volunteers, it didn’t make sense then and it still doesn’t make sense now. How in the world was senior Zakai Zeigler (13.1 points on 41.0 field goal percentage/32.4 three-point percentage/80.1 free throw percentage, 7.3 assists, 3.1 rebounds, 1.9 steals) a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award over Gonzaga’s senior Ryan Nembhard (10.8 points on 41.0 field goal percentage/32.4 three-point percentage/80.1 free throw percentage, 9.8 assists, 3.1 rebounds, 1.7 steals)?

The award given to the best point guard in the country speaks to playmaking ability and Nembhard was better than Zeigler in that category throughout the entire course of this season. The floor general for the Zags leads the nation in total assists at 325 as well as second in the country with an assist/turnover ratio of 4.28 (76 turnovers total in 33 games played).

It’s weird to call Gonzaga a Cinderella 26 years after that magical Elite Eight run back in 1999. But that’s what it seems to be after this squad’s up-and-down season as the Zags are the favorite underdog pick to come out of the Midwest an No. 8 seed. That’s the lowest seed for the program since it was an No. 11 in 2016.

Besides the Zags, the true ‘darling’ pick to make in the Midwest part of the bracket is the No. 12 McNeese State Cowboys, champion out of the Southland Conference. Ever since coach Will Wade took over the reins in Louisiana, he has an unbelievable winning record 57-10 over the last two campaigns.

Gonzaga arrived in Wichita yesterday as they prepare for the No. 9 Georgia Bulldogs out of the ultra-competitive Southeastern Conference (14 programs were invited to the NCAA Tournament). Tip-off for the opening round matchup between the two Bulldogs is set for Thursday, March 20 at 1:35 p.m. PT on TBS.

In addition, FanDuel is offering a Dog of the Day Jackpot:

What is it?

• Bet the lowest seeded team to advance that day and win a share of $1M in bonus bets!

Timing

• 3/20 – 3/23
• This will occur every day of the first weekend of the tournament
• Daily promotion (4x total, 1x each day – Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
• Marketing for this promotion will begin on 3/17 with first occurrence on 3/20

How to Play

1. Download or Log In to FanDuel Sportsbook with new or existing account
2. Claim your “Sweepstakes” token
3. Place a Pre-Live, Straight, Money line wager on any qualifying Men’s NCAA Tournament games for the day (utilize token)
4. Bet the lowest seeded team (higher number: 16, 15, 14, etc.) to advance that day and win a share of $1M in bonus bets!

• Lowest seed = Higher number (16, 15, 14, 13, etc.)

Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on Twitter @a_cravalho