The NCAA Tournament selections and matchups for 'March Madness' have been made and as you likely know by now, the Wyoming Cowboys will take on the Indiana Hoosiers on Tuesday night (March 15th) at 7:10 p.m. in their first and hopefully, not last game of the tournament, which is technically called a 'play-in' game. Unfortunately, practically NO ONE is betting on Wyoming to advance in the tournament with a victory.

The game against Indiana is known as a 'play-in' game to get to the round of 64 teams, which used to be the set number of games in the tournament before a rule change opened it up to 68 teams and there will also be three other play-in games involving other teams before the round of 64 begins on Thursday.

Now that that's out of the way, why is no one betting on Wyoming to beat Indiana?

The sports betting app, DraftKings Sportsbook posted this tweet earlier today...

As you can see from the tweet, the Pokes are 4-point underdogs for the spread and an absurd 86 percent of bets that have been placed on the spread are picking Indiana. There's also been 89 percent of bets on the Moneyline taking Indiana over Wyoming for the game as well. So what gives?

Indiana comes into the tournament with a 20-13 record and finished 9th in the Big Ten Conference. Granted, the Big Ten gets a lot of respect when it comes to conferences. In contrast, the Mountain West, not so much. After all, Wyoming finished with a 25-8 record. That being said, 'strength of schedule/wins' was more than likely a big factor in seeding. For more on seeding, you would have to ask NCAA Tournament Committee, who determines that, for that particular information.

When it comes down to it, sports bettors are probably looking at overall basketball tradition when it comes to this game. Indiana has eight Final Four appearances, which is tied for 8th overall among Division I schools. They have also won five national championships in their history. On the other hand, Wyoming has one Final Four appearance, in which the school won the national championship that year, way back in 1943. Wyoming is not necessarily known as a perennial powerhouse when it comes to college basketball, unfortunately.

However, they are not the world beaters they once were. Indiana has not made it past the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Tournament since 2002 when they played for the National Championship, where they lost to Maryland. And prior to that, they didn't make it past the Sweet Sixteen round since 1993 (the Chris Webber timeout technical foul year) when they advanced to the Final Four.

At that time, the legendary Bobby Knight was their coach. While he was the coach, that is when the Indiana Hoosiers had the bulk of their success throughout their rich history. In Knight's 30 years of coaching, they made the NCAA Tournament 24 times and won it three times. For Indiana, those days are long gone as Knight's last year was 2000.

Since then, Indiana Hoosiers die hard fans have basically become the Dallas Cowboy fans of the college basketball world. They haven't won anything in over 25 years even thought they will always tell you this year is 'their year'. No, it is not. And tomorrow evening, the Wyoming Cowboys can put them in their place once again. So maybe go ahead and place on bet on the Pokes. If and when they win, you'll be one of the few in the entire country to actually win some money on the game.

University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players

During the summer of 2021, 7220Sports.com counted down the Top 50 football players in University of Wyoming history, presented by Premier Bone & Joint Centers, Worthy of Wyoming.

The rules are simple: What was the player's impact while in Laramie? That means NFL stats, draft status or any other accolade earned outside of UW is irrelevant when it comes to this list.

This isn't a one-man job. This task called for a panel of experts. Joining 7220's Cody Tucker are Robert GagliardiJared NewlandRyan Thorburn, and Kevin McKinney.

We all compiled our own list of 50 and let computer averages do the work. Think BCS -- only we hope this catalog is fairer.

Don't agree with a selection? Feel free to sound off on our Twitter: @7220sports - #Top50UWFB

- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players

- Just the facts: Wyoming's 21 Mountain West conference titles and counting

Super Bowl Champions From Wyoming

UW: University of Wyoming Cowboys’ Greatest Games From the First Decade of the 2000’s

 

 

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