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Women's March Madness Odds for South Carolina vs. the Field: Should You Bet Gamecocks to Win NCAA Tournament?

C Jackson Cowart

Last Updated: March 17, 2024 12:22 PM EDT • 5 min 34 sec read.

Kamilla Cardoso #10 of the South Carolina Gamecocks stand with her team as we look at the latest South Carolina vs. the field odds ahead of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Kamilla Cardoso #10 of the South Carolina Gamecocks stand with her team against the Tennessee Lady Vols in the third quarter during the semifinals of the SEC Women's Basketball Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on March 09, 2024 in Greenville, South Carolina. Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images via AFP.

South Carolina is the favorite over the field by the latest women's March Madness odds, as we explore whether you should bet the Gamecocks to win the 2024 NCAA Tournament via our best March Madness betting sites.

Typically, March Madness is defined by shocking upsets and crazy tournament runs that (almost) nobody can see coming. Our best sports betting sites don't see it that way on the women's side, offering South Carolina as the prohibitive favorite to win the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

How big of a favorite, you ask? The latest women's March Madness odds have the Gamecocks priced anywhere from -115 to -135 to cut down the nets in April. That feels entirely appropriate, too, given that Dawn Staley's group hasn't lost a game this season with just one defeat over the last two years.

Two of our best sportsbooks have taken it one step further, offering betting odds on South Carolina vs. the field ahead of Selection Sunday. Is it worth laying the juice on one team vs. 67, or should you fade the Gamecocks despite their perfect record?

Women's March Madness odds 2024: South Carolina vs. the field

(Odds as of March 17)

TeamDraftKingsFanDuel
South Carolina-120-115
The field+100-115

Will South Carolina win the 2024 NCAA Tournament?

It was quite the eventful week for South Carolina in the SEC Tournament after a relatively uneventful four months leading up to the postseason.

After waltzing through the regular season with a perfect 29-0 record, with just four games decided by single digits, the Gamecocks faced their first true scare of the season against Tennessee - with star center Kamilla Cardoso hitting her first three as a collegiate to keep her team's perfect record intact.

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Then came the biggest shock of the season, when Cardoso and others were involved in a mid-game scuffle with bitter rival LSU in the SEC Tournament final. That will almost certainly cost Cardoso the first game of the NCAA Tournament, though she'll likely return for the second round should the Gamecocks advance.

And let's be honest: they'll make it to the second round without her, and they might not even need her for that game, either. That sounds ludicrous to say about someone with Women's Wooden Award odds-level production, but that speaks to the incredible depth and star power that permeates this program.

Consider that South Carolina played seven ranked opponents this year and won by nearly 17 points per game. That includes two wins over defending champion LSU and an 18-point win over UConn, one of the favorites by the latest title odds. The Gamecocks will be heavily favored to beat anyone standing in their way.

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Which teams can beat South Carolina?

Iowa Hawkeyes

Best odds: +600 via bet365

If you're looking for teams with the firepower to keep pace with this year's title favorites, look no further than the team that handed the Gamecocks their only loss in the past 24 months.

That came in last year's Final Four, when Caitlin Clark scored 41 points with five triples in Iowa's 77-73 win over South Carolina in one of the most-watched women's basketball games of all time.

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You can argue the Hawkeyes are even better this year, with Clark at the peak of her powers as the runaway favorite for the Wooden Award. Her supporting cast is better, too, and they'll likely enter the tournament with a No. 1 seed for the first time since 1992.

We're already looking ahead to Clark's WNBA MVP odds for her upcoming rookie season.

Still, it's no guarantee that Iowa will even face South Carolina in the tournament. The Hawkeyes lost four games in the regular season and needed overtime to survive Nebraska (22-11) in the Big Ten Tournament final. If you really like Iowa's chances, you're better off taking their title odds than betting "the field" at a much worse price.

LSU Tigers

Best odds: +700 via DraftKings

While the Tigers haven't beaten their SEC rivals in 16 consecutive tries, they've been one of the only teams to give South Carolina trouble in recent years.

That includes earlier this year, when the Gamecocks fell behind by 11 points and trailed for nearly the entire game before rallying down the stretch. Clearly, the results won't impress coach Kim Mulkey, but she still has the talent on her roster to challenge South Carolina in a rematch.

Stanford Cardinal

Best odds: +2200 via Caesars

Stanford seems likely to secure one of the four No. 1 seeds in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, which would guarantee that it wouldn't face South Carolina until the Final Four at the earliest. If Cardinal do secure that coveted seed, there's reason to think they could hold their own.

Two-way star Cameron Brink appears likely to be the No. 2 pick in April's WNBA draft, while she and teammate Kiki Iriafen both average at least 17.8 points and 11 rebounds per game. Those two helped the Cardinal take the Gamecocks to overtime in the 2022-23 season, and they could make things interesting in a potential rematch.

UConn Huskies

Best odds: +2500 via BetMGM

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention UConn, which is dealing anywhere from +1100 to +2500 to win it all across our best sports betting apps.

Much of that is a credit to former Wooden Award winner Paige Bueckers (21.3 PPG), who is the type of superstar scorer that can elevate a team to a sustained tournament run. With injuries piling up for this already undersized group, though, it feels unlikely that the Huskies would be the ones toppling mighty South Carolina.

South Carolina vs. the field prediction

We're in a golden era of women's basketball, with record-breaking talent joining the ranks every year and the entire sport enjoying a level of parity that we haven't seen in years, if ever.

That doesn't exactly apply to the very top of the sport, though, as Staley has built a budding dynasty at South Carolina with no signs of slowing down. We've seen that on full display this season, and the adversity this team faced in the SEC Tournament could even turn out to be a positive through March Madness.

So was that loss last year to Iowa, which was clearly the inferior side in that game despite the final result. That would be the case if they met again this year, too, and I'd be shocked if the Gamecocks didn't have a plan one year in the making on how to stifle Clark in a potential rematch.

This isn't to say they can't lose; of course they can. But that loss last year was their only misstep in their last 75 tries, and nearly 90% of those games were decided by double digits. Even if the field tempts you, you're better off betting specific teams at longer odds or even taking the moneyline each game against South Carolina, which is sure to be an overwhelming favorite every step of the way.

That said, if you're asking me whether this group has better than a coin-flip chance of winning the national title, as this market suggests? Gimme the Gamecocks.

Prediction: South Carolina (-115 via FanDuel)

Women's March Madness FAQs

Who is the favorite to win the 2024 NCAA Tournament?

South Carolina is the overwhelming favorite to win the 2024 NCAA Tournament, with odds ranging from -115 to -135 for the Gamecocks to win it all. Those odds suggest a roughly 55% chance for them to cut down the nets, according to our odds converter.

Who won the NCAA Tournament last year?

The LSU Tigers won the 2023 NCAA Tournament, beating the Iowa Hawkeyes in the national championship with a final score of 102-85.

When is Women's March Madness 2024?

Selection Sunday will take place on Sunday, March 17, with the opening round slated to take place on March 22-23. The national championship will take place on Sunday, April 7 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio.

Here are our best March Madness betting sites:

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* Bonuses not applicable in Ontario.

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Written By:
C Jackson Cowart
C Jackson Cowart is an award-winning sports writer, reporter, and editor with nearly a decade of experience in the industry, with previous stops at theScore, Action Network, Forbes, and ESPN before joining the Sportsbook Review team. He's written about sports betting for the last five years, with a specialty in NFL, NBA, MLB, and collegiate futures markets and a weakness for novelty props and betting on the eventual runner-up. He's also an avid fantasy sports manager and commissioner and runs a sports card business on the side. He's a fiercely proud Oregon native and UNC alumnus, and he can't seem to stop betting on Ben Simmons to win MVP.