Wake Forest NCAA Tournament Odds: Demon Deacons among favorites to play in March Madness

As we get closer to March Madness, the conference games will start to carry more weight as the bubble teams will look to build up their regular season resume in hopes of punching their ticket to the NCAA tournament.

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons are one of those “bubble teams” that need a strong end of the regular season and a good showing in the ACC tournament to potentially get into the field of 68. 

The Demon Deacons have a 16-9 record and are 8-6 in ACC play, which isn’t bad considering that there are seven other teams with at least 16 wins. However, Wake Forest has struggled against Quad 1 teams (1-6) this season but has done a great job of beating up Quad 3 and 4 teams, going a combined 11-0.

The Demon Deacons’ lone Quad 1 win this season was against the Florida Gators on Nov. 29. The good news for Wake is that double-digit victory holds some weight as the Gators are 18-7 on the season and currently in the tournament, according to Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology from Feb. 16.

However, even though the Demon Deacons have struggled against Quad 1 teams and one of Lunardi’s first four teams out of the tourney, the oddsmakers still like their chances to get into the big dance.

2023-24 NCAA Tournament Odds

DraftKings Sportsbook currently has the Demon Deacons listed as -125 favorites to make the NCAA tournament under their bubble props section. However, on FanDuel Sportsbook, Wake Forest is listed as a -108 favorite to make the big dance.

The only other teams listed as favorites to punch their ticket into the tourney on DraftKings are Butler (-140), Texas A&M (-350), Cincinnati (-125), Grand Canyon (-240), Gonzaga (-300), Nebraska (-250), and Indiana State (-135).

While it’s good to see the betting market having some faith in Wake Forest, Hunter Sallis and the rest of the team still have some work to do. This week, the Demon Deacons will invite Pitt and Duke to Winston-Salem, both teams who beat them recently. 

If Wake Forest wants to get into the tourney, they need to beat Pitt and upset the Blue Devils. They cannot depend on their lone Quad 1 win over Florida because this team could end up as a top seed in the NIT, depending on how the rest of the regular season goes.