Oregon State’s National Championship Odds Improve to +1400 After Beating Loyola Chicago, Advancing to Elite 8

• Oregon State’s national championship odds shortened to +1400 following Saturday’s 65-58 Sweet 16 victory over Loyola Chicago
• The Beavers were +5000 to win the NCAA Tournament entering the Sweet 16
• Only Syracuse (+6000) and Oral Roberts (+100000) were assigned longer odds entering this round of play

No longer can the college basketball pundits continue claiming that the Oregon State Beavers aren’t elite. It appears that even the oddsmakers are beginning to believe in the national championship chances of the Beavers.

Saturday, Oregon State dispatched favored Loyola Chicago 65-58 to advance to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament. The Beavers also made a quantum leap in the NCAA Tournament odds.

Oregon State is currently listed at a betting line of +1400 to win the the NCAA Tournament. Entering the Sweet 16, the Beavers were 14th overall on the board at +5000.

2021 NCAA Tournament Odds

Odds as of Mar. 27th.

Only Syracuse (+6000) and Oral Roberts (+10000) were given less of a chance to win the tourney than the Beavers prior to this round.

Leave It to Beavers

Oregon State are like Dante, the forlorn convenience store shopkeeper in the Kevin Smith cult classic Clerks. They aren’t even supposed to be here today.

Picked in many preseason polls to finish last in the Pac-12, Oregon State’s opened the season 2-3. That stretch included losses to Portland and Wyoming, not exactly powerhouses in the KenPom rankings.

The Beavers were a mediocre 10-10 in the Pac-12 conference season. They ended the regular season with seven losses in their last 13 games. Oregon State closed out regular-season play absorbing an 80-67 shellacking from cross-state rival Oregon.

The Beavers haven’t lost a game since. They’re putting the madness into March.

Five days after that loss to Oregon, the Beavers handled the Ducks 75-64 in the Pac-12 Tournament. Oregon State ran a gauntlet of UCLA, Oregon, and Colorado – all of them also qualifiers for the NCAA Tournament – to win the Pac-12 tourney and, with it, an automatic bid to March Madness.

That means the Beavers have now won six games in a row all against tournament teams.

Overcoming the Odds

The Beavers are just the second 12-seed in tournament history to make it to the Elite 8, joining Missouri in 2002. Oregon State is becoming the best underdog against-the-spread wager in college basketball.

Loyola Chicago was a seven-point favorite over Oregon State. It was the 14th time in 15 games that the Beavers were the betting underdog. They are 12-2 ATS in those 14 games.

🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫
THE OREGON STATE BEAVERS ARE GOING TO THE ELITE EIGHT!!!!!
🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫 #GOBEAVS x #MARCHMADNESS x #ELITEEIGHT x ELITE pic.twitter.com/rstoAnDMNd

— Oregon State Hoops (@BeaverMBB) March 27, 2021

The Beavers seem to keep coming up with different ways to win. Against Loyola, OSU was facing the #1 adjusted defense in the KenPom rankings. But it was the Beavers who were the better defensive team on the day.

Oregon State’s 2-3 zone smothered everything that the Ramblers sought to generate offensively. Loyola was a dismal 33.3% from the field (18-for-54) and 21.7% from three-point range (5-for-23).

Oregon State was picked last in this year's Preseason Pac-12 Conference poll. Now they're headed to the Elite Eight.

Cinderella story continues for the Beavs ✨ pic.twitter.com/bI31ybOPxB

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 27, 2021

Amazingy, the Beavers didn’t score their first field goal until 6:10 had elapsed from the clock. Yet they still won by seven points. Guard Ethan Thompson paced the Oregon attack with 22 points. Warith Alatishe (10 points) was the only other Beaver in double figures.

Oregon State is through to the Elite 8 for the first time since 1982. The Beavers most-recently reached the Final 4 in 1963.

The will face either #2 Houston or #11 Syracuse in the Elite 8. Neither one is going to strike fear into the Beavers at this point.