Who are sharps betting to win NCAA Tournament title, opening round?

Twelve months after the NCAA Tournament's sudden cancellation, bettors are finally getting a long-awaited taste of March Madness - and they're not shy about taking a chance on some surprising long shots.

We talked to Jay Rood, Bet.Works' chief risk officer and theScore Bet's head trader, to see how sharps and public bettors are playing this year's tournament.

Illinois, Iowa lead title field

It's been seven years since a team outside of the top two seeds has won the NCAA Tournament. Bettors are expecting more of the same from this year's field.

After the bracket reveal on Sunday, Gonzaga saw its title odds shrink from +225 to +180 after a run of money on the tournament favorite. The top-seeded Bulldogs are a small liability at present, Rood says, but nothing compared to two other contenders.

No. 1 seed Illinois enters the tournament at 4-1 to win it all and has seen steady action at that price since Sunday, but a pair of 50-1 tickets from before the season have bookmakers sweating a potential Illini run. Second-seeded Iowa also opened at 50-1, and the Hawkeyes could be a problem if they emerge from the West Region.

"We’re looking to dodge a little bit of liability on Iowa and Illinois," Rood said. "Anybody else is probably OK."

However, if even one bettor places a sizable wager on any of the tournament's long shots, that could change in a hurry. Rood says he's written a few bet slips to Winthrop (150-1) and Georgetown (175-1), and UC Santa Barbara (125-1) is drawing some activity, as well.

"History tells us somebody is going to pop out from this area between 50-1 and 150-1 and make a decent little run," Rood said. "It’s just trying to figure out which one."

Rutgers among top regional bets

While the favorites have dominated the title market, the regional markets have coaxed some more long-shot activity from bettors - including sharps.

The main draw is Rutgers, which opened at 75-1 to win the Midwest Region and got bet down to 55-1 after a run of sharp money on the No. 7 seed. No. 11 seed Syracuse also opened at 75-1 before moving to 50-1 to win the Midwest - by far the most-bet region of the four.

The East Region is also divisive for bettors, who have placed at least one wager on every team to win except for UCLA and Iona as of late Thursday afternoon. BYU (11-1) has drawn much of the activity in the region as a No. 6 seed, while second-seeded Alabama (4-1) is also a popular choice to outlast favored Michigan (-120) and reach the Final Four.

The activity has been lighter in the West and South, but Kansas (8-1) and Baylor (-120) have seen some love from bettors to win their respective regions. Virginia Tech (17-1) is another long shot getting backed to win the South Region, but not to the same extent as Rutgers and other dark-horse bets.

Sharps love Liberty, Ohio

Get ready for some madness in this year's first round, where a host of underdogs are drawing activity to cover - or even win outright - against slumping favorites.

One strong contender is Liberty, which opened as a 9.5-point underdog against surging Oklahoma State before being bet down to +7.5 as of Thursday. Much of that came from sharp bettors, who like the Flames' chances of outdueling Cade Cunningham and co.

Ohio is another popular underdog bet. After opening at +10.5, the program is dealing at +7 as of Thursday against an undermanned Virginia squad still battling COVID-19 issues. The Bobcats have also seen sharp play on the moneyline (+320), so don't be surprised to see another potential first-round collapse for Tony Bennett's crew.

(Odds source: theScore Bet)

C Jackson Cowart is a betting writer for theScore. He's an award-winning journalist with stops at The Charlotte Observer, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Times Herald-Record, and BetChicago. He's also a proud graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, and his love of sweet tea is rivaled only by that of a juicy prop bet. Find him on Twitter @CJacksonCowart.