Opening Oregon vs Creighton Odds – Bluejays Favored by 5.5 Over Former Coach Dana Altman

• Dana Altman and the #11 Oregon Ducks will face his former team, the #3 Creighton Bluejays, in the second round
• Oregon cruised past South Carolina in the first round while Creighton crushed Akron
• See the opening Oregon vs Creighton odds for Saturday’s game at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA

The Oregon Ducks needed an unlikely run to the Pac-12 Tournament title to gain entry to the 2024 NCAA Tournament, but the Ducks have parlayed that momentum into a round-of-32 berth after crushing South Carolina (87-73) in the first round on Thursday afternoon.

An intriguing storyline now emerges as Oregon coach Dana Altman matches up with his former team, the #3 Creighton Bluejays, in the second round.

The Bluejays have opened as the betting favorite in the Oregon vs Creighton odds.

Opening Oregon vs Creighton Odds

Saturday’s college basketball odds have opened with Creighton at -5.5 against the spread. At least, that’s the case at FanDuel. The odds at DraftKings are Creighton -7 with the Bluejays also -325 on the moneyline and the Ducks +260 to win straight-up.

DK lists the game total at 147.5.

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Odds as of March 21. 

Altman’s Oregon Tends to Go Deep

Altman, whose 16-season tenure in Omaha (1994-2010) included seven NCAA Tournament bids (but just two wins), has had considerably more March Madness success with the Ducks. Oregon has made the tournament in eight of his 13 seasons (excluding 2020) and gone as far as the Final Four (2017) with another Elite Eight trip and three more to the Sweet 16.

In fact, the Ducks have reached at least the Sweet 16 in their last four trips to the tournament (2016, 2017, 2019, 2021).

The Ducks moved one step closer to another Sweet 16 trip on Thursday with a decisive win over South Carolina, led by an otherworldly 38 points from former Gamecock Jermaine Couisnard. As a team, the Ducks shot 60% from the field (28-of-47) and gave up just six offensive rebounds on 30 South Carolina misses.

Oregon rated 55th in overall efficiency at KenPom heading into the NCAA Tournament, but that rose from 69th at the outset of the Pac-12 Tournament, which they punctuated with a 75-68 victory over Colorado in Las Vegas.

Oregon’s Final Four odds improved from +9000 before the first round all the way to +2000 after beating the Gamecocks.

The winner of Oregon vs Creighton will move onto the Sweet 16 where, if the seeds hold in the March Madness bracket, #2 Tennessee will be waiting.

Creighton Dominates Akron

Doug McDermott’s Bluejays put in an impressive performance of their own in the first round, crushing Akron 77-60 as 12.5-point favorites.

Seven-footer Ryan Kalkbrenner dominated with 23 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks, while leading scorer Baylor Scheierman added a 15-point, 13-rebound double-double against an undersized Akron group.

Creighton now sits 11th in efficiency at KenPom (12th on offense and 24th on defense). Kalkbrenner, Sheierman, and point guard Trey Alexander – who all average over 17 points per game – all played at least 38 minutes for the top-heavy Bluejays in the victory.

Expected Oregon vs Creighton Line Movement

It’s rare to see FanDuel and DraftKings open with this big a discrepancy. The KenPom prediction is Creighton by seven (77-70), so the oddsmakers at FanDuel veered from that for a reason. Bettors can expect the line to close somewhere in between Creighton -5.5 and -7.