UConn is the heavy favorite to win this year’s national championship. However, oddsmakers give State a chance. FiveThirtyEight is Nate Silver’s respected statistical analysis website that gives State a seven per cent chance of winning the tournament. Although it might not seem like much, the statistical analysis shows that this is the third best chance for any team to win the tournament. Before we get into the analytics, here are some facts: Despite last year’s events, oddsmakers still believe that this tournament is UConn’s event and all other teams are invited to attend. FiveThirtyEight has given UConn a 66% chance of winning the fourth national championship in five years. Only Baylor has a better chance of winning than State. Baylor is a No. The Lexington Regional’s No. 2 seed has a 12 percent chance to win it all. Back to State: Nicholls State is given a 99 percent chance beating the Bulldogs. They have a 96 per cent chance of moving out of Starkville to the Sweet 16. This seems a bit high, but we’ll get there. The Bulldogs have an 83 percent chance to advance in the Round 16 and a 58 per cent chance of making it all the way to Columbus, Ohio. This means that there is a 42 percent chance that the Bulldogs will not make it to Columbus. Many Bulldogs fans that I know have booked rooms and ordered tickets for the Final Four despite this fact. FiveThirtyEight states that State has a 28% chance of reaching the semifinals. This is similar to last year. The Bulldogs have a 7 percent chance of winning the tournament, as we’ve already stated. That would be beating UConn. UConn is the only team that has ever beaten UConn in 144 games. That team is State, of course. This team is statistically better than the last. Know this: UConn is statistically far superior to last year’s Huskies. It is even better than the 2016 Huskies, who won it all and thoroughly embarrassed State 98-38 at a regional. UConn is widely considered to be the greatest women’s basketball team ever. Let’s return to the Starkville Regional where the 8-seed Syracuse will play the 9-seed Oklahoma State. While State is likely to be the favorite, neither team is a certain thing. State defeated Oklahoma State 71 to 68 in a Dec. 3 game at Starkville. It was close throughout. Loryn Goodwin from Oklahoma State was the key player. She played the entire 40 minutes and scored 35 points. She also had 10 rebounds, stole the ball four more times, and scored 10 rebounds. State beat Syracuse 76-65 in a close game Dec. 21 in Las Vegas. Both teams were plagued with foul trouble. However, State won thanks to Victoria Vivians who scored 26 points to win. State is better than any team and will play at home. For comparison, Syracuse has a one percent chance while Oklahoma State has a three percent chance to advance from Starkville into the Sweet 16. We all know what odds can mean on any given date. State was last year a 21-point underdog, before UConn shocked it. For a chance at winning $100, you would have to bet $6,000 on UConn in Vegas. Many gambled, hoping to make an easy $100. This didn’t turn out to be a good idea. Click here to see the FiveThirtyEight analysis.