LDN Sports

Sports betting roundup: Duke takes over as favorite to win men's March Madness

[March 25, 2025] By RYAN HANNABLE of BetMGM Sportsbook

Duke has taken over as the favorite after the first weekend of this year's NCAA Tournament.

There weren’t as many buzzer-beaters and thrilling finishes as many have been accustomed to so far in March Madness, but there were a few upsets with teams like Arkansas, Mississippi and BYU reaching the Sweet 16.

Going into the tournament, Florida was the BetMGM online sportsbook’s favorite to win the men's national championship, but after two dominant performances showing they are healthy, Duke is now the favorite at +225.

Trends of the Week
In the Sweet 16 on Sunday, Duke crushed Baylor 89-66 to easily cover the 12.5-point spread. The Blue Devils took in 70% of the bets and 69% of the money. Baylor finished the year 0-11 straight up as an underdog of three or more points and 2-9 in those games against the spread.

While Florida knocked UConn (+9.5) out of the tournament with a 77-75 win Sunday afternoon, the Huskies continued their success against the spread. UConn has covered 14 straight NCAA Tournament games. They covered the spread in every game along the way to winning two straight national championships and then covered the spread in both games this year.

There was a meaningless 3-pointer at the buzzer of the Florida-UConn game, which made the score 77-75 instead of 77-72. That 3-pointer allowed the over bet (150.5 points) to win. Going into the game, 87% of the money was on the over.

Overall in the NCAA Tournament, favorites went 28-24 against the spread, including favorites of six or more points going 19-9. The Big Ten is the best conference in against-the-spread betting, currently 12-4.

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Duke forward Cooper Flagg (2) drives past Baylor guard Robert Wright III (1) during the second half in the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 23, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Upsets of the Week
There were two upsets on Sunday, with No. 6 Ole Miss taking down No. 3 Iowa State, and although Kentucky was a No. 3 seed, they were underdogs against No. 6 Illinois. Kentucky was +115 on the moneyline and took in 76% of the bets, while Ole Miss was +195 on the moneyline and took in 81% of the bets.

On the PGA Tour, Viktor Hovland won the Valspar Championship at 11 under, beating Justin Thomas by one stroke. In pre-tournament betting, Hovland was +5000 to win and took in just 1.4% of the bets and 0.8% of the money.

Coming Up
The NBA is nearing the end of the regular season and two teams have pulled away from the rest when it comes to championship betting — the Boston Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Oklahoma City is +185 to win, while Boston is +220.

The Cleveland Cavaliers (+500), Los Angeles Lakers (+700) and Golden State Warriors (+1200) round out the top five.

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