The Houston Cougars pulled off a shocking upset Saturday evening, beating the Duke Blue Devils 70-67 outright as 4.5-point underdogs. Houston ended the game on a 9-0 run and was down as many as 14 points in the second half. Earlier in the day, the Florida Gators (-2.5) beat the Auburn Tigers 79-73, led by 34 points from Walter Clayton Jr.
Despite Houston’s heroics after trailing by seven against Duke with 1:26 left, Florida opened as a 1.5-point favorite at BetMGM in Monday’s national championship game with a total of 141.5.
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Sportsbooks have been rooting against Duke since the NCAA tournament began, as the Blue Devils have been a growing liability and were the worst-case scenario to win it all. At BetMGM, Duke had the most bets (14.2%) to win the NCAA tournament and most dollars wagered (39.6%) heading into Saturday’s games.
Included in those wagers is the largest reported March Madness futures wager of $500,000 on Duke to win the championship at +350 odds at BetMGM. That wager would’ve won $1.75 million if Duke had won it all, but now is simply another ticket that didn’t cash.
“We’re rooting for anybody except Duke,” Patrick Berbert, college basketball trader at Caesars Sportsbook, told Yahoo Sports before Saturday’s games. “We’re in great standing for the other three teams.”
The 2025 men’s tournament has been dominated by favorites, with favored teams winning 13 of 14 games in the Sweet 16, Elite Eight and Final Four rounds. Favorites have won 49 of the 62 games overall, going 34-28 against the spread.
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