Duke is the clear favorite to win a very chalky Final Four.
The four No. 1 seeds made the Final Four for just the second time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams and the first time since 2008, when Kansas, Memphis, North Carolina and UCLA made the final weekend. Seven of the eight teams in the Elite Eight were top-two seeds too. The only team who wasn’t seeded in the top eight to win three games in the tournament was No. 3 Texas Tech.
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The Blue Devils are the prohibitive favorites to win the national title at -110 at BetMGM. It also makes complete sense. Duke is the most recognizable basketball program remaining in the NCAA tournament, the Blue Devils have the best player in likely No. 1 NBA Draft pick Cooper Flagg and they’ve been the most dominant team throughout the tournament so far. Duke has won three of its four tournament games by 20 points or more and the only other win was a seven-point victory over Arizona in the Sweet 16.
Florida is the No. 2 favorite at +300 ahead of Houston (+400) and Auburn (+500). The Gators won the SEC tournament to snag the final No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and came back to beat Tech in the Elite Eight after the Red Raiders squandered a late lead. Houston absolutely dominated Tennessee in the first half of their Elite Eight game on Sunday to advance to the seventh Final Four in school history.
Auburn is in its second Final Four and has the longest odds despite being the No. 1 overall seed. The Tigers won the regular-season SEC title but Johni Broome’s health will be a major question mark entering the Final Four. Broom injured his right elbow and turned his left ankle in the second half of the Tigers’ Elite Eight win over Michigan State. The left-handed Broome returned to the game, but he was clearly not 100% as his right arm appeared to be dangling from his side at times. He was even holding it in the postgame interview on CBS, though he said he’d be ready to go against the Gators.
Florida and Auburn met once in the regular season and the Gators got a 90-81 win at Auburn. That win coupled with Broome’s injury is likely why the Gators are 3-point favorites over the Tigers on Saturday night. Duke, meanwhile, is a 4.5-point favorite over Houston. Florida and Auburn are scheduled to tip off at 6:09 p.m. ET on CBS with Duke and Houston scheduled for an 8:49 p.m. ET start.
