After a dominant performance against Arizona in the semifinals, Michigan will head into the men’s college basketball national championship game as the favorite over UConn, though the exact lines for the matchup have varied early and often.
DraftKings opened with the Wolverines as 7.5-point favorites over the Huskies, though other sportsbooks opened the spread at Michigan -6.5. There has been little consensus since then, with DraftKings and FanDuel swapping spreads as of Sunday morning, and other books posting a seven-point advantage for Dusty May’s team.
The early action at DraftKings has bettors backing the Wolverines with 56% of the wagers and 63% of the handle. In the futures market, UConn had garnered a significant amount of handle earlier in the season, according to bookmakers at Caesars and DraftKings, and is considered to be a decent liability at BetMGM. The sportsbooks noted heading into the Final Four that a Michigan win would be its best outcome.
Michigan opened as a -285 favorite to win the game outright, a number that has since shortened to -305; UConn opened +230 and sits at +245 as of Sunday morning. The Wolverines came into men’s college basketball’s final weekend with +175 odds to win it all, while the Huskies were at +550. The total remains at its opening number of 144.5, though it has shaded slightly toward the under at -115 vig.
(2) UConn Huskies
(1) Michigan Wolverines -6.5
Indianapolis, 8:50 p.m. ET
Moneyline:
UConn Huskies +245
Michigan Wolverines -355
Total: 144.5
UConn: 29-5, 17-3 in Big East play
Michigan: 31-2, 19-1 in Big Ten play
BPI projection: Michigan Wolverines by 5.2 points, straight up 70% of the time
