Bets love the century: the money pouring on Arkansas, Kentucky in front of Sweet 16

March Madness has turned Meh -ss in March? For the first time since 2007, no seed n. 11 or higher has made the dessert 16. In the meantime, 15 of 16 seeds n. 1 and n. 2 have reached Sweet 16 in the last two tournaments.

With the first two low rounds of drama and upheaval, how did the sports books go to the NCAA tournament last week?

“Thursday, Friday and Saturday we were going well, but then on Sunday it was only a bad day,” said Johnny Avello, director of the tender and sports operations of Draftkings. “The favorites went 7-1 on Sunday and we could not exceed the parish of the money line even if we were still getting losing money. I think the bettors could have fired the favorites if we had seen more upheavals in the first three days. But when they saw that it was the trend, which added a little more fuel to the fire.”

The favorites ended 36-12 directly in the first two rounds. They also went 26-22 against the diffusion, although the 16 better seeds won their round of 64 games with an average margin of 22.6 points. Will a second consecutive plaster tournament completely re -evaluate the bettors of how they will bet in March Madness?

“The masses gravitate to the losers of the money line the first week just because they like to see upheavals and transform $ 10 into $ 50 or $ 100,” said Nick Bogdanovich, manager of about Sportsbook. “Even after how it went last year and this year, I don’t think it will change next year … if the favorites that dominate those rounds are repeated for another year or two, then I think it will change.”

There are only two teams that have brought out all upsets in each of their first two games of the tournament: the Arkansas n. 10 (+5 against n. 7 kansas, +6.5 against n. 2 St. John’s) and n. 6 Ole Miss (+1.5 against n. 11 North Carolina, +5.5 vs. N. 3 Iowa State).

While the razorbacks are the worst seed remaining in the tournament, they do not adapt exactly to the profile of a traditional Cinderella with their pedigree sec and ranking n. 16 in the AP Preseason survey. However, the Razorbacks are again disadvantaged on Thursday evening when they collide with the number 3 of the Texas Tech. Arkansas is currently getting 5.5 points and is at +190 on the money line against Red Raiders in Betmgm. Many bettors are already attracted to pigs.

“I think Arkansas bet like a more traditional Cinderella in tournaments just because you have John Calipari there,” said Patrick Berbert, university basketball trader at Caesars Sportsbook. “Every year he was in Kentucky, he was extremely supported by the public. The Kansas match (in the first round) was divided in a rather uniform way, but we saw many more bettors playing at Arkansas against St. John’s.

Others are also intrigued by the probability of Arkansas for the national title, which are currently the longest of any team that remained from 100 to 1. At the beginning of the tournament, the price of the Razorbacks to win everything was 300 to 1 and dived slightly to 250 to 1 before their 32 matchup round with St. John’s.

A bet of Caesars in New York made a bet of $ 1,000 on the Arkansas 500 to 1 before the tournament for a potential $ 500,000 victory. Pikkit, an app that allows sports bettors to synchronize their sports account, shared that Arkansas had the third bet more (6%) among all the betting on the future on the national title that is monitored from Saturday evening, only behind Duke and Florida.

The Arkansas is one of the records of seven seco teams that have reached the Sweet 16 and Razorbacks are certainly not the only ones of the conference that generate a strong betting interest.

“It was really only Bettori in support of the SEC teams against other conferences during the season, and this did not change in the NCAA tournament,” said Berbert. “In addition to the game of the Kentucky-Tennessee-Dal moment that two sec teams play each other-any century though that ends up losing openly or does not cover is definitely significant for us.

“Ole Miss was bet from +4 to +3 against the state of Michigan. For byu -alabama, we opened Alabama -4.5, and it is up to -5. All the money from Florida, and went from -5 to -6.5 against Maryland. Auburn -Michigan has remained in Auburn -8.5 so far, but I think we are traveling for -9.

The two most Sweet 16 diffusion bets more lops in Betmgm in terms of handle are the number 1 of Florida (-6.5 against n. 4 of Maryland) with 89% of money and Alabama n. 2 (-4.5 against n. 6 byu) with 87% of the money. Draftkings is seeing a similar popularity with those two teams of the century, since those are the only two sweets 16 spreads to move more points from their open: Florida -4.5 to -6.5 and Alabama from -3.5 to -5.5.

“At 6.5, I think there will be more two -way action, but we will probably still need Maryland for the team,” said Avello. “Florida has not had one of their best games against Connecticut, but they have really played well in the last two minutes. You will have to overcome some adversities in this tournament; usually that they have to happen with the best seeds. The Gators did it against a team that really showed up.

Wait moves, bad rhythms and fun in Parliay

• The Sweet 16 matchup between n. 6 Byu and Alabama n. 2 has easily the highest total of the NCAA tournament so far. He currently resides at 175.5 in Draftkings after opening at 171.5. It is even higher about about about, since it was bet from 175 to 176.

“I don’t think it will be the last issue; I think it will go even higher,” Bogdanovich said.

• The worst negative blow of the NCAA tournament so far? This would belong to bettors who had less than 150.5 points for Uconn-Florida. The two teams had combined only 136 points with 30 remaining seconds and then exploded for another 16 points before the final horn.

“It was a huge swing for us,” said Berbert. “Overall, we did really well to the game. It was the perfect scenario for us, with the victory of Florida and the Uconn coverage. But the bettors who bet in that game certainly had fun with that ending. This was one of our greatest decisions about the total games of all games that day.”

The Florida defeats the samples in charge 2 times 🐊@Tatorsmbk Is directed to #Sweet16 🔥#MARHCMADNESS pic.twitter.com/eohdk2wekn

– NCAA March Madness (@Marchmadnessmbb) 23 March 2025

• A bet in New York Cesars has captured a monster of $ 145,816.32 payment on a 15 leg, $ 60 paroy. The closest call? Derik Queen’s dramatic batter of the Cicalino gave Maryland a 72-71 victory over the state of Colorado and also allowed this bettor to creak from one of those legs of over 142.5 points for that clash.

(Photo by DJ Wagner: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)