DraftKings Opening Odds: Huskies head to Las Vegas as favorites over Arkansas

Mar 22, 2023 - 3:50 PM

After rolling past Iona and Saint Mary’s in the first and second round of the NCAA tournament, UConn men’s basketball is headed to their first Sweet 16 since 2014. The 4-seed Huskies will take on 8-seed Arkansas, who upset 1-seed Kansas.

The Huskies and Razorbacks have faced off four times in the past, with UConn holding a 3-1 advantage, but Arkansas did beat the Huskies 102-67 in the most recent matchup as part of the PK80 Tournament in Portland, Oregon in 2017.

With the West regional semifinal and final taking place in Las Vegas, it’s only to fair to take a look at what the gambling world thinks of the Huskies. DraftKings Sportsbook has UConn as a 3.5 point favorite over the Razorbacks, one of the closer spreads out of the eight Sweet 16 games. Per Jeff Goodman, 58 percent of the bets placed so far have been on the Huskies.

As UConn has won convincingly in the last two rounds, their odds have dropped accordingly. The Huskies have cut their opening odds of winning the NCAA tournament in half after their strong first weekend, going from +1800 to +900 heading into Thursday. The drop is one of the biggest amongst schools still left in the tournament alongside Tennessee and Creighton.

Be sure to check out DraftKings ahead of the Huskies’ Sweet 16 game on Thursday for the most up to date lines and futures odds. More information on other college basketball bets can be found here.