Duke, UConn, KU leading males’s basketball title chances

• David Purdum, ESPN

  • Staff WriterNov 4, 2024, 12:54 PM ET Close Signed up with ESPN in 2014 Reporter covering gaming industry given that 2008

It’s crowded atop the chances at sportsbooks to win the guys’s college basketball national championship, with 3 blue bloods jockeying for the role of favorite going into the season.Duke is the preferred at 9-1 at ESPN BET, followed carefully by UConn(10-1)and Kansas (11-1), while other sportsbooks have the two-time defending champion Huskies as the favorites or co-favorites in addition to the Jayhawks. No preseason favorite has gone on to win the national title given that the 2008-09 North Carolina Tar Heels.Alabama (12-1), Gonzaga (16-1 )and Houston (16-1 )comprise the 2nd tier of title competitors at ESPN BET.Editor’s Picks The betting action in the offseason has been split amongst Duke, UConn and Kansas. Those three teams account for roughly 50%of the money that has actually been wagered on ESPN BET’s odds to win the national championship.UConn started the previous two seasons as long shots at sportsbooks. The Huskies were 60-1 entering the 2022-23 season and 22-1 ahead of last season however defied the odds and won back-to-back

nationwide championships.Duke has actually been the preseason nationwide title favorite in three of the last eight seasons and inched in front of UConn late recently in ESPN BET’s champion odds. Heaven Devils boast promoted freshman Cooper Flagg.Kansas includes the favorite to win then John Wooden Award in big man Hunter Dickinson (+550 ). Alabama senior guard Mark Sears(+600 )and North Carolina senior guard RJ Davis (+650 )are top-tier competitors for the award also going into the season.