Duke-Kansas Favorites for March Madness Title

It’s been a tournament full of upsets, but four blue-blood schools will be taking part in the Final Four this year. Duke will take on North Carolina in one of the national semifinals, while Kansas faces Villanova in the other. The only No. 1 seed left is Kansas, but it’s Duke that is the overall favorite to win the NCAA Tournament now.

March Madness Betting Odds

• Duke +155
• Kansas +185
• Villanova +450
• North Carolina +500

Odds Provided by DraftKings - Subject to Change

The Duke Blue Devils weren’t considered one of the five favorites to win March Madness at the start of the NCAA Tournament. The four No. 1 seeds and Kentucky all had better odds to win the national championship, but Duke is looking to make Mike Krzyzewski a national champion one more time before he retires.

Duke is finally playing decent defense while getting help from other players aside from Paolo Banchero and Wendell Moore. A.J. Griffin had 18 points in the win over Arkansas, and Jeremy Roach was solid against Michigan State and Texas Tech. That has made the Blue Devils a 4.5-point favorite against rival North Carolina in the Final Four even though the Tar Heels blew out Duke in Durham three weeks ago.

Kansas has always been one of the favorites to win the national title. The Jayhawks were the biggest favorite to win their region after the first weekend of games, and they had the easiest path to the Final Four. They have been playing great defense through their four games, but this offense has struggled at times. Ochai Agbaji will need to have big games in New Orleans for Kansas to win its first title since 2008.

Justin Moore suffered a torn Achilles’ tendon in the final minute of Villanova’s win over Houston in the Elite Eight. That has seriously hurt the Wildcats’ chances of winning their third national title in seven years, as Nova is a four-point underdog to Kansas in the Final Four. Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels will need to play even better since the Wildcats aren’t very deep.

North Carolina was a long shot at the start of the NCAA Tournament as a No. 8 seed. The Tar Heels were the first team to knock off a No. 1 seed, and they have used their size and timely shooting from Caleb Love to make their 21^st Final Four. They don’t play great defense, but they have two bigs that can rebound in Armando Bacot and Brady Manek, and that has created problems for UNC’s opponents.