While the 2025 NCAA tournament has been chock full of favorites, it was the underdog Houston Cougars who provided the most shocking upset Saturday night, defeating Duke 70-67 and ending the game on a 9-0 run. The result was a massive win for sportsbooks, both from a single-game and futures perspective, as many bettors had parlayed the Florida moneyline and Duke moneyline together, and Duke was by far the biggest title liability at sportsbooks across the country.
The other semifinal saw Florida overcome a double-digit second-half deficit to defeat No. 1 seed Auburn 79-73 and cover the spread as a 2.5-point favorite. The Gators were led by a tremendous performance from star guard Walter Clayton Jr. (34 points).
[Yahoo Sports' Frank Schwab makes his NCAA title game pick]
On Monday night, the Gators are 1.5-point favorites at BetMGM in the national championship game against Houston and 1-point favorites at many other books in the market.
As I've done throughout the tournament, I've enlisted the help of some great college basketball handicappers to share a best bet for the title game.
Here are the bets they like for Houston-Florida:
All odds courtesy of BetMGM.
No. 1 Houston vs. No. 1 Florida (-1.5, 140.5)
8:50 p.m. ET (CBS)
BetMGM betting splits: 61% of bets, 53% of money on Florida -1.5
Thomas Casale, CBS SportsLine: Florida has turned the ball over 69 times in five games in this tournament, which concerns me against Houston's elite defense. The Gators have been better in the second half of games, though. I can see Houston having the edge early in this one before Florida head coach Todd Golden makes some adjustments at halftime. I'll take the Cougars in the first half.
Bet: Houston first half +0.5
