Sports betting roundup: March Madness nears and NBA returns from All-Star break

With March less than a week away, college basketball produced some big games while the NBA returned from its All-Star break.

The highlight of last week, however, was the men’s hockey gold medal game at the Milan Cortina Olympics between the United States and Canada, with the Americans winning 2-1 in overtime.

Here’s a look at how things played out at the BetMGM online sportsbook:

Trends of the Week

Canada (-120) was a slight favorite going into the gold medal game, but only took in 26% of the bets and 32% of the money. Going into overtime, Canada was -130 to win, while the U.S. was +105.

On Sunday, the Cavaliers (-4.5 vs. Thunder) were the most-bet NBA team to win in terms of the number of bets and money. Cleveland lost outright 121-113. The Thunder led 40-25 after the first quarter.

The Celtics (-1.5 at Lakers) were the second-most bet team in terms of money to cover on Sunday. Boston rolled to a 111-89 win.

Upsets of the Week

On the PGA Tour, Jacob Bridgeman won the Genesis Invitational. He entered the final round with a six-shot lead and held on for a one-shot victory over Rory McIlroy and Kurt Kitayama. Bridgeman finished at 18 under for his first PGA Tour win. Entering the event, he was +8000 to win and took in just 0.6% of the bets and 0.2% of the money in pre-tournament outright winner betting.

There were two top-five matchups in college basketball on Saturday, and both were upsets. Arizona was a 6.5-point underdog against Houston and won outright 73-66. Duke was a 2.5-point underdog against Michigan and won 68-63. Arizona took in 61% of the bets and 65% of the money, while Duke took in 31% of the money.

Coming Up

With March Madness closing in, Michigan is favored to win the national championship at +375, followed by Duke and Arizona at +450, and Houston at +750.

Florida is next at +1150, followed by Iowa State and Illinois at +1300, UConn at +1700, Purdue at +2500 and Kansas at +3000.

___

This column was provided to The Associated Press by BetMGM online sportsbook.

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports

Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

Federal News Network Logo
Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.

Sign up