In the second Final Four matchup, the Duke Blue Devils take on the Houston Cougars. This is a breakdown of the public betting splits and the most popular player prop bets for the highly-anticipated Final Four matchup.
Duke is a 4.5-point favorite over Houston at DraftKings Sportsbook, with a total of o/u 136.5.
Betting Splits
In the second semifinal of the Final Four, Duke faces Houston in a battle of the non-SEC No. 1 seeds. It has been an incredible season for Duke, led by freshman phenom Cooper Flagg. Duke cruised through the ACC in what was a massive down year for the conference. The lack of strong competition in the conference did leave a bit of doubt in people’s minds about Duke. However, the Blue Devils have proven how good they are all tournament and are just two wins away from getting back to the mountaintop. Meanwhile, Kelvin Sampson has taken Houston to the Final Four for the second time in the past five years. Houston last made the Final Four in 2021, though they lost in the semifinals. Sampson will look to make it at least one step further this time around by upsetting Duke.
The public is backing Duke all the way in this game. 69% of the bets and 74% of the handle are on Duke to cover the 4.5-point spread. That means not only is a huge percentage of the public on the Blue Devils, but the bigger bettors are coming in on Duke as well. 77% of the Moneyline bets are also on Duke, but just 71% of the handle. An overwhelming majority of the public is still backing Duke to win, but that does indicate that some bigger bettors are taking a chance on Houston to pull off the outright upset. When it comes to the total, 73% of both the bets and the handle are on the over. The public loves to bet the over in big games like this. However, Houston and Duke are two of the best defensive teams in the nation, leading to this very low total. The public is hoping that the individual talent overcomes the great team defenses and they get over this total.
Most Popular Player Props
Here are the most popular player prop bets at DraftKings Sportsbook for this Final Four matchup:
- Cooper Flagg First Points Scorer (+500)
- Cooper Flagg 20+ Points (+105)
- Kon Knueppel First Points Scorer (+650)
- Cooper Flagg 5+ Assists (-165)
- Sion James 3+ Assists (+130)
It’s no surprise that Cooper Flagg is the most popular player in the prop market for this game. The freshman sensation has amazed college basketball fans all season, and the public is counting on him to have at least one more big game in the Final Four. Flagg to score the first points of the game is the most bet-on prop across both Final Four matchups. The public is also backing Flagg to score 20+ points and register 5+ assists against Houston. While Flagg has been phenomenal all season, Houston is the best defensive team in the country. They led the nation in defensive rating and put on a defensive clinic against Tennessee in the Elite Eight, completely smothering the Volunteers. Kelvin Sampson’s crew will have a game plan to slow down Flagg, and it should be great to watch.
The public is backing two other Duke players in the prop market, Kon Knueppel and Sion James. The public is relying on Knueppel to score the first points of the game. The freshman has been fantastic in the past two rounds, scoring 20+ points in both the Sweet 16 and Elite 8. If Houston’s defensive strategy is to take away Cooper Flagg, Knueppel could see a big share of the offensive workload for Duke. The public is also backing Sion James to register 3+ assists in this game. James averaged exactly 3.0 assists per game this season but has only hit this number in two out of four March Madness games so far.
