It’s Day 1 of everyone’s favorite day of basketball, which means promos galore over on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
That includes King of the Dogs, where $2 million in bonus bets will be split and distributed to users who opted in and placed their token on a moneyline bet on the lowest-seeded team to advance that day in the tournament.
DraftKings’ King of the Dogs is set to run three times this week: Thursday, Friday and for the entirety of Round 2 on Saturday and Sunday.
Who will end Day 1 as King of the Dogs? Follow along below!
King of the Dogs Winner
King of the Dogs Preview
DraftKings Network’s Dan Johnson broke down Day 1’s slate of games and highlighted the following teams as King of the Dogs options:
- No. 13 Troy over No. 4 Nebraska
- No. 15 Idaho over No. 2 Houston
Here’s what the public is thinking:
King of the Dogs Live Updates
High Point ends Thursday’s slate with the biggest upset! (12:39 a.m. ET)
The lowest-seeded team to pick up a victory on Thursday and advance to the Round of 32 is No. 12 High Point. High Point beat No. 5 Wisconsin 83-82 and is King of the Dogs for the first slate of the tournament. Six upsets occurred during Thursday’s college basketball action. But none bigger than High Point upsetting the Badgers, whose backcourt, John Blackwell and Nick Boyd, combined for 49 points.
If you placed a pregame wager on High Point, you will win a share of the $2 million prize pool for Thursday’s slate.
Saint Louis blows out Georgia (12:15 a.m. ET)
After being up by 17 points at halftime, Saint Louis took it to the next level in the second half. No. 9 Saint Louis beat No. 8 Georgia by 25 points and will play No. 1 Michigan in the Round of 32. Six players for the Billikens recorded double-digit points in this contest. No. 9 seeds went 2-0 today against No. 8 seeds.
No. 9 Saint Louis is up by 17 points at halftime (11:05 p.m. ET)
At Halftime, No. 9 Saint Louis is beating No. 8 Georgia 49-32. Saint Louis has four players with at least seven points, led by Dion Brown, who has 10. The Bulldogs have had a poor start to the game, shooting 3-19 from deep and making only nine field goals.
Saint Louis holds a seven-point lead over Georgia (10:37 p.m. ET)
No. 9 Saint Louis is up by seven points over No. 8 Georgia with under nine minutes remaining in the first half. Saint Louis has held Georgia to 17 percent shooting from the field and 10 percent from three-point range. Dion Brown leads Saint Louis in scoring with eight points.
No. 11 Texas pulls off upset over No. 6 BYU (9:52 p.m. ET)
Four Longhorns scored at least 10 points, with Matas Vokietaitis leading the way with 23 points and 16 rebounds. Texas is the second No. 11 seed to win a game today, joining VCU, which upset North Carolina. AJ Dybantsa for BYU finished the game with 35 points and 10 rebounds.
Texas A&M takes down Saint Mary’s (9:42 p.m. ET)
Texas A&M plays the winner of No. 2 Houston vs. No. 15 Idaho in the second round. The Aggies held the Gaels to 50 points. Rashaun Agee was Texas A&M’s leading scorer, finishing with 22 points and nine rebounds. They are the third double-digit seed to win today. With No. 12 High Point and No. 11 VCU winning today, No. 10 Texas A&M will not be King of the Dogs.
VCU stuns North Carolina! (9:23 p.m. ET)
No. 11 VCU has pulled off the upset over No. 6 North Carolina 82-78. VCU was down by as much as 19 points with 14:58 left in the game. In overtime, VCU scored seven points while UNC had three.
Terrence Hill Jr. led the game in scoring with 34 points and seven three-pointers. Although VCU pulled off an excellent upset as a double-digit seed, they will not be King of the Dogs, as No. 12 High Point beat No. 5 Wisconsin earlier.
VCU ties UNC with 8.7 left! (8:59 p.m. ET)
After trailing for much of the second half, VCU has tied North Carolina at 75 with 8.7 seconds left in the game.
Texas & Texas A&M lead at halftime (8:28 p.m. ET)
No. 11 Texas is up 46-37 against No. 6 BYU at halftime. Texas center Matas Vokietaitis has a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds through the first 20 minutes of action. Dybantsa has been spectacular, scoring a game-high 20 points, but hasn’t received much help.
The Aggies lead has grown to 11 points at the half as they have held Saint Mary’s to only 26 points. Rashaun Agee and Ruben Dominguez both scored 11 points for Texas A&M in the first half. Gaels’ leading scorer Paulius Murauskas, who averages 18.8 points per game, has been held to two points so far.
No. 7 Saint Mary’s is trailing No. 10 Texas A&M (8:10 p.m. ET)
The No. 7 seed Saint Mary’s has only scored 16 points in the first 14 minutes of the game. The Gaels have played seven players so far, with four of them being scoreless. Meanwhile, Rashaun Agee is leading the way for the Texas A&M Aggies with nine points. There are under six minutes left in the first half, and Texas A&M has a seven-point lead.
Texas has a lead over BYU (8:05 p.m. ET)
Over halfway through the first half, the No. 11 seed, the Texas Longhorns, lead the No. 6 seed, the BYU Cougars, by seven points. All five starters for Texas have at least five points and are shooting 60 percent from the field and 50 percent on three-pointers as a team. BYU superstar AJ Dybantsa has 10 points, but is one of three Cougars with points so far in this contest.
Goodbye, Wisconsin! (3:49 p.m. ET)
Chase Johnston is a specialist. Like, maybe more than you could ever imagine. The sharpshooter came into Thursday shooting 48.5% from three-point range, so why even bother from within the arc? Well…
Johnston’s first two-point make of the season was the game-winning basket, as the No. 12 seeded Panthers dropped the Badgers 83-82 in a back-and-forth affair. High Point was able to overcome 27 points from Wisconsin guard Nick Boyd, who dominated the second half.
The Panthers will be hard to beat in King of the Dogs, but the day is still young.
Duke in Trouble? (3:25 p.m. ET)
It’s suuuuuuuper early, but Duke finds itself down 10 points to No. 16 Siena after 10 minutes. Francis Folefac has 11 points and is a perfect 4-for-4 from the field.
Insert eyes emoji here. Quickly.
High Point Takes the Lead (2:57 p.m. ET)
12-seed High Point is giving Wisconsin all it can handle.
The Panthers were down only two points heading into the half, and they took just their second lead of the game early on in the second half, 43-41, on a layup by Terry Anderson. Anderson’s also contributed nine rebounds this afternoon. Needless to say, we’re on upset alert!
Horned Frogs Hang On (2:26 p.m. ET)
We have our first dog advancing — and it’s from the first game of the tournament. TCU survived a second-half onslaught from Ohio State, who at one point went on a 15-1 run to take the lead. The Horned Frogs are moving on to the weekend by a score of 66-64, after the Buckeyes missed this half-court buzzer-beater attempt.
TCU was a very popular underdog on the DraftKings Sportsbook coming into the day. In fact, it was the second-most bet underdog on Day 1 by handle.
TCU Takes a Commanding Lead to the Half (1:05 p.m. ET)
It’s the first game of the day, and it’s only a nine-seed, but it’s certainly worth noting that TCU is up 15 points at the half against Ohio State, leading 39-24.
Micah Robinson is setting the pace for the Horned Frogs, with 13 points and four rebounds on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor.
How to Play King of the Dogs
- Opt in to receive your King of the Dogs token in the Promotions page
- Make a moneyline bet on DraftKings Sportsbook and apply your token (minimum $5 bet)
- The lowest seeded team to advance to the next round will be considered the King of the Dogs
- If the team you wagered on with your token is crowned King of the Dogs, you’ll win a share of $2 million
For more information on this promo, click here!
