The Duke Blue Devils have survived the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. They won each of their first two games in comfortable fashion, beating No. 13 Vermont by a final score of 64-47 and then trounced No. 12 James Madison, beating them 93-55.
They have a tough challenge ahead of them in the Sweet 16 when they take on No. 1 Houston, a team that a lot of people think is the best in the county.
If you think they can get past the Cougars and continue their run, then now is the time to bet on them to win the National Championship. Let's take a look at the latest odds and then dive into why you should place a bet on the Blue Devils to win their first national championship since 2015.
Duke National Championship odds
Duke is great dark horse bet to win March Madness
Duke has the ninth-best odds to win the National Championship at the end of the Round of 32. The Blue Devils are listed at +2300 at FanDuel Sportsbook. If you translate those odds to implied probability, Duke has a 4.17% chance of winning it all.
Duke may be playing its best basketball of the season at the perfect time as the Blue Devils looked like potential world beaters in their demolition of James Madison. With that being said, they may have got a bit of a break in Wisconsin failing to show up in its first game, leaving Duke to play two double-digit seeds in the first weekend.
Now, Duke has nowhere to hide and will take on an extremely tough Houston team. With that being said, the Blue Devils certainly have a chance. Duke is a much better shooting team than Houston, ranking 19th in effective field goal percentage compared to 184th for the Cougars. The biggest strength for Houston is the ability to create extra scoring chances per game (+10.5), but Duke can also thrive in that area, averaging +3.2 extra scoring chances per game, which ranks 45th in the country.
Duke is listed as a 4.5-point underdog to the Cougars on Friday night.
Duke's current National Championship odds are largely tied to the Blue Devils being underdogs to the No. 1 seed in the South Region. If you think they can get past Houston, which I certainly do, they're a great bet at +2300 to win the National Championship right now because those odds will be cut in half if they get through to the Elite Eight. If you wait until after the Houston game to bet on the Blue Devils, their value will disappear.
That's why you should do it now before it's too late.
If you want to bet on Duke to win the National Championship, click the link below to sign up for an account at FanDuel Sportsbook. If you do, you'll receive $200 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 wager.
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.