Sports betting roundup: Duke takes over as favorite to win men's March Madness

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Sports betting roundup: Duke takes over as favorite to win men's March Madness

2025-03-25 00:15 Last Updated At：00:41

Duke has taken over as the favorite after the first weekend of this year's NCAA Tournament.

There weren’t as many buzzer-beaters and thrilling finishes as many have been accustomed to so far in March Madness, but there were a few upsets with teams like Arkansas, Mississippi and BYU reaching the Sweet 16.

Going into the tournament, Florida was the BetMGM online sportsbook’s favorite to win the men's national championship, but after two dominant performances showing they are healthy, Duke is now the favorite at +225.

In the Sweet 16 on Sunday, Duke crushed Baylor 89-66 to easily cover the 12.5-point spread. The Blue Devils took in 70% of the bets and 69% of the money. Baylor finished the year 0-11 straight up as an underdog of three or more points and 2-9 in those games against the spread.

While Florida knocked UConn (+9.5) out of the tournament with a 77-75 win Sunday afternoon, the Huskies continued their success against the spread. UConn has covered 14 straight NCAA Tournament games. They covered the spread in every game along the way to winning two straight national championships and then covered the spread in both games this year.

There was a meaningless 3-pointer at the buzzer of the Florida-UConn game, which made the score 77-75 instead of 77-72. That 3-pointer allowed the over bet (150.5 points) to win. Going into the game, 87% of the money was on the over.

Overall in the NCAA Tournament, favorites went 28-24 against the spread, including favorites of six or more points going 19-9. The Big Ten is the best conference in against-the-spread betting, currently 12-4.

There were two upsets on Sunday, with No. 6 Ole Miss taking down No. 3 Iowa State, and although Kentucky was a No. 3 seed, they were underdogs against No. 6 Illinois. Kentucky was +115 on the moneyline and took in 76% of the bets, while Ole Miss was +195 on the moneyline and took in 81% of the bets.

On the PGA Tour, Viktor Hovland won the Valspar Championship at 11 under, beating Justin Thomas by one stroke. In pre-tournament betting, Hovland was +5000 to win and took in just 1.4% of the bets and 0.8% of the money.

The NBA is nearing the end of the regular season and two teams have pulled away from the rest when it comes to championship betting — the Boston Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Oklahoma City is +185 to win, while Boston is +220.

The Cleveland Cavaliers (+500), Los Angeles Lakers (+700) and Golden State Warriors (+1200) round out the top five.

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

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

Canadian Prime Minister Carney calls Trump's auto tariffs a 'direct attack' on his country

2025-03-27 09:09 Last Updated At：09:12

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday that U.S. President Donald Trump's auto tariffs are a “direct attack” on his country and that the trade war is hurting Americans, noting that American consumer confidence is at a multi-year low.

Trump said earlier Wednesday that he was placing 25% tariffs on auto imports and, to underscore his intention, he stated “This is permanent.”

“This is a very direct attack,” Carney responded. “We will defend our workers. We will defend our companies. We will defend our country.”

Carney said he needs to see the details of Trump's executive order before taking retaliatory measures. He called it unjustified and said he will leave the election campaign to go to Ottawa on Thursday to chair his special Cabinet committee on U.S. relations.

Carney earlier announced a CA$2 billion ($1.4 billion) “strategic response fund” that will protect Canadian auto jobs affected by Trump’s tariffs.

Autos are Canada’s second largest export, and Carney noted it employs 125,000 Canadians directly and almost another 500,000 in related industries.

“Canada will be there for auto workers,” he said.

Trump previously granted a one-month exemption on his stiff new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for U.S. automakers.

The president has plunged the U.S. into a global trade war — all while on-again, off-again new levies continue to escalate uncertainty.

The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its U.S consumer confidence index fell 7.2 points in March to 92.9, the fourth straight monthly decline and its lowest reading since January of 2021.

“His trade war is hurting American consumers and workers and it will hurt more. I see that American consumer confidence is at a multi-year low,” Carney said earlier while campaigning in Windsor, Ontario ahead of Canada’s April 28 election.

The tax hike on auto imports starting in April means automakers could face higher costs and lower sales.

Trump previously 25% tariffs on Canada’s steel and aluminum and is threatening sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products — as well as all of America’s trading partners — on April 2.

“He wants to break us so America can own us,” Carney said. “And it will never ever happen because we just don’t look out for ourselves we look out for each other.”

Carney, former two-time central banker, made the earlier comments while campaigning against the backdrop of the Ambassador Bridge, which is considered the busiest U.S.-Canadian border crossing, carrying 25% of all trade between the two countries. It plays an especially important role in auto manufacturing.

Carney said the bridge carries $140 billion Canadian dollars ($98 billion) in goods every year and CA$400 million ($281 million) per day.

"Now those numbers and the jobs and the paychecks that depend on that are in question," Carney said. “The relationship between Canada and the United States has changed. We did not change it.”

In the auto sector, parts can go back and forth across the Canada-U.S. border several times before being fully assembled in Ontario or Michigan.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said, whose province has the bulk of Canada’s auto industry, Ford said auto plants on both sides the border will shut simultaneously if the tariffs go ahead.

“President is calling it Liberation Day. I call it Termination Day for American workers. I know President Trump likes tell people ’Your fired!” I didn’t think he meant U.S. auto workers when he said it,” Ford said.

Trump has declared a trade war on his northern neighbor and continues to call for Canada to become the 51st state, a position that has infuriated Canadians.

Canadians booed Trump repeatedly at a Carney election rally in Kitchener, Ontario.

The new prime minister, sworn in March 14, still hasn’t had a phone call with Trump. It is unusual for a U.S. president and Canadian prime minister to go so long without talking after a new leader takes office.

“It would be appropriate that the president and I speak given the action that he has taken. I’m sure that will happen soon,” Carney said.

Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said the tariffs will damage American auto workers just as they will damage Canadian auto workers.

"The message to President Trump should be to knock it off," Poilievre said. “He's changed his mind before. He's done this twice, puts them on, takes them off. We can suspect that may well happen again.”