College Basketball

National Championship Odds: Florida Favored By 1 Point Over Houston

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Anthony Cardenas
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Anthony Cardenas Sports Editor

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Published06 Apr 2025

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After a wild and entertaining pair of games during the Final Four, the matchup for the 2025 National Championship game is set. Florida will take on Houston in a battle of number 1 seeds that will determine the title winner, and it is the Gators who have opened as the slight favorite according to the oddsmakers.

Florida Favored By 1 Point In National Championship

It looked as though the Duke Blue Devils were on their way to finishing off a dominant tournament run. In Saturday’s game against Houston, they held a 7-point lead with less than two minutes remaining, a lead similar to the one they held throughout most of the contest.

But a monumental collapse allowed a Cougar comeback in the final 90 seconds, and Houston pulled off a shocking upset over Duke who came into the game as 5.5-point favorites.

The Florida Gators had a nail-biting affair themselves earlier in the day, but were able to stave off the team that entered the tournament as the top overall seed. Auburn was up by 9 points early in the second half and looked to gain control, but that lead was quickly erased thanks to Florida’s hot three point shooting.

The Gators seized control late in the contest and never gave up their lead, becoming the first SEC team to advance to the final since 2014.

Had Duke advanced, they would have likely entered the National Championship game as a somewhat heavy favorite. But with Florida and Houston being more evenly matched, at least on paper, the margin at the sportsbooks is razor-thin. The Gators have opened as the favorites to beat the Cougars, though the spread is about as small as you can get. They’ll be favored by one point, with the line subject to change in the hours leading up to the big game.

The one-point margin is the lowest that we have seen in a men’s college basketball National Championship since 2016-17, when North Carolina was favored by a single point over Gonzaga. The Tar Heels ended up winning by 6.

Monday’s game is set to tip off on Monday night at 8:50PM Eastern time.