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UConn’s men’s basketball team has looked pretty good as it continues on its quest to successfully defend its national championship to the point where one notable personality argued they could beat the worst team in the NBA. However, one sportsbook definitely doesn’t think that’s the case based on the spread that was released for a game that will never be played.
The UConn Huskies posted a 35-3 record over the course of a stellar regular season that ended with the squad earning a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, and they’ve absolutely bulldozed every team they’ve faced off against during a four-game run where they’re smallest margin of victory has been 17 points (and the average has been 27.5).
Alabama is obviously hoping they’ll put up more of a fight than any of UConn’s previous opponents during their Final Four showdown on Saturday night, but they’re certainly facing an uphill battle thanks to the level of talent that led to ESPN talking head Mike Greenberg unleashing a first-ballot Hot Take Hall of Famer when he argued the Huskies could make the playoffs as an Eastern Conference team in the NBA.
I can’t think of any stance that sums up the current state of sports media quite like that one, and while I could attempt to detail the many, many reasons it doesn’t stand up to much scrutiny, there’s no point in wasting words debunking an argument that’s built on a foundation of weaponized ignorance.
With that said, I have to give credit where credit is due to Dan Patrick, who revealed he heard Greenberg’s comments and decided to hit up the folks at DraftKings to see if they had any interest in whipping up a line for a hypothetical matchup between UConn and the Detroit Pistons (who are currently the worst team in the NBA with a league-low 13 wins).
There's been some discussion of whether or not UConn could beat the worst #NBA team. So DP reached out to @DKSportsbook and asked what the betting line would be if this Huskies teams faced the #Pistons…. The line they came back with was 45 points 😯 pic.twitter.com/1GcmDnaFEv
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) April 5, 2024
They were happy to assist and ultimately determined UConn would head into the contest as 45-point underdogs. There’s obviously no way to put that to the test, but that number really tells you all you need to know.