Morning Coffee: Chalk Madness sets the stage for a stacked Final Four

The glass slipper gang is in shambles.

It’s 12:01 and any hope for a Cinderella story in this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament has expired.

March Madness favourites went 12-0 straight up in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight for the first time in NCAA history.

All four No. 1 seeds advanced to the Final Four.

Every one of us who predicted Chalk Madness in this year’s tournament gets the green checkmark.

Meanwhile, it’s pumpkins for anybody who rolled the dice on the underdogs.

With the top four pre-tournament choices to win it all still dancing, the best teams in college basketball will now compete for NCAA basketball’s ultimate crown.

The stage is set for a potentially epic conclusion.

This is the Morning Coffee for Monday March 31st, 2025.

Chalk Madness Sets The Stage For A Stacked Final Four

The Duke Blue Devils entered this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament as the title favourite at +280.

The Florida Gators (+360), Houston Cougars (+550), and Auburn Tigers (+600) made up the top four title choices.

Fast-forward two weeks later, those four teams are set to compete for a spot in the national championship game.

The title favourite Duke opened -5.5 versus Houston.

The Blue Devils, which have covered the opening number in each of their tournament games, are down to +105 to win the title at FanDuel this morning.

Anybody who doubted them in the Elite Eight had to sit through them beating Alabama by 20 points in a route.

The Cougars are the third choice to win it all at +400.

Meanwhile, Florida is currently -2.5 versus Auburn.

The Gators remain the second choice to win it all behind Duke at +270.

The Tigers have the longest title odds to win it all among the Final Four teams at +500.

Per the FanDuel traders, the Blue Devils remain the most popular pick to win the tournament, accounting for 30.53 per cent of the total handle wagered in their NCAA men’s basketball champion market.

Florida is the second-most popular pick with 14 per cent of the total handle.

Houston accounts for seven per cent of the handle, followed by Auburn with six per cent of the handle.

Based on those betting splits, it’s safe to say that FanDuel will be cheering for an upset in the Final Four.

As somebody who bet Duke to win the championship with a win over Florida in my office pool bracket, I’ll be cheering for the Chalk Madness to continue.

I’ll lock in a Duke/Florida ML parlay at +141 as a FanDuel Best Bet for the men’s Final Four.

Meanwhile, the women’s NCAA tournament continues tonight on TSN with the final two Elite Eight games.

As is the case on the men’s side, it’s been Chalk Madness for the most part with UCONN and South Carolina as the obvious top two choices to win it all.

The Huskies are a massive 14.5-point favourite for tonight’s Elite Eight showdown with USC thanks in large part to the season-ending injury suffered by JuJu Watkins earlier in the tournament.

Texas is a 7.5-point favourite versus TCU in the other game.

I’ll go with a builder SGP+ that features Huskies’ superstar Paige Bueckers to score 20+ points, UCONN to win outright, and Texas to win outright at -110 as a FanDuel Best Bet for tonight’s Elite Eight games.

Hopefully, the Chalk Madness continues on TSN.

I’ll take bankroll building over fairytale stories any day.

Judge Powers Yankees Historic Start

The reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge entered the season as the favourite to lead the majors in home runs and to repeat as AL MVP at FanDuel.

Anybody who placed a bet on him in either market must be excited about the early results.

Judge powered the New York Yankees to a 3-0 sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers with four home runs and 11 RBI over the weekend.

The Yankees combined for 15 home runs in their first three games.

That’s tied for the most home runs by any team in their first three games of a season in MLB history.

In case you missed it, their bats were the biggest story in baseball over the weekend for more reasons than one.

Their 36 combined runs over the three victories is the third-most by any team in its first three games of a season over the last 100 years.

Judge is only the second player on record to hit 4+ home runs and 11+ RBI in his team’s first three games.

Judge to repeat as AL MVP was cut from +300 to -110.

Judge to lead the majors in home runs this season is down from +300 to +130.

Per the FanDuel traders, Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. is still the most popular bet to win AL MVP in terms of overall handle.

However, Judge has led the way with 49 per cent of the stakes risked in that market over the past 48 hours.

The pinstripes get Monday off before welcoming the Arizona Diamondbacks to town for a three-game series that begins on Tuesday.

All eyes will be on the Yankees sluggers to see what they have in store for an encore performance.

Flames Playoff Hopes Fading Fast

On the heels of a four-game win streak, the Calgary Flames salvaged just one of a possible four points in back-to-back losses to the Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers.

Calgary’s struggles combined with the relentless pace of the red-hot St. Louis Blues has left the Flames on the outside looking in on the Western Conference Wild Card race entering tonight’s date with the Colorado Avalanche.

The Blues beat the Avalanche on Saturday to extend their win streak to nine in a row and improve to 15-2-2 since the 4 Nations Face-Off.

St. Louis to make the playoffs was cut from -215 to -590 over the weekend.

Calgary’s odds to make the playoffs climbed from +340 to +400 in that same span.

Meanwhile, the odds for the Vancouver Canucks to make the playoffs ballooned from +340 to +800.

The Flames are up to +202 to upset the Avalanche tonight at FanDuel.

While they still have three games in hand on the Blues, Calgary’s still seven points back in the standings and running out of time to close the gap on the hottest team in the NHL.

The Gr8 Chase Continues With Ovechkin’s 890th Goal

Alex Ovechkin inched closer to breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL goals record with No 890 in a loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday.

Ovechkin is five goals away from breaking the record with nine games to go in the regular season.

FanDuel adjusted the “YES” option in their special novelty market for Ovechkin to break the record this season from -114 to -170 following Sunday’s goal.

If he continues his current season pace, Ovechkin will break the record against the New York Islanders on April 15th.

If he can channel his career pace, he’ll break the record against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 17th.

The Capitals have the Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, and New York Islanders on deck this week.

After Washington dropped three in a row, Winnipeg Jets fans will be paying close attention to their performance this week.

The Jets are three points up on the Capitals in the Presidents’ Trophy race with one more game played.

FanDuel has Winnipeg to win the Presidents’ Trophy priced at -155 this morning.

Washington to win the Presidents’ Trophy is +180.

With Gretzky’s record in sight and first place in the NHL standings within reach, it will be a big week for Capitals fans as they try to finish an impressive regular season off on a high note.

Have a great day, everyone!