Duke vs. Wisconsin makes history as first pick ’em title game in Las Vegas

By Case Keefer (contact)

Saturday, April 4, 2015 | 9:20 p.m.

Pick the winner; cash the ticket.

For the first time in 30 years, as far as reliable point spread data exists, college basketball’s national championship game is listed as a pick’em in Las Vegas. Wisconsin and Duke are evenly matched heading into Monday night’s showdown in Indianapolis according to sports books.

“Wisconsin and Duke, they’re about the same,” Wynn Las Vegas sports book Executive Director Johnny Avello said earlier in the week. “Kentucky is a notch above them, but not a big notch.”

And not a single notch on Saturday night. The last two rounds of the NCAA Tournament have only featured two upsets. Both were by Wisconsin.

The Badgers paired ousting Arizona 85-78 as 1.5-point underdogs in the Elite 8 last week with a much bigger shock in ruining Kentucky’s undefeated season with a 71-64 victory as 5-point underdogs. Kentucky and Arizona were the top two power-rated teams in Las Vegas going into the NCAA Tournament.

Wisconsin and Duke were close behind, but have emerged by winning five games in the last two weeks. Duke stayed undefeated against the spread in the tournament in Saturday’s first semifinal, blowing out Michigan State 81-61 as 5-point favorites.

“This team has done nothing wrong,” Avello said of the Blue Devils.

Wynn became the first sports book to open the national championship for betting, posting Wisconsin as a 1-point favorite seconds after it beat Kentucky. But the market stabilized, and almost everywhere in town followed by making the matchup a pick’em.

A team has come into the national championship as a 1-point favorite on two other occasions. Most recently, Florida defeated UCLA 73-57 laying a point in 2006.

Louisville upset Duke 72-69 as a 1-point underdog in 1986, which was the first time coach Mike Krzyzewski advanced to the final. The legendary Duke coach seeks his fifth title in his ninth championship game appearance Monday.

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.