Coming into the 2024-2025 college basketball season there were a few sure things in life. Death, taxes, and apparently UConn covering. For sports bettors who backed Hurley and the Huskies it was all green, but this is a new year and that gravy train has seemingly stopped.
Two-time defending NCAA champions were not just dominant on the court as far as winning was concerned, but they were champions in their own right for sports bettors for years. Since Danny Hurley took over as coach in 2018 this team has been a covering machine cashing 61.3% (120-75-4) of the time. This is during a time where no other team has even crossed 60%. Their NCAA tournament runs were a thing of legend in the sports betting community. It seemed that no matter how high the book makers put the number that UConn was going to cover. The Huskies covered all 12 of their games over the past two seasons en route to their two national titles. For a favorite that is unheard of, and to do it two years in a row was simply unbelievable.
That gravy train has come to a complete stop this year though. It started like the same old Huskies blowing out their first four opponents by 30+ points, but not only did the favorite Huskies fail to cover the next game, they lost outright to Memphis in overtime. Then they lost the next game as almost double digit favorites, and then a 3rd loss in a row in another heavy favorite game. Dan Hurley's boys have now lost as many games this season as they did all last year during their title run.
So, as sports bettors what do we do? It seems like it's fade UConn time. The Huskies won't get the corrected line moves that most schools would get because of a three game losing streak, instead this team will still have inflated lines because of what they have done for years. Sure, there will be cupcakes games and 30+ blowouts this season, but they have a brutal schedule in conference, but even out of conference they have Baylor, Texas, and Gonzaga the next three games. If they turn their season around and win and cover the next three games bettors will be pounding the Huskies and think of their non-covering week as a blip on the radar, and sports books will keep pumping the line up. But, if they drop those three big games don't expect much value from UConn. The gravy train has ended for the Huskies, but there is always money to be made, it just might be time to take the other side.