Oklahoma fans certainly have their doubts again after watching Porter Moser's squad a few nights ago, but apparently Vegas oddsmakers are true believers.
The Sooners face Baylor at 12:30 p.m. CT Saturday in Las Vegas in the semifinals of the College Basketball Crown. Despite OU struggling in the quarterfinals and Baylor absolutely dominating, FanDuel still opened the Sooners as slim 1.5-point favorites in the matchup as of Friday afternoon.
Sooners favorites over Baylor in College Basketball Crown after ugly showing
OU tipped off play for the College Basketball Crown on Wednesday night after 19 days off. The rust was evident, and Moser even admitted it was a problem, as the Sooners needed a 10-point comeback and overtime to get past a depleted Colorado team that was missing three of its top four scorers from the regular season. OU closed as an 8.5-point favorite over Colorado before winning 90-86.
Right after that thriller, Baylor mauled Minnesota 67-48 as three starters scored at least 15 points.
Vegas, though, isn't being influenced by recency bias based off one game. The Sooners are 20-15 and finished the season as one of the hottest teams in college basketball while winning six of their last seven games heading into the College Basketball Crown. Obviously OU cooled off, though, since losing to Arkansas in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament on March 13 and being the first team left out of the NCAA Tournament.
Baylor is fighting to finish the season above .500 at 17-16. The Bears were bounced by Arizona State in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament to lose two of their three games in the month of March. Colorado also didn't get past the first round of the Big 12 Tournament after losing to Oklahoma State, but that obviously didn't matter Wednesday night.
If the Sooners are the same team fans watched down the stretch of the season that rattled off six wins in a row, then 1.5 points would be a disrespectable margin for OU and an easy bet for those enticed. But the squad out there Wednesday night more resembled the one that lost nine in a row in January. That 1.5-point spread will get covered on Saturday, but for which side depends on which OU team shows up.