It took a 20-0 start to the season for Nebraska to finally climb into the top 5 of the AP Poll. Then, strangely, it took a loss for the oddsmakers to finally give Fred Hoiberg’s team some respect.
After the Huskers’ first misstep of the season on Tuesday night, a heartbreaking 75-72 loss at No. 3 Michigan, their odds to make the Final Four moved from +750 before tip-off in the DraftKings Sportsbook to +500, a considerable jump that was reflected by a slight drop from Michigan to +110.
Without Rienk Mast, who missed the game with the flu, and Braden Frager, who was out with an injury, Fred Hoiberg’s undermanned group led nearly wire-to-wire before running out of gas down the stretch and finally squandering the lead with 1:07 left amid a three-plus-minute scoring drought to close the game.
That impressive showing in Ann Arbor proved the Huskers can play with any team in the country, and finally has Vegas believing that Nebraska can make a real run to the Final Four.
Nebraska’s final four odds jump from +750 to +500 despite taking 1st loss of the year
Hanging with the No. 3 team in the country on the road and handily covering a double-digit spread with just a seven-man rotation proved how legit Hoiberg’s team is. Vegas clearly saw it as confirmation that Nebraska belongs in the sport’s upper echelon of contenders this season, giving the Huskers the 10th-best odds to win a region in the NCAA Tournament, ahead of Michigan State and narrowly trailing Purdue.
This is a bold move from the sportsbook, coming off a loss because Nebraska’s path to a potential No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament got a whole lot tougher after falling to 20-1. The Huskers still have two ranked opponents, Illinois and Purdue, left on the schedule, but it could take a 30-1 finish to the regular season to secure a spot on the one line, and that’s incredibly unlikely.
Not being a one-seed in the tournament complicates things and is obviously a factor in the oddsmaker’s calculus when setting Final Four odds. But if there was any real doubt about Nebraska being for real, that was squashed on Tuesday night. Nebraska can hang with Michigan, and with two of its best players back, probably could beat the Wolverines.
In KenPom, Nebraska also climbed two spots following the loss, now up to No. 10. Michigan is No. 2 behind Arizona.
Hoiberg will need to get his team back into the win column and keep them there down the stretch to secure a spot as a Final Four favorite, but these are uncharted waters for a program that has only made the NCAA Tournament eight times in its history and has never advanced beyond the second round.