Going into Saturday’s Sweet 16 game between Ohio State and UConn, few people believed the Buckeyes would win.
UConn entered the game as a 10.5-point betting favorite. A five-person panel of ESPN analysts unanimously picked the Huskies to win. Analysts from Sports Illustrated, The Athletic, DraftKings and Bleacher Report also expected a UConn victory, and the latter three even picked UConn to cover the spread.
History suggested there was good reason to pick UConn to win Saturday’s game. After all, the Huskies had made every Elite Eight since 2005 and every Final Four since 2007.