Kansas Wins National Championship, But Spread Bettors Brutally Lost Out

Kansas completed an incredible comeback to win the men’s basketball national championship game over North Carolina, 72-69, on Monday. But those who bet the top-seeded Jayhawks to cover the spread were let down at the last second.

Jayhawks guard Dajuan Harris Jr. received the ball on the inbound with 4.6 seconds left to play, and all he had to do to put the game on ice was get down to the other end, where he likely would have been fouled and gotten a chance to increase the distance in a three-point game. But he went out of bounds, and suddenly the game, and tickets for bets placed on Kansas to cover the minus-4 spread, were teetering by a thread.

The Jayhawks got lucky that the No. 8 Tar Heels, who led for much of the game, couldn’t capitalize when possession turned over to them with seconds left to play. Spread bettors who took Kansas, well, not so much.