Saint Peter’s March Madness Title Odds and Final Four Odds Improve After Upsetting Kentucky

• The #15 Saint Peter’s Peacocks upset #2 Kentucky as 18.5-point underdogs
• The Peacocks’ odds to make win March Madness improved to +30000
• Below, see the updated NCAA Tournament odds after the first day of March Madness 2022

For the second straight year, a #15 seed has played giant killer in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In 2021, Oral Roberts portrayed the role of David; this year, it was the Saint Peter’s Peacocks, sling in hand, taking down basketball Goliath Kentucky.

An 18.5-point underdog heading into the game, Saint Peter’s overcame a late six-point deficit to force OT and then pulled out a stunning 85-79 victory, despite again trailing by three with just 2.5 minutes to play in the extra frame.

Their odds to win March Madness, predictably, shortened by a significant margin, going from +75000 to +30000.

Odds to Win March Madness

Odds as of March 17, 2022, at FanDuel Sportsbook.

At the time of writing, sportsbooks had not yet re-released the updated Final Four odds. Saint Peter’s was a +25000 longshot to come out of the East Region before the first round, a number that will also shorten immensely in the coming hours.

How Did Saint Peter’s Beat Kentucky?

It was largely a two-man show for the Peacocks against the Wildcats. Two-guard Daryl Banks poured in 27 points on 9-19 shooting, including 5-8 from three. He was aided by a huge 20 points off the bench from Doug Edert, his second-highest output of the season.

No other Saint Peter’s players scored in double-figures, but the supporting cast still did its part; four other players had between six and eight points, and five Peacocks had at least four rebounds.

The team effort on the glass was huge. Saint Peter’s was supposed to get manhandled on the boards, but they battled hard and ended up just -1 on the boards.

Don’t blame Oscar Tshiebwe for UK’s defeat. The favorite in the Wooden Award odds had 30 points to lead Kentucky while also grabbing a team-high 16 rebounds.

Saint Peter’s Next Opponent(s)

The road doesn’t get much easier for the Peacocks in the March Madness bracket. In the round of 32, they will will face the winner of #7 Murray State vs #10 San Francisco. If they survive that test, their Sweet 16 opponent is likely to be either Purdue, Texas, or Virginia Tech.

The lowest-rated of those teams at KenPom is Murray State at 29. The others are all 21st or better. By comparison, Saint Peter’s is 118th, over 100 spots worse than many of the teams waiting off stage.

Now, that being said, the Peacocks just beat KenPom’s fourth-rated team in the form of Kentucky. Not only that, they did so in front of a highly-partial Kentucky crowd.

The road does, indeed, get easier, in theory.

Until the Elite Eight that is. If the chalk holds, Saint Peter’s would meet Baylor in the Elite Eight for the right to represent the East Region in the Final Four. The defending champions rate #2 at KenPom as of now.

Making matters worse, their most-likely Final Four opponent is #1-rated Gonzaga.

The Peacocks might not be hanging a national championship banner at the start of next season. But don’t let that diminish what they did today.