GREENSBORO, N.C. — With all this talk about North Carolina State, it had us asking who sports bettors predicting to face off in the championship and take home the trophy.
It's the big question.
Who is America's most loved team right now on the sports betting apps? According to Underdog Sports and BetMGM, It sounds like the wolfpack has people howling.
Stacie Stern, the senior vice president of government affairs and partnerships for Underdog, said there is love for NC State.
"I think a lot of times when you're watching the NCAA tournaments," said Stern. "We talk about the Cinderella story, right? People love to root for the underdogs and that's what we're seeing here with NC State. For them to get to the final four, I think if you ask the team, they thought that they had a chance to do it. They believed in themselves. They are really winning over America's hearts, especially DJ Burns. He's like America's big guy now and people are rooting for him. There's a lot of anticipation and excitement around NC State being in the final four."
John Ewing, BetMGM's PR Manager, said UConn is the other team with big interest.
"America's team is NC state, there's no doubt about that. Again, the upsets, the style of play, DJ Burns Jr. just being an exciting, fun player. But then of course you have UConn's defending champions, they look unstoppable at this point. So UConn's received a bunch of support, NC state as well."
Both Underdog and BetMGM said they are seeing strong support for NC State to cover the spread against Purdue in the final four.
BetMGM said NC State is the biggest liability for the group, meaning the app will have a big payout for winners if NC State wins.
"Even though it wouldn't be great for BetMGM, I love an underdog story, so to see the Wolfpack actually go through the whole process and cut down the nets, that would be really fun to watch," said Ewing.
Also, BetMGM said NC State has received a ton of support from bettors to cut down the nets in the tournament.
Underdog said DJ Burns and DJ Horne are fan favorites and people are rooting for them on the app. There is still love for the other teams, like Purdue's Zach Edey. Those three players are the most popular for wagers on Underdog.
"DJ Burns is a fan favorite on Underdog and people are expressing their opinion that they think he's going to perform well and wagering on his performance," said Stern. "DJ Horne, another one, he's a North Carolina guy, local to Raleigh and he's somebody who people are excited about and then, of course, Zach Edey from Purdue, who is an outstanding player and well known. A lot of size, just like DJ Burns, so it's going to be a fun matchup to watch the two of them together. But those are the three players that tend to be more popular for wagers on Underdog Sportsbook."
Underdog Sports will also be joining the team in Arizona.
"We're really excited because Underdog Sports will have a big content team on the ground in Phoenix, covering the games live and so it'll be an opportunity for wagers on our Underdog Sportsbook to be able to follow those content providers live and sort of see what they're seeing on the ground and continue to be able to wager throughout those games."
Of course, the women's NC State team is also in the final four. They too are receiving a bunch of support from bettors.
Get this, half of all bets on both men's and women's teams are coming from North Carolina bettors.
"The women's NC State team is also in the Final Four, which is amazing," said Ewing. "What a fun story. They, too, are receiving a bunch of support from bettors and a lot of this is driven by bettors in North Carolina. Half of all bets on both the men's and women's teams are coming from bettors in North Carolina, so if your team's doing well, you want to support them, and North Carolina is doing that."