But that isn't necessarily what it means. In fact, it is difficult to take anything from that one line without reading the rest of the article for context.

I'll be surprised if anyone who is a 14.5 point underdog (was higher before the suspensions were announced) "expects" to win.

Sure - the players may expect to win. At least I hope they do - every player should expect to win the game they're playing. But there is no way the person who wrote that article "expects" UConn to win. Even if they went so far as to predict it, that doesn't mean they "expect" it.