For my money, college basketball is the best sport to watch if you're a gambler. Even now, more than three months from the most exciting tournament in sports, there is excitement all over the place. In Maryland's first B1G game ever, they took powerhouse Michigan State to two overtimes - and the game was in Michigan! Florida collapsed against Florida State, and I didn't even realize there were bowl games except for the ESPN Bottom Line (Georgia was easy money though, and I can't believe we missed it).
To the picks that we did actually make:
Ohio State -7.5 over Iowa
Iowa won 71-65, so this was an early loss. Ohio State was 6-24 from three point range, including 1-8 from D'Angelo Russell. When you couple that with Iowa's 37-29 advantage on the boards, Ohio State really had no chance to cover. If they played again tonight, I'd take the Buckeyes again, but this was just a bad night in Columbus.
Virginia -16.5 over Davidson
Virginia won 83-72, and so we lost another one. They started really slow, trailed by 10 at one point, and were down 4 at halftime. They won the second half by 15, but it just wasn't enough (especially because the players weren't really playing to cover the spread).
West Virginia -8.5 over Virginia Tech (as part of a teaser)
This was Va Tech's first game against a real team, and it's nice to know going forward that they STANK. This game was a clinic. WVU won in field goal/three point/free throw percentages (and shots taken in all categories), rebounds 36-22, assists 21-9, steals 16-7, and turnovers forced 25-17. Easy cover.
Illinois +10.5 over Michigan (teased)
Towards the end of regulation, I was getting upset that we didn't just take Illinois +2.5 on its own. But then the game went into overtime, where Michigan outscored them 14-6 to win 73-65. Tease life pays off sometimes.
Maryland +14.5 over Michigan State (teased)
UMD won 68-66 in 2OT. If you listened to my advice and took the Maryland moneyline, you got rich. If you did what we did and teased, then you covered by two touchdowns and two extra points. Michigan State has a few good players, but Maryland just seems like they're better. Dez Wells is a BEAST and those huge white Euroballers seem to be doing well enough.
So we hit that teaser, which was nice (we basically covered the first two losses because we put double on the teaser).
Our late teaser, which I neglected to post, was Florida -3 and Kansas -10.5. Kansas was no issue, but Florida lost outright to Florida State. As I sat in my living room drinking beer from a Florida State pint glass, I just kind of shook my head. Gambling is the worst.
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