As I watch the Utah State X UCLA first half with bated breath… I wanted to get my Friday plays up a bit earlier than I got our action for Thursday out to the people.
First, a quick recap. At the very beginning of the week, we looked at 3 future bets for the big dogs to win the natty (the odds are what we took before the bracket coming out):
-Duke
-Houston
These two 1 seeds’ odds have not moved as Duke hasn’t played yet and Houston did their job earlier against SIU Edwardsville. We look at future bets like stocks, as in you can cash out when the odds lower and take the profit (assuming you’re using a competent Sportsbook, no free ads but use a Sportsbook that allows for futures to cash out anytime). These two aren’t going anywhere yet so we HOLD WITH DIAMOND HANDS! Remember that whole thing… anyway.
-Auburn
These kids let us down earlier. They won by 20 but last time I checked 20 is less than 32.5. They are at the time of this writing the only loss we endured Thursday. As a result of their less-than-ideal showing their odds have actually gotten longer than what we initially bought in at, from +400 to currently +475. Now, I am your risk-averse gambling guru, so we don’t buy the dip here… We have no choice but to hold until the cash out is even money or a slight profit. But my faith in this team was shaken Thursday afternoon.
Moving onto Thursday’s plays, we hit
-Creighton +2.5
-Houston -28.5
-Arkansas +5.5
We lost the aforementioned Auburn -32.5 and we will learn from that.
As of writing the Utah State x UCLA game is right on the seesaw of the spread we took. So fingers crossed and let’s hope we get that dub.
Friday’s looks:
-Fri. 1:30 pm Iowa State -14.5 (3) vs Lipscomb: The Cyclones are very good. They will blow out Lipscomb. This spread is a few points low in my opinion so I’m on it for Value!!
-Fri. 2:50 pm Duke -31.5 (1) vs Mount Saint Marys: Duke does what Auburn doesn’t, case closed.
-Fri. 3:15 pm Vanderbilt (10) vs St. Mary’s UNDER 135.5: I like Saint Mary’s a lot in this game. They play a VERY defensive, gritty, ugly game. And while I think they win, their style of play means that a spread is not necessarily a good indicator of how much better they are. This game goes under. And I am not a big under guy, but this one is too high.
-Fri. 9:45 pm Xavier +3.5 (11) vs Illinois (6): The Big East is good. Xavier is a good team in a good conference. The Big 10 is not always a conference that succeeds in the tournament. Take the points.
-Fri. 10:10 pm Liberty +7.5 (12) vs Oregon (5): Look, I am not advocating or defending Liberty University as an academic institution. I will not disparage it either, but I’m not a fan of Liberty. I will say that they bought a decent basketball team this season and I think they could win this game, so give me 7.5 and I’m playing it.
Editor’s Note: As I publish this Utah State looks like it’s an L. Barring a miraculous comeback we went 3-2 on Thursday. Not celebrating but we won. Let’s build on that and have a day.