Record, Round 1: 5-15
Total Outlay, Round 1: $2,225.00
Total Winnings, Round 1: $1,550.30
Loss, Round 1: $674.70
Once again, my grand fantasy of winning big on underdog parlays for the men's college basketball tournament go up in smoke. I will say this, though: Even though the Giant Killers Blog on ESPN.com didn't nail down all the upsets that were going to happen (I was salivating over North Carolina-Wilmington and East Tennessee St. winning and facing each other today), they did nail down ones that were so obvious that a sizable minority, if not a majority, of people bet on them for real.
For example, in a game I didn't wager on, 12th-seeded Middle Tennessee St. became the first 12 to be favored in Las Vegas since 1999. The oddsmakers (and most of the wagering public) were right in backing the Blue Raiders, for they vanquished with some ease 5-seed Minnesota. (For more on the Golden Gophers, see the Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey, published in 2017 nearly every Sunday.) The same was true for 11th-seeded Rhode Island, who submitted 6-seed Creighton even though I think they also went off off as the favorite.
Nevertheless I roped in enough losers that all my parlays went to pot. GKB were very high on Kansas St. pulling off the upset of Cincinnati, and the Wildcats being only 3 1/2-point underdogs, I figured this would mean an even game with a chance for KSU to pull it out at the end. Nosirree. Adding to Head Coach Bruce Weber's perception as a bad coach (even though he won the play-in game ... even though that was against Wake Forest, whose HC, Danny Manning was a hell of a player but questionable as an HC), they were blown out in the second half by the Bearcats.
That probably was the worst Anti-Pick I made, but Marquette similarly crudded out against thoughts they were a live dog. South Carolina, a team who had trouble making baskets all season, turned into Phi Slamma Jamma Friday night. Meanwhile, even though my bracket is actually pretty healthy compared to most years (I finally learned my lesson to not go crazy over upsets in Round 1), I lost an Elite Eight team and My Pet School That Is A Double-Digit Seed And Goes On To Make The Regional Final, Oklahoma St. It was a tight one against Michigan, but the Cowboys came up short. However, I heard that Okie St. made a three-pointer or something at the buzzer, turning the margin of defeat from three or four to just one. The odds I had for that game was +2 1/2; regardless, Vegas books saw a huge swing of payouts from one side to the other. I don't know if Vegas itself took a bath on that game, but a lot of bettors did when they thought they were going to get money just a second or two before. Ah, gambling. So glad I'm not doing this for real.
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So I checked Doc's Sports and as of press time, not only did they not have all of the odds for Sunday's Round 2 games, they didn't have any. So I'm confined to betting and parlaying on today's (Saturday's) games and hopefully I'll fit in another blog post for Sunday's. I'll need as many games as I can to dig out of my $700 hole:
1) Notre Dame +2 1/2 (I have West Virginia going to the Final Four in my bracket, so naturally I'll go against my instincts and pick the Fighting Irish here. Mike Brey used to be good to be bumped off early in The Big Dance; is he now one of the elite tournament coaches today?) $100
2) Wisconsin +6 (I have the Badgers upsetting Villanova in my bracket. A quiet Round 1 should mean that the upsets begin in Round 2, and I have to believe that the battle-testing Badgers are primed to pull off a big one) $200
3) Xavier +6 (I have no reason to believe a Musketeers team that went into the tourney cold can beat Florida St. ... and yet I have them beating the Seminoles here. Why? Just because. It's a better reason than what I have been doing before. And so it is with this bet) $100
4) Middle Tennessee St. +3 1/2 (I have Butler beating the Blue Raiders in my bracket. But I've been impressed that MTSU has a seasoned veteran team who seem to have the air of confidence about them. Besides, the second weekend has to have a mid-major in its 16; why not these guys?) $150
5) St. Mary's +5 1/2 (I develop blind spots in my bracket. I've been trying to see and think about all my decisions, and earlier this week I thought about the Gaels upsetting Arizona. I ultimately thought against it, but Sean Miller has yet to prove that he can guide a Wildcats team to the Promised Land. And St. Mary's is a good team) $100
6) Let's start small. Let's parlay 1) with 3), for $100.
7) And then we'll parlay 1) through 5), for $50.
Good luck!
Uh ... thanks?
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