âCinderella never showed upâ: Bettors bury books in Elite Eight
LV REVIEW JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTION
The betting public loves to play favorites, and that strategy has paid off in a big way in the NCAA Tournament.
Favorites won all 12 games in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight over the weekend after winning 36 of 48 games in the first two rounds to help bettors cash countless favorite money-line parlays.
âThey just keep hitting them,â South Point sportsbook director Chris Andrews said. âThereâs nothing we can do about it.â
Sportsbooks will have to wait until next year for a major upset in March Madness. All four No. 1 seeds have advanced to the Final Four for the first time since 2008 and only the second time since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
âCinderella just never showed up at the ball this year,â Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. âWe never saw her.â
Duke is a consensus 4½-point favorite over Houston in the national semifinals Saturday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Florida is a 2½-point favorite over Auburn in the other Final Four matchup.
âObviously, Houston and Auburn can beat anybody. Itâs no slam dunk,â Andrews said. âBut I think Duke and Florida are well-deserved favorites.â
Favorites went 3-1 against the spread in the Elite Eight to improve to 33-27 ATS in the tournament. Duke (-7½, beat Alabama 85-65) covered Saturday and Houston (-3, beat Tennessee 69-50) and Auburn (-5, beat Michigan State 70-64) covered Sunday.
âItâs been really chalky the whole tournament,â Esposito said. âWe were still looking for that big money-line âdog to win that we just didnât get Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Overall, it was a pretty good weekend for the guests.â
Gator growl
Texas Tech appeared on the verge of knocking off the Gators on Saturday as a 7½-point underdog. The Red Raiders led 75-66 with less than three minutes left before Florida hit four straight 3-pointers. The Gators closed the game on an 18-4 run to escape with an 84-79 victory.
âIt wouldâve been a monster (had Texas Tech won),â Esposito said. âTexas Tech led 90 percent of that game and just couldnât win. We kind of saw the same movie over the course of the entire tournament, where you had the underdog winning the game outright going into the final five minutes. Then they kind of fell apart and didnât have the horses.
âItâs different than what weâve seen in the past. Itâs not that same parity overall.â
The Red Raiders were fortunate to be in the Elite Eight. They stormed back from 13 points down with less than five minutes left Thursday in an 85-83 overtime win over Arkansas.
Back-door cover
Ole Miss bettors were covering the entire game as 3½-point underdogs to Michigan State on Friday until the final minute. Crowds at the books roared when guard Tre Holloman made two free throws to give the popular Spartans a 73-67 lead with four seconds left. But it wasnât over.
Rebels backers exploded out of their seats when guard Matthew Murrell made an improbable 3-pointer as time expired for a back-door cover for the ages.
âThat Ole Miss buzzer beater was huge,â Esposito said. âThat was arguably one of the ugliest 3-point shots that Iâve ever seen, the way it fell in after hitting the back of the rim and the backboard at the same time.
âI turned my head for a minute and heard the âAwâ of the crowd in the book, looked back and saw the ball rolling through the hoop. It kind of saved the day getting the Ole Miss cover there, and some of the games staying under have helped as well. But overall, itâs been a pretty good tournament for the guests.â
Unders stand
Unders went 7-1 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and are 34-25-1 overall in the tournament.
Houston escaped with a 62-60 win over Purdue on Friday and bettors who had under 134½ in the game also escaped what would have been a likely loss in overtime.
The game appeared headed for overtime after forward Camden Heide tied it at 60-all for the Boilermakers with 35 seconds left. The Cougars then missed two shots before getting a chance to inbound the ball under the Purdue basket with two seconds left.
But Houston won it in regulation when guard Milos Uzan, a Desert Pines product, passed the ball to forward Joseph Tugler. Tugler threw a bounce pass right back to Uzan, who soared to the rim for an uncontested layup with 0.9 seconds left.
The Houston-Duke total is 136 and Florida-Auburn is 161.
Duke is the even-money favorite at Circa Sports to win it all. Florida is the +270 second choice, Houston is 4-1 and Auburn is +525.
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