Never attempt to catch a falling knife.
It causes injuries at the dinner table and leads to losses at the sports book.
A recent discovery isolates a surefire way to identify college basketball teams in declining form when the NCAA tournament arrives every March.
The NCAA Division I men's basketball selection committee on February 9 unveiled an in-season look at their Top 16 teams for the Big Dance.
The early release listed Marquette as the last #3 seed with Wisconsin, Iowa State, Nevada and Louisville assigned the four #4 seeds.
Five weeks later, the above quintet was not among the tournament's Top 16 seeds on Selection Sunday.
Marquette fell two seed lines from #3 to #5, Wisconsin dropped one seed line to #5, Iowa State dropped two seed lines to #6 while both Nevada and Louisville were assigned #7 seeds.
How did the "Falling Five" perform during the opening round of the NCAA tournament?
The word miserable comes to mind.
How about 0-5 straight-up and 0-5 against the spread?
Not only did all five teams lose in the favorite's role, but the five fading teams lost by an average margin of more than 11 points per game.
Did I profit from the results?
Of course not.
I'm good at recognizing profitable angles after the fact, not so much before tipoff.
But I promise it's an angle I'll incorporate when the selection committee convenes next February in Indianapolis and next March in New York City.
PROS and SCHMOES.....Amateur gamblers focus on the 67 games in the NCAA tournament.
Serious gamblers study the NIT, CIT and CBI.
Go to the head of the class if you knew NIT games are experimenting with FIBA's 3-point line (6.75 meters, 6.60 meters on the baseline), the CIT this season invited an oddball number of 26 teams and the CBI boasts a unique Best-of-3 series between its finalists to determine a champion.
BUM STEER.....I was close to supporting Northridge +12.5 over Utah Valley last week in an opening-round game of the College Basketball Invitational.
I waited too long to make the bet and thus lost a point of value.
I then received a phone call from a trusted source who said Utah Valley's home court provides the Wolverines one of the biggest advantages in all of college basketball.
My source told me the UCCU Center with a capacity of 8.500 is an intimidating building for conference foes and should pose problems for a Northridge team with 20 losses not excited about playing a postseason game in a consolation tournament.
Because of my source's winning track record and outstanding list of sources, I bet Utah Valley -11.5.
Final score: Utah Valley 92 Northridge 84.
Utah Valley was not interested in playing defense and its fans were not interested in attending the game.
Imagine my disgust when I saw the total attendance listed in the box score: 375.
Some home-court advantage, I thought.
OVERMATCHED.....Sometimes the best man for the job is a woman.
Just not in the case of Debbie Antonelli.
Antonelli served as the color commentator for last Saturday's Murray State-Florida State game on TNT.
She allowed her promotion of the telecast to cloud her editorial judgment.
At halftime of a contest in which Florida State led 50-34 and dominated all phases of the game, Antonelli proclaimed, "Don't go anywhere. Murray State has a chance to rally against this Florida State squad. This game is not over by any means."
Antonelli's attempt to hold television viewers may have pleased CBS executives but her sales job betrayed viewers who seek expert opinions.
She failed to mention Florida State players were bigger, stronger and longer than their overmatched opponents.
The second half looked a lot like the first half with the Seminoles outscoring the Racers, 40-28, over the game's final 20 minutes.
One thing's for sure: Antonelli never would survive as a halftime bettor in Las Vegas.
THE PERFECT HOST.....Ernie Johnson is a funny guy despite his role as straight-man to Charles Barkley's silly but sometimes humorous commentary.
After Florida State's 28-point victory over Murray State, a team led by heavily-publicized star player Ja Morant, Johnson delivered the following line with tongue firmly planted in cheek: "It was a 'JA-dropping' performance by the Seminoles."
The witty play on words received a few groans from the studio panel but that did not deter Johnson from delivering another clever line.
Johnson said, "I'm almost ashamed but not quite."
FIELDS OF DREAMS.....My most entertaining dinner guest last week was sharp sports bettor Trace Fields who described his worldwide travels in colorful terms.
Fields, a native Oklahoman, discussed his many trips to Asia, Europe, Central America and South America.
He talked about his gambling coups in college football and college basketball and sprinkled in a few stories about successful escapades with the opposite sex.
The handsome 52-year-old said, "The women of South America are the most beautiful women in the world and they adore American men."
When asked how many languages he spoke, Fields responded without hesitation, "I can say BIG TITS in 31 languages."
MONDAY'S BEST BET.....Play 609 Longwood +15 (-110) widely available.
DePaul is untrustworthy in this price range because the Blue Demons don't attend to the defensive end of the court.
The game will be played at McGrath-Phillips Arena, a small 3,000-seat gym employed by the women's volleyball team at DePaul.
Wintrust Arena, DePaul's home court, is unavailable as it prepares to host the Chicago region of the Division I women's basketball tournament this weekend.
It causes injuries at the dinner table and leads to losses at the sports book.
A recent discovery isolates a surefire way to identify college basketball teams in declining form when the NCAA tournament arrives every March.
The NCAA Division I men's basketball selection committee on February 9 unveiled an in-season look at their Top 16 teams for the Big Dance.
The early release listed Marquette as the last #3 seed with Wisconsin, Iowa State, Nevada and Louisville assigned the four #4 seeds.
Five weeks later, the above quintet was not among the tournament's Top 16 seeds on Selection Sunday.
Marquette fell two seed lines from #3 to #5, Wisconsin dropped one seed line to #5, Iowa State dropped two seed lines to #6 while both Nevada and Louisville were assigned #7 seeds.
How did the "Falling Five" perform during the opening round of the NCAA tournament?
The word miserable comes to mind.
How about 0-5 straight-up and 0-5 against the spread?
Not only did all five teams lose in the favorite's role, but the five fading teams lost by an average margin of more than 11 points per game.
Did I profit from the results?
Of course not.
I'm good at recognizing profitable angles after the fact, not so much before tipoff.
But I promise it's an angle I'll incorporate when the selection committee convenes next February in Indianapolis and next March in New York City.
PROS and SCHMOES.....Amateur gamblers focus on the 67 games in the NCAA tournament.
Serious gamblers study the NIT, CIT and CBI.
Go to the head of the class if you knew NIT games are experimenting with FIBA's 3-point line (6.75 meters, 6.60 meters on the baseline), the CIT this season invited an oddball number of 26 teams and the CBI boasts a unique Best-of-3 series between its finalists to determine a champion.
BUM STEER.....I was close to supporting Northridge +12.5 over Utah Valley last week in an opening-round game of the College Basketball Invitational.
I waited too long to make the bet and thus lost a point of value.
I then received a phone call from a trusted source who said Utah Valley's home court provides the Wolverines one of the biggest advantages in all of college basketball.
My source told me the UCCU Center with a capacity of 8.500 is an intimidating building for conference foes and should pose problems for a Northridge team with 20 losses not excited about playing a postseason game in a consolation tournament.
Because of my source's winning track record and outstanding list of sources, I bet Utah Valley -11.5.
Final score: Utah Valley 92 Northridge 84.
Utah Valley was not interested in playing defense and its fans were not interested in attending the game.
Imagine my disgust when I saw the total attendance listed in the box score: 375.
Some home-court advantage, I thought.
OVERMATCHED.....Sometimes the best man for the job is a woman.
Just not in the case of Debbie Antonelli.
Antonelli served as the color commentator for last Saturday's Murray State-Florida State game on TNT.
She allowed her promotion of the telecast to cloud her editorial judgment.
At halftime of a contest in which Florida State led 50-34 and dominated all phases of the game, Antonelli proclaimed, "Don't go anywhere. Murray State has a chance to rally against this Florida State squad. This game is not over by any means."
Antonelli's attempt to hold television viewers may have pleased CBS executives but her sales job betrayed viewers who seek expert opinions.
She failed to mention Florida State players were bigger, stronger and longer than their overmatched opponents.
The second half looked a lot like the first half with the Seminoles outscoring the Racers, 40-28, over the game's final 20 minutes.
One thing's for sure: Antonelli never would survive as a halftime bettor in Las Vegas.
THE PERFECT HOST.....Ernie Johnson is a funny guy despite his role as straight-man to Charles Barkley's silly but sometimes humorous commentary.
After Florida State's 28-point victory over Murray State, a team led by heavily-publicized star player Ja Morant, Johnson delivered the following line with tongue firmly planted in cheek: "It was a 'JA-dropping' performance by the Seminoles."
The witty play on words received a few groans from the studio panel but that did not deter Johnson from delivering another clever line.
Johnson said, "I'm almost ashamed but not quite."
FIELDS OF DREAMS.....My most entertaining dinner guest last week was sharp sports bettor Trace Fields who described his worldwide travels in colorful terms.
Fields, a native Oklahoman, discussed his many trips to Asia, Europe, Central America and South America.
He talked about his gambling coups in college football and college basketball and sprinkled in a few stories about successful escapades with the opposite sex.
The handsome 52-year-old said, "The women of South America are the most beautiful women in the world and they adore American men."
When asked how many languages he spoke, Fields responded without hesitation, "I can say BIG TITS in 31 languages."
MONDAY'S BEST BET.....Play 609 Longwood +15 (-110) widely available.
DePaul is untrustworthy in this price range because the Blue Demons don't attend to the defensive end of the court.
The game will be played at McGrath-Phillips Arena, a small 3,000-seat gym employed by the women's volleyball team at DePaul.
Wintrust Arena, DePaul's home court, is unavailable as it prepares to host the Chicago region of the Division I women's basketball tournament this weekend.
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