A sports bettor gambling on Sunday's four conference championship games (ACC, SEC, A10 and Big Ten) had a chance to win 12 wagers by simply supporting all four quality underdogs in three separate wagering categories: the first half, second half and full-game result.
Florida State, Vanderbilt, St. Bonaventure and Michigan State all fit the category of power underdogs, teams sporting 20-win seasons with designs on making noise in the upcoming NCAA tourmament.
North Carolina, Kentucky, Xavier and Ohio State were expected to make adjustments after halftime in their respective championship games but none of the four favored teams was able to surge past their opponents in the second half.
Underdogs are especially appealing at this time of the college basketball season for three main reasons: 1) favored teams sometimes play to avoid losing rather than executing to win, 2) important postseason games are played at a more deliberate pace thus making it more difficult for the favored team to win by the assigned margin and 3) neutral court settings usually eliminate huge scoring runs often associated with a team's strong home-court advantage.
I've spotted a trio of live underdogs for the second round of the NCAA tournament (it's silly the NCAA labels the Thursday and Friday games as second-round action as opposed to calling them first-round games and reserving the tag of "Opening Round" for the Tuesday and Wednesday "First Four" games).
In tomorrow's blog entry, I'll detail my support for 727 SOUTH DAKOTA STATE +7.5 over Baylor, 835 BELMONT +3.5 over Georgetown and 854 ST. MARY'S +2 over Purdue.
FREE THROWS AND THREE-POINTERS.....Many of the 67 NCAA tournament games over the next three weeks will be determined by shots from the charity stripe and attempts from beyond the three-point arc. Here's a listing of the top five tournament teams from the free-throw line: LEHIGH (77.4%), NC-ASHEVILLE (77.2%), COLORADO STATE (76.9%), DAVIDSON (76.9%) AND MISSOURI (76.6%). Sharpest shooters from beyond the three-point line are INDIANA (43.3%), CREIGHTON (42.5%), MURRAY STATE (40.7%), COLORADO STATE (40.5%) and TEMPLE (40.2%).
SCHEDULE CHANGE......The remaining four dates for The SportsOptions Showdown have been moved to Wednesday, March 15 and 22 and Thursday, March 16 and 23. Mark Simons, a sports department manager at SportsOptions and 30-year veteran of Nevada's race and sports book industry, will meet High Times (March 15), JakePeavy21 (March 16), brians (March 22) and xbaggypants (March 23) in head-to-head handicapping challenges with $500 awarded to EOG contributors who outsmart Simons. Through eight weeks of this unique event, Team EOG is an impressive 26-13-1 against the spread while Simons, still searching for his maiden victory, is 17-19-4 ATS. Six of the eight contestants representing EOG have posted winning marks, including 4-1 records from dsethi, Railbird, WeinketoWarrick and Joeybagadonuts.
COMING TUESDAY......I'll list the reasons 548 WESTERN KENTUCKY -4 offers value over Mississippi Valley State.
Florida State, Vanderbilt, St. Bonaventure and Michigan State all fit the category of power underdogs, teams sporting 20-win seasons with designs on making noise in the upcoming NCAA tourmament.
North Carolina, Kentucky, Xavier and Ohio State were expected to make adjustments after halftime in their respective championship games but none of the four favored teams was able to surge past their opponents in the second half.
Underdogs are especially appealing at this time of the college basketball season for three main reasons: 1) favored teams sometimes play to avoid losing rather than executing to win, 2) important postseason games are played at a more deliberate pace thus making it more difficult for the favored team to win by the assigned margin and 3) neutral court settings usually eliminate huge scoring runs often associated with a team's strong home-court advantage.
I've spotted a trio of live underdogs for the second round of the NCAA tournament (it's silly the NCAA labels the Thursday and Friday games as second-round action as opposed to calling them first-round games and reserving the tag of "Opening Round" for the Tuesday and Wednesday "First Four" games).
In tomorrow's blog entry, I'll detail my support for 727 SOUTH DAKOTA STATE +7.5 over Baylor, 835 BELMONT +3.5 over Georgetown and 854 ST. MARY'S +2 over Purdue.
FREE THROWS AND THREE-POINTERS.....Many of the 67 NCAA tournament games over the next three weeks will be determined by shots from the charity stripe and attempts from beyond the three-point arc. Here's a listing of the top five tournament teams from the free-throw line: LEHIGH (77.4%), NC-ASHEVILLE (77.2%), COLORADO STATE (76.9%), DAVIDSON (76.9%) AND MISSOURI (76.6%). Sharpest shooters from beyond the three-point line are INDIANA (43.3%), CREIGHTON (42.5%), MURRAY STATE (40.7%), COLORADO STATE (40.5%) and TEMPLE (40.2%).
SCHEDULE CHANGE......The remaining four dates for The SportsOptions Showdown have been moved to Wednesday, March 15 and 22 and Thursday, March 16 and 23. Mark Simons, a sports department manager at SportsOptions and 30-year veteran of Nevada's race and sports book industry, will meet High Times (March 15), JakePeavy21 (March 16), brians (March 22) and xbaggypants (March 23) in head-to-head handicapping challenges with $500 awarded to EOG contributors who outsmart Simons. Through eight weeks of this unique event, Team EOG is an impressive 26-13-1 against the spread while Simons, still searching for his maiden victory, is 17-19-4 ATS. Six of the eight contestants representing EOG have posted winning marks, including 4-1 records from dsethi, Railbird, WeinketoWarrick and Joeybagadonuts.
COMING TUESDAY......I'll list the reasons 548 WESTERN KENTUCKY -4 offers value over Mississippi Valley State.