Saturday Best Bets, Friday Recaps
Friday was another thrilling day with the second half of the NCAA Tournament’s first round, though it certainly wasn’t as enjoyable as Thursday in and out of the Tuley’s Takes home office.
We felt a little odd coming into the day as I only had one underdog I liked on the whole NCAA card and it looked like a chalk-fest with all the matchups (especially as a lot of the lines looked short). As the early sessions progressed, I actually felt vindicated as favorites dominated by going 7-1 SU and 6-2 ATS (full details are below) and felt my dog-or-pass philosophy was saving me money. Of course, in the night session (late afternoon here in Vegas), I missed the biggest dog of all when No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson pulled the biggest NCAA Tournament upset ever as a 23-point underdog over No. 1 Purdue. https://www.vsin.com/march-madness-stunner-no-16-fairleigh-dickinson-23-beats-no-1-purdue-in-biggest-ncaa-tournament-upset-ever/ I certainly wish I had seen that one coming, though I was hardly alone with FDU not even winning its own conference for its automatic bid and being a dog in the play-in game. Dogs did better in the night session, but faves still went 6-2 SU and 4-4 ATS and I lost my sole Best Bet on Kent State +4 at Indiana. The Golden Flashes made it interesting in the second half but I was clearly on the wrong side. I also lost my NHL First-Period Over parlay as the Sabres and Flyers only scored 1 goal in the first 20 minutes (before averaging 3 goals apiece in the other periods), which was frustrating as the Blue Jackets-Ducks flew Over their 1P total with 4 goals in the opening period. The day ended with a trip to Harry Reid Airport to pick up my daughter Peyton, who was flying home for spring break. Suffice it to say that didn’t go as smoothly as planned on a busy Friday night with seemingly a hundred thousand visitors coming to town in addition to the hundreds of thousands that were already here for the start of March Madness. When I offered to pick her up I was hoping it would a quick trip and then back home to finish this column. Anyway, let’s recap the rest of Friday’s action and look for more Best Bets on Saturday as I have two NCAA picks in the round of 32, plus an XFL play. I’m passing on the NBA and NHL. For those still interested in NHL 1P Overs (which haven’t been as strong lately, though still around break even thanks to the plus-money when they do hit), the possible plays for Saturday include Oilers-Kraken, Maple Leafs-Senators and Canucks-Kings. There are also 1P Under options with Bruins-Wild and Jets-Predators (maybe a smaller round-robin with all 5 plays?), but I like my NCAA and XFL plays better.Friday Recaps
NCAA Tournament: Fairleigh-Dickinson upset Purdue 63-58 on Friday afternoon to become only the 2nd No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 in NCAA Tournament history. The ViewFromVegas is FDU did it as 23-point underdog and an average of +2000 (odds of 20-1) on the money line. The game stayed way Under betting total of 146 points. Favorites still went 13-3 SU on Friday and 10-6 ATS to finish the first round at 24-8 SU and 18-14 ATS (56.3%). After going 10-6 on Thursday, Unders did even better on Friday by going an impressive 14-2 to improve to 24-8 (75%) overall.
More NCAA Tournament: Faves went 7-1 SU in the first half of Friday's action and 6-2 ATS with Kennesaw State (+12) covering in a 72-67 loss to Xavier. The lone upset was by Pittsburgh (+4.5) in a 59-41 win vs. Iowa State. Unders dominated 7-1 with Iona-UConn (141) the one Over. Faves went 6-2 SU in the night sessions, but just 4-4 ATS as Grand Canyon (+15.5) and Arizona State (+4.5) covered in losses to Gonzaga and TCU. Upsets were by Fairleigh Dickinson (+23 vs. Purdue) and FAU (+1.5) vs. Memphis. Unders dominated again at 7-1,