Last Night Was Exactly Why We Gamble On College Hoops And A Perfect Preview For March
So I tweeted this last night in the middle of an incredible slate of games. It reminded me of conference tournament week considering we had Creighton/Seton Hall, Xavier/Butler, Kansas/WVU, Auburn/Alabama and Ohio State/Rutgers all going on at the same time. It was just heads spinning everywhere trying to watch multiple screens.
But last night was just another prime example of why you and I love to gamble on this beautiful, dumb sport. Just take a quick look at some of these finishes - in what was one of my favorite nights of the season so far.
This alone is worth a blog by itself. You have USF missing a couple free throws. It sums up why betting on college hoops will drive you insane. A couple missed FT's from a decent shooter makes you think you just lost your USF bet. They naturally foul Houston because college teams love fouling. Then it happens. The 1-man fastbreak layup out of nowhere at the buzzer. A beautiful sight for a backdoor cover.
Speaking of backdoor covers.
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Just an all-timer here. Marty losing his mind, the suckbags in the front row losing their minds and money. This is the type of game, as Marty says, that can start a hot streak or just put you on compete tilt. But it also reminded me of conference tournament week. Why? How many times do we see weird shit in March. You're telling me if this is the 3/6 game at MSG in the Big East Tournament this doesn't happen? I bet weirder shit does.
Let's stay in the Big East:
Markus Howard became the Big East all-time leading scorer with that bucket. You know what else it did. Covered Marquette +4 if you got the Nova line early. Mind you Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, an 85% free throw shooter for Nova also went 4-for-8 and completely choked down the stretch. Mind you that Nova was up 16 with 5 to go! They were up 10 with basically a minute left. This is why we gamble though. You get the highs and lows playing out in the course of a 2 hour window on a Wednesday night.
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This doesn't even touch on UConn somehow staying in the number against SMU or Nevada covering +1 in OT by winning outright at UNLV.
Hell it didn't even touch WVU completely MELTING at home to Kansas:
Perhaps the biggest upset that doesn't even sniff the crazy part of the gambling side was Georgia Tech beating Louisville in Atlanta. Granted it was one of the ugliest games I've seen, it's still a loss by a team that had won 10 in a row and looked like a top-5 team. Georgia Tech doesn't even have a winning record!
Oh, let's not forget that Creighton went to Seton Hall and won outright. Sure, Seton Hall is still up 2-games over Creighton and Nova in the Big East, but guess what? Seton Hall ends the season with Nova and Creighton. Creighton gets 4 of 6 at home. This Creighton team is just so damn fun on the offensive side of the ball and they took Myles Powell out of the game, which is damn near impossible.
And that's why it's a sneak preview at March. We're coming down the true home stretch of the season. We're just a few weeks out from conference tournament week. We're about a month out from Selection Sunday and I can't wait. It's going to be mayhem every night during conference tournament week. You're telling me there's a lock in the Big East Tournament? That's going to be must watch. What about the Big 10 when no one seems to be able win away from home?
The drama of last night was incredible. It was one of the best, if not the best weekday slate of games all year. What a game. What a beautiful, hilariously stupid game. I can't fucking wait for March.