Saturday was a great day in and out of the Tuley’s Takes home office, especially for underdog bettors. Dogs went 6-2 ATS in the eight NCAA tournament second round games with 3 outright upsets and 3 dogs covering in losses (full details below in the recaps).
We hit our Best Bet on Memphis + 10.5 vs. Gonzaga as the Tigers went toe-to-toe with the No. 1 overall seed. Gonzaga went on a few runs in the second half to take the lead, but Memphis held on for the cover as we improved to 25-9-1 ATS (73.5 percent) with our top play the past 35 days, But unlike Friday when we won our top pick on Colgate but lost most of our other plays, we won our second best-bet on the Pistons + 7.5 at the Cavaliers and also won another NHL 1P Over with the Devils-Oilers playing to a 1-1 tie to cash again with those plays.
Let’s get to the general recaps of Saturday’s betting action and try to keep the good times rolling on Sunday.
Saturday’s recaps
CBB: No. 1 overall seed Gonzaga rallied to beat No. 9 Memphis 82-78 late Saturday to advance to the Sweet 16. The Bulldogs didn't cover after closing as 10-point favorites and the game went Over the betting total of 155 points. Faves went 5-3 SU on the day, but just like Memphis-Gonzaga, dogs dominated at 6-2 ATS. Overs also went 6-2. Midway through the 2nd round of the tournament, faves lead just 27-13 SU while dogs now lead 23-17 ATS (57.5 percent) after going 16-8 ATS (66.7 percent) the last 2 days after faves went 9-7 ATS on Thursday. Overs lead 22-18.
More CBB: To start the day, No. 8 seed North Carolina (+ 5.5, + 190 on the money line) upset No. 1 Baylor 93-86 in OT after squandering a 25-point lead. The game went Over the betting total of 149 in regulation. No. 11 Michigan (+ 7, + 250 ML) upset No. 3 Tennessee 76-68 and then No. 15 St. Peter's (+ 8, + 300) upset No. 7 Murray State 70-60. In addition to Gonzaga,the favorites to win but not cover were Kansas (-13 in 79-72 win vs. Creighton) and Arkansas (-6.5 in 53-48 in win vs. New Mexico State). Providence (-3.5 in 79-51 rout vs. Richmond) and UCLA (-3 in 72-56 win vs. Saint Mary’s) were the only faves to cover on Saturday.
NBA: Faves went 3-0 SU with Lakers-Wizards closing pick-'em, but just 2-1 ATS as the Pistons (+ 5.5) covered in 113-109 loss at the Cavaliers. The Timberwolves (-3 in 138-119 win vs. Bucks) and Hornets (-2.5 in 129-108 win vs. Mavericks) covered as home faves. Overs went 4-0.
NHL: Faves went 8-3 on Saturday with only upsets by the Predators (+ 105 in 6-3 win vs. Maple Leafs), Rangers (+ 175 in 2-1 win at Lightning) and Blue Jackets (+ 140 in 5-4 win vs. Blues). Overs went 6-2-3 on the day with pushes on KIngs-Golden Knights (6), Senators-Canadiens (6) and Red Wings-Kraken (6).
Sunday’s Takes
Illinois + 4.5 vs. Houston: This line opened as high as Houston -5 and as low as -4 and then settled at 4.5. We posted it in Saturday morning editions of this column because we felt it would get bet down, but it’s stayed pretty solid at 4.5. We had this game around pick-’em so any points are value in our mind.
Michigan State + 6.5 vs. Duke: Tom Izzo continues to get his teams to peak in March and I believe the Spartans will be properly prepared to try and end Coach K’s swan song. Even if they don’t get the job done, they should be able to keep this close enough. This is pretty solid at 6.5 in Vegas, though DraftKings was at 7 early Sunday morning, so shop for the best price.
Note on NHL 1P Overs: They’ve been profitable lately (and we enjoy bringing them to our readers who are enjoying them), but none of our preferred teams are in action on Sunday and none of the matchups has a game total of 6.5, so we’re taking a pass on Sunday.
Good luck today (and every day!).