Sunday started in Flagstaff, Ariz., and ended back at the Tuley’s Takes home office in North Las Vegas.
After checking out of our hotel room, my son Maddux had an oboe lesson in Jordyn’s dorm room at Northern Arizona University, where Jordyn is on an oboe scholarship. We then all had pizza together at our favorite Flagstaff pizza parlor. Jordyn had to be dropped off at the concert hall, so Maddux and I killed time at an escape room (“Gambler’s Gambit” with all casino-themed puzzles, so that was pretty cool. Jordyn’s concert was great (three beautiful oboe solos; dad was so proud) and then we drove the four hours back to Vegas with a stop at In N Out Burger for dinner in Kingman.
But this is a sports betting column and not my personal diary (though we don’t mind sharing the behind-the-scenes of a sports betting journalist), so we’re happy to report we hit our best bet of the day again with the Jazz beating the Suns 118-114. We gave out the Jazz at + 1 in yesterday’s column that was posted overnight. If you followed along (and if not, why not?), the Jazz ended up going off as the favorite we felt they should have been the whole time. While tracking the close game, I was worried that some late followers might get burned as the Jazz closed as a 3-point road favorite, but in the end they covered all numbers to improve our record here to 13-1-1 ATS the past 15 days with our top best bet of the day.
We did lose our secondary best bet on the Blues-Blackhawks First-Period Over 1.5 as the two teams played a scoreless opening frame, though did hit our other recommended 1P Over play on the Oilers-Hurricanes.
Let’s recap the rest of Sunday’s betting action and try to keep the winners coming on Monday.
Sunday’s recaps
NBA: Faves/dogs split 4-4 SU on Sunday, but dogs led 5-3 ATS as the Rockets (+ 7) covered in 99-98 home loss vs. the Clippers. The upsets were by the Pacers (+ 9.5 in 128-107 win vs. Celtics), Pistons (+ 10.5 in 127-126 win at Hornets), Mavericks (+ 4 in 107-101 win at Warriors) and Pelicans (+ 2.5 in 123-96 win at Lakers. Over/Unders split 4-4.
CBB: No. 15 Illinois (closed pick-'em) beat Michigan 93-85 on Sunday. Also in the Big Ten, Maryland (+ 4, + 155 money line) upset No. 22 Ohio State 75-60. No. 21 UConn (-11) beat Georgetown 86-77, but did NOT cover. No. 14 Houston (-11.5) covered in 75-61 win vs. SMU.
NHL: Faves went 6-2 Sunday with the only upsets by the Canucks (+ 100 in 5-2 win at the Rangers) and the Islanders (+ 103 in 4-0 shutout at the Ducks). Unders went 5-3.
Monday’s Takes
Kansas State + 12.5 at Texas Tech: The Red Raiders are a fun team to watch and are currently ranked No. 9 and could make a run during March Madness, but this line is just too high to pass up. The Wildcats aren’t world-beaters at 14-14, but they’re usually competitive (14-12-2 ATS and beat Tech 62-51 in their prior meeting on Jan, 15), so I expect them to keep this within single digits. Also in the Big 12, I lean to Texas as a short home dog vs. Baylor as I believe the Longhorns should be a slight fave at home, but I see that as more of a coin-flip with more of an edge on Kansas State.
Canucks-Devils First-Period Over 1.5 -140: Most of the hot 1P Over teams are off on Monday, so this is my preferred play with the Devils on a 22-5 1P Over run.
Good luck today (and every day!).