Wednesday was another roller-coaster ride in and out of the Tuley’s Takes home office with a day of wall-to-wall college basketball conference tournaments with all their excitement and drama, and personally highlighted by my youngest son’s first middle school band competition.
The lowlight came when our Best Bet of the day failed again with the Capitals-Oilers First-Period Over 1.5 not only going Over but the two teams played to a scoreless tie in the opening 20 minutes (adding insult to the injury to my wallet, the two teams combined for 3 goals apiece in the second and third quarters before going Over the game total of 6.5 goals in the Oilers’ 4-3 win in OT.
Oh, well, that drops our Best Bet record to 18-6-1 ATS the past 25 days. That’s still a great 75 percent overall, but since we were actually 15-1-1 ATS at one point, that means we’re just 3-5 (37.5 percent) in the past 8 days, so we certainly want to turn that around.
The good news is we’re back to having college basketball plays as it’s been the NBA and NHL to let us down lately. Let’s recap the rest of Wednesday’s betting results, and then we’ll take a peek into Contest Corner for those interested in whether there are March Madness contests if you’re visiting Las Vegas for the huge opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament next week.
Wednesday’s recaps
NBA: Faves went 8-4 SU but just 6-6 ATS as the Bulls (-6.5 at Pistons) and Nuggets (-6.5 at Kings) failed to cover in their wins (both won by exactly 6 points!). The outright upsets were by the Suns (+ 4 at Heat), Rockets (+ 7.5 vs. Lakers), Magic (+ 8.5 at Pelicans) and Knicks (+ 9 at Mavericks). Unders went 10-2.
CBB: There weren’t any Top 25 teams in action Wednesday night as we mostly had lower seeds battling it out in early rounds of major conference tourneys. Among the significant point-spread results were Virginia Tech (-5) beating Clemson 76-75 in the ACC on a 3-pointer at the buzzer but the Hokies did NOT cover, plus Butler (+ 6.5) upsetting Xavier 89-82 in OT in the Big East.
NHL: Faves went 2-0 Wednesday as the Oilers (-130 in 4-3 win vs. Capitals) and Canucks (-215 in 5-3 win vs. Canadiens) won as chalk, but only the Canucks covered the -1.5 puck line. Overs also went 2-0, so the popular fave/Over parlay hit in both games on short card .
Contest Corner
For those coming who will be in Las Vegas for March Madness next Thursday and Friday, the Westgate SuperBook is hosting "Hoops Central Showdown" ($100 to enter, maximum 3 per person). All entrants pick 28 1st-round games vs.the contest spread (note: the 4 games involving the winners of the “First Four” games are not included. There is no rake and the contestants picking the most winners will receive 50 percent for first place, 30 percent for second place and 20 percent for the third. The deadline is 10 p.m. PT on Wednesday.
Another March Madness contest in Vegas is Last Man Standing at Station Casinos. It costs just $25 to enter and has a special promotion that if you buy 4 entries, you get 1 free ($100 for 5 entries). This is more aimed at locals as you pick 1 game ATS each day of the NCAA Tournament, so out-of-staters would need to return for the 2nd and 3rd weekends if you remain alive as all picks must be submitted in person at a Stations property. .
Note: I gave more details in my reply to a readers’ questions in the “VSiN Help Desk” file at VSiN.com.
Thursday’s Takes
Note: all 3 of the games we projected for Thursday in our weekly “Tuley’s Takes” column in Point Spread Weekly all came to pass, so here’s my order of preference:
Virginia + 3.5 vs. North Carolina: The Cavaliers are still on Joe Lunardi’s “Next Four Out” list and need this (and possibly another win) to get to the Big Dance. North Carolina is solidly in the field after its impressive and high-profile upset of Duke last Saturday in Coach K’s final home game. So this is my designated Best Bet of the day.
Virginia Tech pick-’em vs. Notre Dame: The Hokies barely survived on a buzzer-beater vs. Clemson, but are still a “First Four Out” by Lunardi. I was hoping to be getting a few points here instead of needing to win outright for the cover, so that’s why it’s my No. 2 play. Note: was available at + 1 at Resort World overnight in Las Vegas and at DraftKings elsewhere.
Oklahoma + 8.5 vs. Baylor: The Sooners need a win (and probably more), so I ‘m taking them plus the points, though obviously facing the toughest team of the bunch vs. the defending national champs.
Parlay/round-robin of NHL First-Period Overs: For those who are still playing these (and we did at least our second play Wednesday with the Canadiens-Canucks), our preferred play for Thursday is the Jets-Devils 1P Over 1.5 -140, and will be looking to also include Flyers-Panthers 1P Over 1.5 -170 and Coyotes-Maple Leafs 1P Over 1.5 -195 as several of our top 1P Over teams are in action.
Good luck today (and every day!).