LAS VEGAS -- Thursday was an exciting day in the sports books, at least for the tourists, who tend to bet the favorites. The bookmakers were happy with betting handle and the atmosphere (the food and beverage departments were probably pleased too), but they weren't happy when favorites went 9-6-1 against the spread -- if you count Baylor's 68-60 win over South Dakota State as a push after closing as an eight-point favorite, though those who laid only 7.5 earlier were celebrating 10-6 ATS.
When you consider that Gonzaga and Iowa State were two lower-numbered seeds that ended up as short underdogs yet lived up to their seeding by winning outright, the lower-numbered teams went 14-2 straight up (leaving a lot of brackets with minimal damage) and 12-4 ATS as the supposedly "better team." That wasn't good for the books with all the money-line straight bets and parlays in addition to the point-spread plays.
While the tourists hit the clubs Friday night to celebrate, the wise guys got to work on the Saturday matchups, knowing that the opportunities don't wait for you while you're partying. So I put in a call to handicapper Ted Sevransky (sportsmemo.com, covers.com -- hence his nickname Teddy Covers -- among others) after our kids were asleep -- I have three of my own while Ted is having his first March Madness with his own diaper dandy, 9-month-old Isaac.
One thing about a chalky day such as Thursday is there weren't many surprises or need to change power ratings or feelings about the teams.
"There wasn't anything that made me go 'Wow,'" Sevransky said. "I'm looking for teams that are playing their best basketball and trying to be ahead of the market."
East
1 Syracuse vs. 8 Kansas State
Spread: Syracuse minus-5
Sevransky: "This line was definitely affected by what everyone saw, and that's understandable. There was no point where Syracuse was in control of the game, and they were tested by a 16 seed while playing without Fab Melo. Part of me thinks the line is short, but another part of me remembers when Cincinnati lost Kenyon Martin for the 2000 tournament [broken leg in Conference USA tournament]; they barely survived their first game and then were bounced.
