This man made me money!
Well before David and I start revealing our MLB predictions, I thought I would touch on the NCAA Tournament again. I've been quite busy ripping chunks of my hair out watching the games, and I've featured mixed success financially. My big win came last Wednesday on the Louisville-Tennessee game in the Sweet Sixteen. Tennessee game into the game playing awful, and Chris Lofton was nursing a hurt leg. Add onto this that Louisville came into the matchup hot, hot, hot and this was an easy one. Louisville was only a 2.5 point favorite and I hit my biggest win of the tournament on this one. Go Cardinals! Unfortunately I didn't pull the trigger on another game I really liked -North Carolina as an 8 point favorite over Washington State, but I still made out well for the day. Just remember, Washington State is perenially overrated!
The following day wasn't as kind to yours truly, and all the blame can be placed on myself! I've never been so frustrated after a bet as I was after this. Texas-Stanford was a great bet....the game was basically a home game for Texas, being played in Houston, and the Pac-10 had basically layed a goose egg all tournament. Both Texas and the Big 12 looked good, yet the Longhorns were only a 2.5 point favorite. I was poised to bet this game big for several days and yet I psyched myself out on the fact it was too easy of a bet. I reversed psychologied myself out of the bet and instead made an impulse bet on Wisconsin against an upstart Davidson squad. Well, I learned two lessons...First, don't bet against Stephen Curry, the kid's a stud. Second, stay true to your instincts and don't go off of impulses when it comes to betting. I was confident in Texas all along, and if I would have paired it with Louisville I would have made out like a bandit, ahhh live and learn I suppose!
As a side note, I also liked North Carolina over Louisville (Carolina as an 8 point favorite) and Davidson to cover 9.5 points against Kansas, but was too gun shy to bet either after my Wisconsin fiasco. But now we are down to the Final Four. Two games to choose from with all four No. 1 seeds making it for the first time ever! Kansas-North Carolina is going to be one hell of a game, and one that could go either way. The Tar Heels are favored by three points, and I lean towards Kansas to win outright in an up and down game, but this is a tough game that I will likely stay away from. Memphis-UCLA is a different story as the Tigers come in as two point favorites and that's a line I really like. Memphis absolutely outplayed a Texas team that not only beat Stanford, but also beat UCLA (at UCLA) along with Kansas and Tennessee earlier in the season. The Pac-10 has looked awful this tournament, and I think Memphis will be heading to the title game. Lesson on this one - The opening line came out as a 'pick em' shortly after the Tigers secured their spot in the Final Four, but the next day the oddsmakers fixed their mistake and quickly moved it to Memphis (-2). The big bettors likely got their money in quick while Memphis wasn't giving up any points, and that would have been an awesome bet, so the lesson is - The early bird gets the worm!
Anyways, betting aside, my predictions are these:
Memphis 78 UCLA 72
Kansis 81 North Carolina 78
With the title game shaping up something like this:
Kansas 77 Memphis 76
