2% max recommended unless otherwise noted. 1% max recommended for soccer.
Cinderella found her shoe. A big name coach set a dubious record. Torn tickets littered the Sportsbooks' floors and busted brackets swept the office pools. A fun Friday of pure Madness on St. Patty's Day!
Watch: If you want a game with posterized dunks, wild swings, bomb-away threes, falling down shots, and a last-second finish, take in TCU-Arizona State. Live chat cashed on a live bet on the game too!
Recap: Only the 2nd 16-seed to ever win a 1st round game, as little Fairleigh Dickinson took down mighty Purdue, with the Boilermakers head coach now setting a new record: losing to a 13, 15 and 16 seed in the tourney, and doing it in back-to-back-to-back tourneys! Friday favorites went 10-6 against the line, and 13-3 straight up, as the public took a beating like an overdue debtor from Tony with the bat. Sportsbooks cleaned up, as the public's favorite dogs -- VCU, Drake, and Kent St. lost against the # -- and the public's favorite favorites (Memphis & Gonzaga) failed to cover or lost outright. Through the 1st round, 25 higher seeds prevailed, and 23 Vegas favorites won outright. Including the First Four, favorites are 20-16 against the number, with 11 dogs winning outright, a little low by historic metrics, but close to the norm. A 10, 11, 13, 15 and 16 seed all still made it to the 2nd round, as did two 9 seeds.
Preview: At least 2 low seeds will make the Sweet-16, as they play each other in the 2nd round. Public betting heaviest on Auburn, Princeton & Duke. Sharp $ on Furman & under in the Duke-Tennessee matchup. By historic metrics for seeds and Vegas lines, the spreads in the Houston & Kansas games are very low, while the rest are in accord with the norm. Friday's 8 games features 6 games with 1 or 2 seeds (or their upset replacement). While Penn State could give a double-digit seed a Sweet 16 birth with a win, the Princeton-Missouri matchup guarantees a 7 seed or lower will make the Sweet 16. The rest of the Cinderellas wait for Sunday.
Potential Draw - Chelsea vs Liverpool
This is another Premier League fixture I am keeping an eye on in the run up to the weekend. Chelsea vs Liverpool is a fixture which ends in a draw surprisingly often. Even when one side or the other is not in great form, a common pattern is that Chelsea will take the game to Liverpool but lack the critical knockout punch to finish them off, which normally allows Liverpool to steal a point. This tends to happen more often at Stamford Bridge (where Chelsea are at home) or in cup competitions, which tend to go to extra time. At Anfield, Liverpool have a more decisive edge.
This weekend's game has Chelsea trading at about 33%, Liverpool at 43% and the draw at about 26%. I'm sceptical that Chelsea to draw at home should be trading that low. If I can finagle an entry at 25c somehow (such as via the synthetic draw, which I have posted about recently), I would be tempted to take that position. Chelsea are well capable of taking a lead into the final ...