(USA TODAY Sports)`Kentucky and Duke go down, while Auburn earns their first-ever Final Four bid. Oklahoma City continues to struggle, and two big league teams are upset for the second day in a row on the diamond. Here’s a sports betting recap from Sunday and a lookahead to Monday.
Blue Bloods Downed
Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers were the third team to punch their ticket to the Final Four in Minneapolis with a 77-71 victory over the Kentucky Wildcats Sunday.
It took a bit of magic to get into overtime with Kentucky — 4.5-point favorites — as the Tigers were playing without one of their best players, Chuma Okeke, after Okeke tore his ACL in the team’s Sweet 16 victory over North Carolina.
Bryce Brown and Jared Harper took Auburn on their shoulders, combining for a total of 50 points.
Auburn earned its first-ever Final Four bid by covering and winning four straight games as underdogs. So far they have taken down Kansas (-2), North Carolina (-5.5) and Kentucky (-4.5).
They’ll face a similar uphill battle next Saturday against the Virginia Cavaliers. Oddsmakers opened Virginia as 5.5-point favorites (Over/Under 131).
Kentucky wasn’t the only Blue Blood to fall Sunday. The Duke Blue Devils, one of the most hyped teams in recent memory, ran out of luck in a 67-68 loss to the Michigan State Spartans. Duke — 2.5-point favorites — failed to execute in the final seconds of the game, unlike their previous two wins where they beat Central Florida and Virginia Tech by a combined three points.
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo was 1-12 against Mike Krzyzewski before the Elite 8 matchup in Washington, DC.
Packing the paint and forcing Duke to go 7-for-21 from the arc, Izzo used the blueprint that got Virginia Tech and Central Florida within inches away from knocking out the East Region’s No. 1 seed. It was barely enough, after the Spartans went just 2-for-6 from the free throw line.
Michigan State was led by Cassius Winston who scored 20 points with 10 assists while playing all 40 minutes.
Izzo now faces off against one of the hottest names in college basketball, Texas Tech head coach, Chris Beard. Oddsmakers give Michigan State the edge, opening the Spartans as 3-point favorites (Over/Under 133).
It’s no secret I’m a Texas Tech fan (just read my bio). I haven’t hedged my 75-1 Texas Tech futures ticket yet. With Michigan State laying three points, that’s not changing anytime soon. Many people believe the false narrative that Texas Tech is only a defensive team. Texas Tech has the No. 1 adjusted offense in the nation since losing to the Kansas Jayhawks on February 5.
Texas Tech is 4-0 against the number throughout the 2019 NCAA Tournament and Ken Pom projects Michigan State as 1-point favorites, implying there is value on taking the Red Raiders and the points, once again. I could see this falling to 2.5 points later in the week, so I want to take the three points as early as possible. Breakfast Pick: Texas Tech +3.
We’ll have more on these games later in the week, so be sure to check back for all of our Final Four coverage.
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Stat of the Day
Duke stars R.J. Barrett and Zion Williamson shot a combined 52% from the free-throw line in the last two minutes of Duke games this season. Barrett missed a pivotal free throw to tie Michigan State with just seconds left on Sunday. The game was likely the last time we’ll see the two freshmen in Duke uniforms.
Temperature Meter: Cold Front Continues in Oklahoma City
The Oklahoma City Thunder are shooting a league low 43 percent from the field in their last 10 games. They have gone 3-7 SU and ATS in that same span, most recently suffering a home loss to the Dallas Mavericks despite playing as 12.5-point favorites. The Thunder have just four games left and are in serious jeopardy of facing a first round matchup with the Golden State Warriors.
Cubs, Yankees Backers Lose Again
Baseball fans saw a pair of upsets, as the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees backers were shocked by the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles for the second day in a row.
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The Cubs were just -135 favorites on the money line, 40 cents lower than they were in Saturday’s 6-8 loss to the Rangers. But like Saturday, Chicago couldn’t hold on to an early lead.
This time, Chicago went up 4-0 before Cole Hamels gave up five runs to his former team in the bottom of the fifth.
The Cubs tied it up in the top of the ninth 10-10, only to give up the game-winning run to Joey Gallo on a wild pitch from Cubs closer Pedro Stop.
Even more surprising than the Cubs, the New York Yankees come out of their first series of the season 1-2 after losing two consecutive games as larger than -300 favorites to the Baltimore Orioles.
The Orioles started off hot with a three-run homer from Renato Nunez off of Yankees start J.A. Happ in the top of the first. Baltimore never trailed Sunday, beating the Yankees 7-5.
Lunch Date on the Diamond: Cardinals vs. Pirates (1:05 pm ET)
The St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates lead off Monday with a 1:05 pm ET game on ESPN.
The Cardinals will give right-handed veteran Adam Wainwright the start, who saw little action during the 2018 season. The Pirates will deal a right-hander of their own, Chris Archer.
It’s Archer’s second year in a Pirates uniform, as he went 3-3 (4.30 ERA) after the Tampa Bay Devil Rays traded the pitcher last season. Though his numbers weren’t great, Archer finished the 2018 season strong, winning three of his final four starts and giving up only one earned-run in his final two games.
The Cardinals struggled in their opening series, going 1-3 against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Pirates may be playing without Andrew McCutchen this year, but I like Archer to start back where he left off the 2018 season. I’m not sold on 37-year-old Adam Wainwright yet, even if he did have a solid spring training. Breakfast Pick: Pittsburgh Pirates -125.
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