Each day, one of our experts will offer up a best bet (or two or three) that mobile sportsbooks are offering. It might be a traditional spread bet, a player prop or one of the various odds boosts that books offer.
Here are our best bets for Friday, March 17:
TOP PLAY
The play: NCAA Tournament money line, Indiana over Kent State
The odds: -196
The book: FanDuel Sportsbook
Time/TV: 9:55 p.m. (TBS)
Our take: I have gone back and forth with this one, but then I realized how much talk there has been on Kent State. Meanwhile, we forget the Hoosiers have potentially two first-round NBA draft picks in their frontcourt.
Oh, and the big 13 over a 4 upset came Thursday with Furman defeating Virginia.
As well as the Golden Flashes have played, to think they can matchup with a Big Ten team that has been successful in both high-scoring matchups and low-scoring ones, this could be the beginning of a mini-run for Indiana after a quick out in the conference tournament.
We’re a little leery of that 4½-point spread, as this could be a bit of a sweat toward the end, so we’ll take the money line here, especially as a ton of amateurs are jumping on the Flashes.
ZIGGING AND ZAGGING
The play: NCAA Men’s Tournament, Gonzaga -15.5 over Grand Canyon
The odds: -106
The book: FanDuel Sportsbook
Time/TV: 7:35 p.m. (truTV)
Our take: In a season where less is expected of them, maybe this is the season the Bulldogs make a bit of a run. We’ll learn a lot about whether that could be the case tonight, as they should run past the Antelopes in this first-round game.
Grand Canyon hasn’t seen anything like Gonzaga this season, as the closest they have come was Nevada in the early party of the season, and that was a 13-point loss as a 1.5-point favorite.
One has to think the Zags are going to be on a mission – especially early – with something to prove, and there’s no better way to do that than with a huge, impressive victory.
HOW WE’VE FARED
NCAA Tournament: Tennessee -11 over UL (LOST)
NCAA Tournament: UCLA -17.5 over UNC Asheville (WON)
Thursday’s record: 1-1
Total for the week: 4-3, 1 pending
Total for March: 18-14, 1 pending
Total for 2023: 50-54, 1 pending
NOTE: If a line or odds are minus, it considers the juice one must lay to place the bet. Ex: Team A is -160 on the money line, one would have to bet $160 to win $100 (or $16 to win $10). OR Team B is a 5-point favorite at -110, one would have to bet $110 to win $100 (or $11 to win $10.)
Conversely, on positive lines, if Team C is +140 on the money line, $100 would bring in $140 (or $10 to win $14).
