It's not like NC State's
rolling over these curtain jerking jabronis to get
here into the final four. That's not how this went at all. What's up everybody? Nick Kostos here with the Board of Spreads presented by BetMGM. BetMGM, of course, is
the King of Sportsbooks. What you want to do is
download the BetMGM app and visit BetMGM.com. The best place to place all your bets for the men's college
basketball tournament and of course the women's
college basketball tournament. Both are down to the fina
l four and we've given the men's
tournament a shot in the last couple weeks here. And we're going to talk about
the men's final four in a little bit, but right now we
focus on the women's game and how amazing was it the other night? The Women's elite eight,
two incredible games, Paige Beuckers and UConn
taken down, JuJu Watkins and USC. Geno Auriemma getting to his 758th final four, looking for his 900th national championship. That's not mathematically
possible but you get the idea. UConn's real
ly awesome and in the first game, Caitlin
Clark in Iowa getting their revenge against Angel Reese. Kim Mulkey, nice green pantsuit. And I enjoyed that from
Kim Mulkey the other night and LSU setting up an epic
national semi-final on Friday night in the women's game. Undefeated South Carolina and NC State. Shout out to NC State by the
way to final four in both, you know, the women's
and the men's tournament. Same with UConn. We expect that from UConn,
maybe not from NC State. No disrespect to NC
State. Don't turn your back on
the Wolfpack as they say, you might end up in a body bag. Not really, but you get the idea. South Carolina undefeated for the second consecutive
year entering the national semifinal taking on NC State. Now we all remember last year,
it's honestly what made a lot of people fall in love with
the women's game last year. South Carolina, undefeated,
taking on Caitlin Clark who at the time, star was on the rise, but not yet the
super-duper-like-culturally-transcendent su
perstar that she is today and Iowa and Caitlin Clark knocking
out South Carolina, giving South Carolina the
Gamecocks, Dawn Staley and Company, their first loss of the year and bouncing them from
the women's tournament. Now South Carolina, a year
later, back in the final four, South Carolina, a year later, undefeated once again
entering the Final Four and standing in South Carolina's
way now, not Caitlin Clark, not Paige Beuckers and Connecticut, but NC State. And it's a huge point spread in thi
s game. Obviously South Carolina's been a favorite to win the championship all season, Gamecocks 11 and a half point favorite. I found it interesting that in South Carolina's a
lead eight win against Oregon to get to the final four after almost losing to
Indiana in the round to 16, South Carolina winning
that game by only two points that Dawn Staley, obviously
a legendary coach, legendary player, tinkering with the starting lineup a little bit. What does that tell you that
South Carolina is supe
r deep but maybe also South
Carolina's still in the process of figuring things out. And here's what we know. Last year, South Carolina got to this exact point and obviously
faltered on the grandest stage against Iowa. So when South Carolina gets to this game, Friday night
against NC State in Cleveland, are the nerves going to be there? Are they going to be
feeling it a little bit? I don't think NC State's
like Iowa was last year, certainly not with the
superstar player of the level of Caitlin Cl
ark, but can NC State keep this game close
based on nerves alone, maybe. I think NC State keeps this game close, at the very least in the first half. South Carolina pulls away to
win late, lukewarm betting take for me would be to take
the points with NC State, but got to be honest,
don't love this game. But I do think South
Carolina advances to play for the national championship on Sunday, they'll be undefeated going into that game and then it's going to be the the biggest, the highest rated gam
e of
all time in women's college, especially if Iowa wins. But let's be honest, no
disrespect to South Carolina, but this is the main event
coming up on Friday night, Caitlin Clark and Iowa
against Paige Bueckers and Connecticut. Now let me take everybody back. A couple years ago, right,
two years ago to be exact, Paige Bueckers, in her first
two years at Connecticut, leading Connecticut to
back to back final Fours and then tears her ACL
and as a result of that, and not only that, Caitlin
Clark'
s obviously unbelievable. We all love watching Caitlin
Clark, transcendent superstar, can't wait to watch her in the WNBA. Caitlin Clark take center stage. Caitlin Clark gets Iowa last year to the national championship game. Caitlin Clark, the star of women's college basketball this season. Caitlin Clark scores 41
points, over 40 points to knock LSU out in the elite eight to get Iowa the Hawkeyes back to the final four. And all eyes are on Caitlin
Clark, except there's a really important questio
n that
everyone should ask themselves. And I'm not professing to be
the biggest expert on women's college hoops, but there are
people a lot smarter than me that think this is a viable question. Is Paige Bueckers better
than Caitlin Clark? I'm not saying she definitely is. Caitlin Clark might end up out playing Paige Bueckers in this game. I'll say it though, Paige
Bueckers amazing against USC in the elite eight round
to get Connecticut back to a final four, the 23rd
in the illustrious Hall of Fa
me career of Geno Auriemma. And now we get to a point spread
of Iowa and Caitlin Clark. Just a two and a half point
favorite over Connecticut. At the end of the day, I trust Gino, I trust the program with the pedigree, I trust the UConn Huskies
and I trust Paige Bueckers. Now maybe Iowa pulls it out and Iowa wins a really close
game by one or two points, but I think this one
comes down to the wire. So on Friday night, give me Paige Bueckers and UConn plus the two and a half against Caitlin Clark
in Iowa and hopefully for all of us, unless you're a Connecticut
fan, you have futures bets. Hopefully we get Iowa and Caitlin Clark against South Carolina in the national championship game. That's the best game for a neutral. But as far as betting
goes, I want to win my bet. Give me Paige Bueckers
in UConn plus the two and a half on Friday night. Now let's talk about the men's
Final four coming up from the desert on Saturday and look like, you know, not the best match ups, it
would've been a l
ot better to see like UConn against North Carolina. Also, I lost my shirt, Not this one, Another one, taking North Carolina against
Alabama on Thursday night. That was absolutely terrible. But look, you bounce back
over the course of a weekend, that stung, North Carolina-UConn
would've been better. You know, Purdue could have faced Houston, Purdue could have faced
Duke, but yeah, why? Let's get NC State in there. Two basically double digit
spreads here in the final four, but that's why betting's
great, right? Because we can bet on the game, and we can make it super duper interesting even if the outcome
may not be in doubt as to who is going to win the game. So let's talk about the point spreads here and the best bets coming up for Saturday in the men's final four. We will start with the first game, which is Zach Edey in Purdue. He's eight foot six. He's absolutely awesome. In all seriousness, this Purdue offense is really hysterical. It's like when you play in
sixth grade and one kid,
and this was not me because I'm short, but you get the one kid
who's like a foot taller than everyone else, you throw him the ball and he literally just lays it in. That's Purdue's offense. Like even Matt Painter
couldn't screw this up. And look, they've got other good players, there's nuance there. Also, it's Zach Edey just getting the ball and laying it up against guys he's a lot taller than, must
be nice to be that tall, jerk. So Purdue has found itself
in the final four, great job by Matt Pa
inter and look, great game against Tennessee in the elite eight, surviving 30-plus points, 35-plus points from
Dalton Knecht to get here to the final four where they
will meet upstart NC State with Tournament hero DJ Burns. Everyone loves DJ Burns. He's a little hefty,
he's got the great moves. Who wouldn't love DJ Burns? Who wouldn't love Kevin Keatts? Who wouldn't love the
NC State, the Wolfpack? Well me because I bet against
them in a lot of games and I also bet Duke against them. This was no
t the best couple day stretch for me last weekend in
the NCAA tournament. So when you think about this
game, the question you have to ask yourself, obviously,
thinking of like what joke can I tell here, I don't
even know if there is one. DJ Burns is great, he's
six foot nine, nice, he's six foot nine, stand up against, seven
foot nine or whatever Zach Edey is. Like Burns has been unbelievable. He absolutely dominated Duke. That was one thing, right? Against like some soft
players in the front co
urt who would all kick my ass
in, if I ever ran into them. But just saying, like a little, we've seen Duke do this the
last couple of NCAA tournaments and Burns kind of punking
them last weekend. Can DJ Burns do that
to Zach Edey in Purdue? They're going to need DJ
Burns to be able to do that. To be a little fleet afoot, that had a lot of people saying on Monday morning, could DJ Burns actually play
in the National Football League, given how quick his
feet are, how big he is, could he play in th
e NFL? DJ Burns, NC State's going to need that out of him against
Zach Edey if NC State is going to keep this game close. Now I know a lot of people will
have the temptation, right, to want to lay the points with
Purdue because they have Edey, and they've got a lot of
great shooters around. Zach Edey and NC State is an 11 seat and NC State basically in every game that they played in this tournament. You think about the opening
game against Texas Tech, Oakland a little different, right? Because O
akland had come
off the upset over Kentucky. You know, NC State against
Marquette, huge underdog, NC State against Duke, huge underdog, NC State against Purdue, huge underdog. Is there a chance that the
betting market is not accounting for how this NC State team
has coalesced over the last couple weeks to get to this point here? It's literally the final
four of the NCAA tournament. And people will draw
comparisons to like to VCU or George Mason, you know,
Loyola, other like teams that are not gr
eat honestly
in the regular season or like mid majors can be good, whatever, but not like great schools that end up winning a couple
games to get to the final four. I think the difference between NC State and those teams, look at the competition that NC State beat, not
just in the NCAA tournament where they knocked off like a
pretty good, a little hobbled, but a good Texas tech
team in the first round, like Oakland literally beat Kentucky. It's not like Oakland was anything to sneeze at. Took do
wn Marquette with Tyler Cole like, and look, Marquette couldn't
have water if they fell out of a boat, but they still beat Marquette and then they beat Duke for
the second time in two weeks. They beat North Carolina in the ACC tournament championship game. It's not like NC State's rolling
over these curtain jerking jabronis to get here in to the final four. That's not how this went at all. NC State's been super impressive
in getting to this point. So look like Purdue's going to win, like it's go
ing to be Purdue
against UConn on Monday night. Like let's get used to that. And honestly we should want that because that's the best
national championship game and you can make a case, I won't, but you can make a case that
Purdue could win that game. Purdue's going to beat NC State. I would be shocked if NC State
pulled the outright upset. But as far as betting the game goes, you're going to give me all
these points with a team that has shown that it is a
team, with a team that has shown that c
an hang with the big boys. And I love me some Zach Edey
and I love me some Purdue. I picked them to the final
four a couple weeks ago. We remember it here on
the Board of Spreads. But as far as betting the spread goes, I think NC State keeps this game close. I think the game is a little
in doubt at the four minute mark and then Purdue pulls away late, maybe wins by six or seven. Purdue wins the game. But give me the NC State Wolfpack. Don't turn your back
on them, the Wolf pack to cover the spre
ad against Purdue and then we will go to the nightcap. I feel like a lot of
people bet Illinois against Connecticut in the elite eight. How'd that go for you? Here's a nice casual 30 to nothing run, right, right in your face. Want to talk stupid? That's me. I bet San Diego State plus
the points against UConn. How'd that go for me? Loser, idiot. I'm done. I'm done going against this UConn team. UConn covers in every
single NCAA tournament game. They've done it this year
and they did it last year
in route to a national
championship like obliterating Illinois in a game where
like they didn't even play that well in the first half. Like went on that 30 to nothing run and barely hit a three pointer. This team's absolutely ridiculous. And for college basketball fans and savants like me,
I've been watching the sport for over 30 years. We're getting rapidly to
a point here where we have to start asking the question. They're all seriousness. Is this Connecticut team the best college basketball t
eam ever? Is this the best like
multi-year run a college basketball team has ever had? Is it better than Duke
with Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley and
Grant Hill in the early nineties who went back to back? Is it better than Joeakim
Noah and company at Florida and Billy Donovan who went
back to back in 2006 and 2007, is this UConn team
better than all of them? They got to win two more games for us to have that conversation. Very likely here to beat Alabama and Alabama, I bet against them in
all four games in their region. Maybe I'm the idiot, I just can't believe. I think they're terrible. They could score obviously. They don't play a lick of defense, but when they score 90 points a game I guess that gets you
here to the final four. Here's how I'm approaching this now. When we did the Super Bowl
video for BetMGM, the Board of Spreads, I said, I don't want to bet
against Patrick Mahomes and we bet Mahomes basically
the entire playoff. I bet Miami, that was pretty stupid. But other t
han that, we
like Kansas City basically throughout the entire NFL playoffs. UConn, this is stupid. It actually is. UConn is Patrick Mahomes. Now they're not because UConn's a team and Mahomes is a person, but UConn is basically
the Kansas City Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes. Connecticut is inevitable. Connecticut is the best team. Do you know what I don't want to do? Do you want to bet
against Patrick Mahomes? I don't, like I don't think I ever want to bet against him ever again. Do you want to bet
against UConn, I don't. So look, I understand it's
a point spread conversation. Here's Alabama trying
to make all these three. UConn's going to score
115 points in this game. Can Alabama keep up with
Connecticut, I say no. I say that Mahomes wins. I say that UConn wins
and Connecticut covers in route to a national
championship game on Monday night against Purdue. And we'll talk about
that game, side, total, and props coming up on
Monday before the big game. So game two in the men's final four.
Give me Uconn, give me
Mahomes, give me the Huskies, give me the Chiefs over
the Alabama Crimson Tide to cover the spread, your best bets for Saturday in the men's final four.
Comments