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The first weekend of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is in the books, meaning your bracket busted long ago. But now with legalized gambling in most states, there’s so many more ways to lose your money on all these games in excruciating fashion. Isn’t betting fun?!
Each day so far has provided plenty of bad beats, from that meaningless four-point play at the end of Saturday’s Texas-Penn State game to all those meaningless points at the end of Sunday’s Kentucky-Kansas State game. Disasters everywhere. And, yes, I may be pointing out those two in particular because I had a few bucks riding on them. But don’t feel too bad for me. Feel bad for those who bet Gonzaga with the points on Sunday night.
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If you know anyone who did, you might want to give them a call today to make sure they’re doing OK because what happened late in this late-night contest was just brutal. Not only was the West Region 3-6 game against TCU decided, but the 4.5-point line looked to be a lock too when Gonzaga had the ball up seven and with under 20 seconds to play. A steal and two foul shots cut it to five, but still, good shape after a dunk put the Zags up seven with nine seconds to play. Then, well, yikes.
The Horned Frogs came down the court and drilled a 3-pointer to cut the lead to four. (Because teams down late connect on about 95 percent of those desparation 3s.) Gonzaga bettors looked to be in the clear again when Hunter Sallis was fouled with .7 seconds left (what’s the point?!) and he made both free throws. Then this happened:
Pain. Pure and utter pain. Well, unless you had the Horned Frogs, of course. In that case, you should quite while you’re ahead.
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Because that’s as bad as a bad beat gets. And kids, that’s why you should never gamble. OK, now who do we like for Thursday’s slate? Let’s start prepping . . .
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