I’m heartbroken for Michigan. We had so many opportunities to win that game last night and couldn’t put the nail in the coffin. Coleman Hawkins still has the most punchable face in college basketball and is a crybaby pee pee pants (they’re just kids, but grow up), but credit to him for slowing down Hunter Dickinson when it mattered most…not the rest of the game because he went nuclear… but on the possessions that counted down the stretch he showed up. As a B1G guy…I’m concerned. I don’t think Purdue has what it takes to win it all and there isn’t another dominant team in the league. We might all be watching from home by the Sweet 16.
I might’ve been the most productive I’ve been in a while for my employer yesterday, because as soon as I got to work, I got shit done so I could watch golf/basketball the rest of the day. You’re welcome, America. It’s cut day at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and a couple top heavy mid-majors to pass the time away. Let’s get into it.
Colonial
This is going to be an electric Mid Major tournament. Charleston is the favorite, and rightfully so. Before they lost their 2 conference games by a combined score of 5 points, the Cougars hadn’t lost a game in 3 months and were ranked as high as 18 in the country. Their biggest threat to them is Hofstra, who ended Charleston’s 20 game win streak in January. The Semifinals will be challenging for both Hofstra and Charleston, though. If everything goes chalk, Hofstra will play a frisky UNC Wilmington team who has a few impressive non-conference wins against Vermont, Missouri State and North Texas. Meanwhile, Charleston would face off against a 20-11 Towson team.
Southern
Chattanooga has been a major disappointment this year, but Furman, Samford and UNC Greensboro have picked up the slack in what’s been a top-heavy conference. Furman won the regular season title by sweeping Samford, but I like UNC Greensboro. They have the best win in the conference with a dub at home against Marshall and experienced guard play with Keyshaun Langley and Dante Treacy.
Summit
With less than stellar seasons from perennial frontrunners South Dakota State and North Dakota State, Oral (lol) Roberts has dominated this league. The 2021 Cinderella story looks primed for another tournament run (most bracketologists have them in the 12-13 range) with a quality non-conference win against Liberty and an undefeated conference season. It’s their tournament to lose.
Enjoy the start of mid-major conference tourneys and the end of the regular season for the larger conferences. There are three more mid-majors starting conference tourneys this weekend with previews of each. Love you, bye.
Courtesy Flush
I did an experiment with the Arnold Palmer Invitational where I took 10 golfers, who I thought could win it all, and bet on them to win, place top 5, and place top 10 with 1 units on each. In another spreadsheet (what I think would be most profitable) I picked a handful of golfers who I thought had a legitimate shot to win the tournament, wagering 10 units total, but dispersing the units across multiple golfers to ensure I win 7.5 units if one wins. I then took a handful more golfers with better value for top 5, and a handful more for top 10. I’m curious if anyone has done something similar with the two aforementioned strategies and curious which was more beneficial. Here’s an example of the spreadsheet I made:
The top boxes show the “value” plays while the bottom boxes show the handful of best golfers in the field. I’ll take your questions off-air. Love you, bye (again).
The Morning Flush 