Sweet Sixteen Part 3

Tough night.  Only 1-3.  MSU covered.  However, while Duke won again, miraculously, they did not cover.  Houston plus 2.5 looked like a good bet when they were up in the last seconds, but Kentucky managed to not only go ahead but finish the game winning by 4.  Finally, my wish came true with Auburn.  If you read the blog yesterday you know I bet against them but rooted for them and they pummeled North Carolina***.  So one win, three losses, bringing my March Madness total against the spread to 23-32-1.

Today I like (as if it matters) Virginia to cover the 4.5 point spread against Purdue, and Gonzaga to cover the 4.5 point spread against Texas Tech.

As long as I have been, appropriately, self-deprecating throughout--I do want to point out that in my brackets--that is predicting wins and losses not against the spread--I am still very much alive. I currently have 7 of the 8 teams in the elite eight still alive.  The only interloper is Purdue. I had Villanova knocking them out in the round of 32.  Seven out of eight. Just saying.

***My antipathy for North Carolina has evolved after studying the academic scandal that surfaced in the last months of 2014.  Student-athletes, for nearly twenty years, were shuttled into sham courses in attempts to maintain their eligibilities.  That there were sham courses was irresponsible enough, but that the activity existed for 18 years indicates or should have indicated to anyone who did not have her or his head in the ground that something foul was going on.  So, it was the fact of the sham courses, the number of years the activity was ongoing, the absence of anyone screaming foul, and the claiming subsequently that "we did not know."  All of this in a big ball emitted a foul odor. But what put the tainted cherry on top, is that during the investigation the school continued to protest that they had done nothing wrong, that this sham was perpetrated by Moe and Larry with help from several Curleys, who were good gosh doing these reprehensible things.  That foul cherry is why I likely will never cheer for UNC ever again.