Betting 49 NCAA Tourney Games I finished 29-19-1

After a full week in Vegas, I can barely keep my eyes open this morning to write.

Which means I’m probably going to give myself a day to decompress and wake back up. But it’s important to note that despite placing 49 bets — all 32 first round games and all 16 second round games, plus the UT vs. Iowa play-in — that I finished 29-19-1 against the spread. That includes three devastating betting defeats — N.C. State +2.5 gives up a 16 point lead late in regulation and then loses and fails to cover in overtime, St. Joe’s collapsed against UConn down the stretch, despite leading throughout and not just lost, but failed to cover the +4.5 line in overtime, and my own alma mater, George Washington, fouled with .4 seconds left after missing a game-tying three, to allow Memphis to hit two free throws and cover. 

Those bad beats were balanced out, however, on Saturday when Wisconsin got four free throws with .4 seconds remaining to cover against Oregon and when Harvard hit a lay-up with under five seconds left and then refrained from fouling Michigan State to cover by .5. 

The end results pretty much evened out, as I finished with over 60% of my picks correct despite betting 49 tournament games. 

Here were my results by day:

Wednesday: 1-0

Thursday: 7-8-1

Friday: 10-6

Saturday: 6-2

Sunday: 5-3

Anytime you leave Vegas with more money than you went to Vegas with, it has to be considered a successful trip.

We have a longer form piece about me bettting the games that will be up soon, but for now, here are a few outtakes from the week in Vegas. 

At this point I almost feel like I ought to go ahead and bet the Sweet 16, Elite 8, and Final Four games. 

That’s just 15 more games total, a small fraction of the tourney games I’ve already bet. 

Regardless, thanks to all of you who watched, Tweeted, and said hi during the week in Vegas. Also thanks to the LVH Superbook for hosting us and our Fox production crew — going live from Vegas is not exactly an easy proposition and we pulled it off without any issues at all.

Plus, no one got arrested! 

Now, it’s time to recover back in Nashville. For a couple of days, anyway. On Wednesday morning I leave for College Station, where I’ll broadcast for FoxSportsLive from Johnny Manziel’s pro day. We’ll be live from the Dixie Chicken on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Come by and say hi if you’re on campus.