College basketball betting trends: No mercy for Detroit Mercy; finding some profit in 6-point teasers

LAS VEGAS — Sometimes, this stuff is easy.

Two Saturdays ago, I earmarked and followed a dozen of the top college basketball teams against the spread. That day, they went 11-1 against the number.

My name for this column is Cherry Pickin’, but maybe I should have dubbed it The Teasin’ Fool, for my propensity to tease games by six points and parlay them together, in clumps of three to five.

I am not a professional, and I’ll never claim pro tactics. I look at that point spread and will always consider it razor-sharp, so I seek every ounce of help I can muster. Thus, the additional six points in my favor.

Of those 12 previously mentioned teams, and their games, the one that did not cover, Troy -8 at home to South Alabama, did cover with my added six-point tease, since the Trojans beat the Jaguars, 83-79.

A typical three-teamer with a six-point tease returns a bit more than the amount wagered. I’ll take that profit margin every day, for insurance and peace of mind.

I explained my usual tack to pro ’capper Bill Krackomberger, or Krackman, Thursday evening at the SuperBook’s annual release of its Super Bowl props packet, and before he said a word I told him how I knew he wouldn’t advise that strategy.

I understand the difference in likely payouts, but I explained how I’m in this for entertainment purposes, with a minnow’s bankroll, and how the vast majority of instances when I do cash a ticket it’s courtesy of The Tease.

He laughed and said he understood, in some way blessing what I do. Hey, if it works for you and you enjoy it, he said in so many words, then proceed, my son.

Are college basketball teasers worth it?

So how did that dirty dozen fare this past Saturday? No way they could replicate such success, capturing lightning in a bottle, again, this time with a few of my bucks involved, right?

Well, those squads were South Carolina, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Illinois State, Southern Illinois, Morehead State, Eastern Washington, Southern Utah, Troy, Richmond, Minnesota, UMass and Cal State Northridge.

I got tangled up in a couple of unexpected morning phone calls and didn’t get to the South Point until around 12:30 p.m., so I missed the first five games. Plus, Green Bay didn’t play Saturday, so I was left with six games.

I missed wagering on UMass -4 at home to George Mason. The Minutemen won, 66-65, so they didn’t cover but would have with the six-point tease. Same with Southern Illinois, giving 3.5 points but losing, 74-71, at Illinois Chicago.

South Carolina (+2 at Georgia) won 72-62, as did Minnesota (won 75-66 as a pick at home to Northwestern) and Monmouth (lost 84-80 getting 7 points at Delaware).

With the tease, that’s a 5-0 morning sweep.

Onto my action. Troy (-2 at Georgia State) won 78-74, Morehead State (-11.5 at Tennessee Tech) didn’t cover in its 67-60 victory but would have with six points and Richmond (+4 at VCU) got dumped, 63-52.

In a nighttime trifecta sweep, Cal State Northridge (-2.5 at home to UC Riverside) won 76-70, Southern Utah (-8.5 at home to Rio Grande Valley) won 79-59, and Eastern Washington (+2 at Montana) won 78-65.

However, I didn’t like Northridge’s form in its previous seven games, so I didn’t include it in my shenanigans.

Wrong move.

I did, for some inane reason, include Richmond on six of eight tickets, failing to disperse the options evenly. Those were all losers.

Wrong move.

My lone winning ticket was a 6-point tease involving Morehead, Southern Utah and Eastern Washington.

Overall, I lost three-quarters of my investment. The entertainment value was worth the swings. And I won’t repeat those dopey failures come this Saturday, when Minnesota and UMass don’t play. Ten teams. Ten games. 

I fully intend to rave about my Saturday profits when I ring Krackman early Super Bowl Sunday.

Read and learn: What is a parlay bet?

College basketball betting trend to watch: Going OVER (and OVER and OVER again) in New Orleans

Easy? How about Big Easy? Sometime this biz is easy, we just don’t see the evidence or sign posts that are sometimes smack in front of our coconuts.

Since 2014, of all the teams that have participated in at least 150 lined games, New Orleans games lead everyone at finishing OVER their totals, by a 65.1% clip (112-59-4).

All of that runnin’ ’n’ gunnin’ has been under coach Mark Slessinger, who adopted the up-tempo style as an assistant under longtime Northwestern State boss Mike McConathy.

This season, 13 of 18 Privateers tilts have toppled their projected total figures. Betting blindly on New Orleans games to finish OVER has returned a healthy 7.5 units.

Other élite OVER programs since ’14 include Denver (fourth) and Wofford (12th), both of whose games are 15-5 to OVER this season. Between those three, that’s a combined 26.5 profit units (at 43-15).

Of course, who has specifically been betting OVER on games involving that trio since the start of this season? If so, you are Kingfish. We highlight these, though, as something to watch the rest of this campaign.

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Keep an eye on this college hoops trend, too: Winless Detroit Mercy also nation's worst against the spread

At the other end of the scale resides 0-24 Detroit Mercy, which is a national-worst 5-19 against the number. The Titans haven’t covered nine of their past 11 games.

Somehow, on Jan. 29, they were only getting 10 points at home against Youngstown State, the best team in the Horizon League who trounced Detroit, 105-64.

Detroit plays at Youngstown on Feb. 28, so that deserves being circled. Stats guru Ken Pomeroy projects the Penguins to be 23-point favorites in the rematch.

The coach at Mercy is Mike Davis, the former Indiana boss who matriculated to UAB and Texas Southern before landing in Detroit in 2013. 

The program has been especially stung by the departure of his outstanding son Antoine Davis, who averaged more than 28 points last season, but the four other starters also exited.

For added salt in Mercy’s wounds, foes have sunk 77.7% of their free throws against the Titans, the highest opponent rate in the land.

Somehow, KenPom charts Luck as a factor. And somehow, Detroit isn’t last; it’s No. 307 in Luck, at -.059. At No. 362 is Murray State, at -.179.

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Brothers Boone leading UNLV to recent success ATS

It still doesn’t deserve that Runnin’ modifier to its Rebels nickname, which should refer only to those fabulous Jerry Tarkanian squads.

(When Charlie Spoonhour took over at UNLV, in 2001, he informed Tark of being nervous; Spoon Ball was directly opposite of Tark’s fast-break methods. What would fans say? Charlie told me Tark told him, “Just tell ’em you’re runnin’; they won’t know the difference, anyway.”)

This season’s UNLV team is one of the more deliberate Mountain West squads, with San Jose State and just behind tap-dancin’ Air Force.

However, third-year boss Kevin Kruger deserves some recognition. Since Keylan Boone began playing beside twin brother Kalib, UNLV (12-9, 5-4) has won nine of 14 games, a span in which it has covered 10 of 12 lined tilts.

Keylan previously played at Oklahoma State and Pacific, and he got cleared when a federal judge in West Virginia ruled that double transfers could play immediately.

The Boones combined for 35 points and 13 boards in a 79-64 triumph over Creighton in the Henderson foothills, where the Rebels had been 13.5-point dogs.

They are 7-1 ATS in their past eight games and play a tough one Saturday at New Mexico.

Several sources peg five Mountain West teams going to the NCAA Tournament. UNLV is on the fringes of that quintet but has an ace in the hole, since the league tourney is on its own court.