Michigan State and Duke are drawing the bulk of public money in tonight’s Sweet 16 betting action, two Las Vegas bookmakers told The Linemakers on Sporting News about five hours before the games tip off.
Sharp bettors are on the opposite sides of those games, backing Oklahoma – the higher-seeded underdog – vs. Michigan State, as well as Utah, 5-point dogs against the Blue Devils.
Current lines: Friday's Sweet 16 action
While William Hill U.S. has been writing two-way action on the Michigan State-Oklahoma game, Spartans money “has all been public action, while the sharps like Oklahoma,“ director of trading Nick Bogdanovich said.
The Spartans opened -1.5 at William Hill and were pushed to -2.5, before sharp money came in on the Sooners, prompting a move back to -1.5 this morning.
Bogdanovich is seeing a similar dynamic with Utah vs. Duke, as amateur bettors are backing the popular favorite.
“We’re pretty one-sided with Duke action, but it’s all smaller money,” he said. “Wiseguys are on Utah.”
Duke has been as low as -4.5 and as high as -5.5 at William Hill, and the line sits -5 across town as of this writing.
At CG Technology, risk on the Spartans and Blue Devils has been compounded by public bettors parlaying the two sides.
“Our entire night basically rests with Michigan State and Duke because that has been the popular combination all the fans have been betting this week, whether it's first-half, the game itself, straight bets or parlays,” said Jason Simbal, vice-president of risk management for CG Tech.
He added, “We took a couple of smart bets on Oklahoma at +2,” he added.
Previews and picks: Michigan St-Oklahoma | Utah-Duke
Less interest on early tips
Handle has been lighter on tonight’s two other games – UCLA vs. Gonzaga (7:15 p.m. ET, CBS) and N.C. State vs. Louisville (7:37 p.m. ET, TBS) – and William Hill and CG Tech are reporting different sentiment among their smaller, public bettors on these contests.
“The other two games are quiet compared to the others – little handle,” said Simbal, “but I will say we have seen some smaller action come in on UCLA taking the points (+8.5).”
Bogdanovich, though, said bettors are laying the points with Gonzaga and also using the Bulldogs in money-line parlays.
“We’re going to need the dog pretty good in this one just because we’re loaded on parlays with Gonzaga on the money-line and point (spread),” he said.
William Hill is “dead even on the Louisville game with bettors laying -2.5 with the opener and then others taking +3 back with N.C. State,” Bogdanovich said. “We’ve been at -2.5 since yesterday.”
Previews and picks: UCLA-Gonzaga | N.C. State-Louisville
Small win for books on Thursday
Both books said they ended up on the plus-side of the ledger after Thursday’s Sweet 16 action, but it was far from a resounding victory over the bettors.
“We were a small winner last night,” Bogdanovich said. “We won with Wichita State (-2 vs. Notre Dame) and Arizona (-11 vs. Xavier) failing to cover, but lost with the other two (Kentucky and Wisconsin both covered as favorites).”
CG Tech, though, dodged some risk with West Virginia getting blown out. “We needed Kentucky (-13) last night, and they helped us to a decent day,“ Simbal said.
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