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This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z

by - 3/18/2016

Buddy Hield oklahoma sooners

A. Arkansas-Little Rock . The team's head coach, Chris Beard, broke his hand punching a whiteboard during a Sun Belt Tournament championship win over Louisiana Monroe earlier this month. No punching was required on Thursday, when the 12th-seeded Trojans upset No. 5 seed Purdue 85-83 in double-overtime during first-round NCAA Tournament action. Arkansas-Little Rock is a +6.5 underdog against Iowa State on Saturday, per GT Bets.

B. Buddy Hield . In what would have been one of the most improbable endings in conference tournament history, Hield launched a double-pump shot from half court and drained it to apparently give Oklahoma a 70-69 win over West Virginia in the Big 12 semifinals. But replay showed the ball still on Hield's fingertips as the buzzer sounded. Thus the star guard will have to save his heroics for the NCAA Tournament. 5Dimes Sportsbook has the Sooners as -14.5 favorites over Cal State Bakersfield on Friday.

C. Charl Schwartzel . Schwartzel knows a thing or two about closing. After all, this is the guy who birdied the last four holes to win the 2011 Masters. There was no green jacket for Schwartzel to don last Sunday, but he still picked up a big win by coming back five shots down to Bill Haas heading into the final round of the Valspar Championship. The South African fired a 67 to force a playoff, which he won when Haas made bogey on the first extra hole. Schwartzel is +3300 at Bovada Sportsbook to win the Masters; Rory McIlroy is a +600 favorite.

D. Drake . Not even Drake could save the Raptors from defeat on Monday. But he did the best he could. Sitting courtside, obviously, Drake harassed Bulls' guard Justin Holiday on an inbounds pass that eventually led to a five-second violation late in the fourth quarter. Holiday said that he did not listen to it-which is what a lot of people have said about Drake's music.

E. Engaged . Russell Wilson sealed the deal with Ciara last week. That has to be the best play Seattle's quarterback has ever made.

F. Fifty . Dating back to last season, that's how many regular-season home games the Warriors have won in a row after humiliating New York 121-85 on Wednesday. Their last such loss came on Jan. 27 of 2015 via a 113-111 overtime decision against Chicago. Golden State has not lost a regular-season home game in regulation since Nov. 11 of 2014 (113-100 to San Antonio). The Warriors are -8.5 favorites at Dallas on Friday, according to BetOnline Sportsbook.

G. Goose Gossage . The Hall of Famer-turned-announcer went on an expletive-laced tirade last week, ripping into steroid users (Ryan Bruan) and bat-flippers (Jose Bautista). On the subject of showboating, Gossage said that he doesn't want to see "a bunch of Cam Newtons running around" in Major League Baseball. Neither do opposing MLB teams.

H. Higgins, Ben . Jojo Fletcher's bubble burst on the season finale of "The Bachelor" earlier this week. Higgins went with Lauren Bushnell to be his bride, but Fletcher earned a consolation prize by being named the next bachelorette.

I.Ibaka, Serge . Playing his best ball of the season, Ibaka has reached double-figures in at least either points our rebounds in 14 of his last 15 games. He has scored a combined 29 points in the Thunder's current two-game winning streak, which has come at the expense of Portland and Boston. Oklahoma City is +1400 at BookMaker to win the Western Conference.

J. Johnny Manziel . In news less newsworthy than the sky being blue, the Browns released Manziel last week. The former Heisman Trophy winner insists he is still dedicated to football. But is he more dedicated to it than he is to night life?

K. Kevin Harvick . Harvick beat Carl Edwards by 0.01 seconds to win last week's Sprint Cup race in Arizona. Is that close? Well, yes, but not by Daytona 500 standards. Harvick is a +450 co-favorite at MyBookie.ag to win this weekend's Auto Club 400.

L. LaRoche, Adam . You won't find a much more bizarre reason for someone to retire from his or her sport. LaRoche announced his retirement from baseball earlier this week, citing the fact that the White Sox were not going to let his 14-year-old son spend every minute of every day with the team like they did in 2015. And that begs the question: did LaRoche's son not go to school last year?

M. Messi, Lionel . FC Barcelona advanced to the Champions League quarterfinalson Wednesday with a 3-1 victory over Arsenal at Camp Nou. The home team already had a 2-0 lead in the aggregate, so the second leg was not much more than a formality. Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez found the back of the net for Barca.

N. New England Patriots . The last time New England tried to run a two tight-end set, it did not end well…you know, because one of the tight ends killed people. Now the Pats are at it again, having traded for Martellus Bennett from the Bears to team up with Rob Gronkowski.

O. Osweiler, Brock . This is not our first rodeo with this story: backup quarterback throws a few successful passes after starter goes out, has millions of dollars dumped on him by another team. Let's hope this works out better for Osweiler than it did for Matt Flynn. Peyton Manning's former backup inked a $72 million deal ($37M guaranteed) with the Texans last week.

P. Phil Jackson . Apparently the Knicks' president is considering a return to coaching next season. One idea has Jackson coaching New York's home games, with Kurt Rambis manning the sidelines on the road. Um, what? That may be the worst idea since the jump to conclusions mat in "Office Space."

Q. Quenneville, Joel . Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the Blackhawks' head coach put Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews on the same line for Wednesday's game against Philadelphia. Chicago had lost three in a row-and it's safe to say the move did not fix anything. Quenneville's club fell 3-2 for its longest losing streak of the season.The Blackhawks are -165 favorites at Winnipeg on Friday, as indicated by Bovada Sportsbook.

R. Rodney Bullock . One of the most dramatic endings on Day 1 of the Big Dance saw Providence beat USC 70-69 on a Bullock layup with 1.5 seconds left. A comedy of Trojan blunders, including missed free throws and turnovers, led to a perfectly executed inbounds play by the Friars that resulted in Bullock's winning bucket.

S. Spieth, Jordan . Spieth stumbled to bookend rounds of 76 and 73 at last week's Valspar Championship and then basically went off on his caddie. "Really poor from both me and Michael (Greller) today," Spieth said. "Our decisions cost us a few shots early and all the momentum…. We both get the credit when things are going good and we're going to take the fall today." But the caddie doesn't get any credit from anyone except Spieth when things are good, so….

T. Triple-double . Channeling his inner Draymond Green, John Wall turned in consecutive triple-doubles on Wednesday and Thursday in Wizards' wins over Chicago and Philadelphia. He went for 29 points, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds before delivering 16 points, 14 assists, and 13 rebounds.

U. UNC . The Tar Heels celebrated their ACC Tournament title by messing around with Florida Gulf Coast for a half on Thursday night. But a slim 41-40 lead quickly turned into an 83-67 beat-down in favor of the top-seeded Tar Heels. WagerWeb has Carolina as a -9.5 favorite over Providence on Saturday.

V. Verlander, Justin . Given that he dates Kate Upton, Verlander wins at life regardless of what he does on the baseball diamond. But is a resurgent Verlander in the cards for 2016? Although the sample size is small, the Tigers' right-hander sports a perfect 0.00 ERA through nine spring training innings as of Friday afternoon. In his most recent outing, the Braves managed only one hit in four innings against Verlander.

W. Wallace, Mike . Saying, "I need a good quarterback," Wallace spurned the Vikings to sign with the Joe Flacco-led Baltimore Ravens on Tuesday. Shots fired! What say you, Teddy Bridgewater? Baltimore is +1600 at GT Bets to win the AFC Championship.

X. Xavier . Half of Xavier's losses this season-and each of its last two-have come to Seton Hall. The Musketeers fell on Feb. 28 and again in the Big East semifinals. Fortunately for them, they will not have to face Seton Hall in the NCAA Tournament because the Pirates got bounced right away by Gonzaga on Thursday night.

Y.Yasiel Puig . Citing not enough evidence, Major League Baseball announced on earlier this week that it will not discipline Puig for his alleged role in a bar fight with his sister last fall. The Dodgers have to hope he gets a lot of similarly hard hits in this season. Los Angeles is +1000 at BetOnline Sportsbook to win the World Series.


Z. Zverev, Alexander . The 18-year-old German came within one point of beating Rafael Nadal in Indian Wells on Wednesday. He even had an easy volley on match point to clinch victory, but Zverev botched it and ended the contest losing 15 of the last 16 points. Ouch. Nadal is a +105 underdog against Kei Nishikori on Friday, per BetDSI Sportsbook.

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