Weekly Q&A with Doc's Sports Expert Handicapper Raphael Esparza 3/6/2017

by Doc's Sports - 3/7/2017

It's Championship Week in college basketball leading up to the start of the 2017 NCAA Tournament next Tuesday. Raphael Esparza is not only one of Doc's Sports top expert handicappers , but he is also a huge college hoops fan, so in this week's discussion we will get him to weigh in on some of the biggest trending topics surrounding this week's betting action.

Once known as the Vegas Sports Informer during a long and successful career in the Las Vegas sportsbook industry, Raphael became one of the best sports handicappers in the nation while also working is way up the ranks to become the Director of the Race and Sports Book for MGM Grand's Aria. He retired from the sportsbook industry in 2013. However, he continues to split his time between Las Vegas and the Big Easy in New Orleans running a successful and diverse sports investment service. The following is this week's Q&A with one of Doc's most interesting handicappers.

Doc's Sports: Heading into this week's conference tournaments, the betting action in Las Vegas is sure to produce a sizable handle for all the biggest sportsbooks in town. The Pac-12 is the lone major conference tournament that is actually held Las Vegas, so would this also make it the most heavily-bet tournament as well?

RE: As far as sports betting in general, it is estimated that all of the sportsbooks in Nevada only account for one percent of the money bet on sports. That would lead me to believe that the Pac-12 would probably not be at the top of the list as far as the total betting handle this week on college basketball.

As far as the Las Vegas books, the Pac-12 will probably generate the most tickets, but there could still be some big money bet on some of the other marquee tournaments. The fact that the Pac-12 Tournament moved from MGM Grand to the T-Mobile Arena this year could also have an impact on the amount of bets placed.

Doc's Sports: The North Carolina Tar Heels in the ACC and the Kansas Jayhawks in the Big 12 are favored to add a tournament title to their regular season title this week. Are you going chalk in each of these major conferences, or are there some another teams waiting in the wings to pull off an upset?

RE: It is always tough to go with the favorite in the ACC given just how many good teams that conference has. North Carolina is pretty much penciled-in as a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament, so I would question the Tar Heels' motivation level to win the conference tournament. Kansas, on the other hand, is the clear favorite to win the Big 12 Tournament. And while either West Virginia or Baylor may have something to say about that, I would not go against the Jayhawks this week.

Doc's Sports: You have been high on the AAC's SMU Mustangs all season long as a top Mid-Major team both on the court and at the betting window. They have already won the regular-season title at 17-1 straight up in conference play while going an incredible 15-2-1 against the spread. Is this a team to ride this week both SU and ATS in its quest to add the AAC Tournament title to its resume?

RE: I have been touting SMU all season and see no real reason to start going against the Mustangs this week. Cincinnati is the only other team that could give them some trouble as the No. 2 seed, but I would definitely classify SMU as a hot betting team.

Doc's Sports : Are there any other hot betting teams out there right now that have also caught your eye in terms of their chances to payoff big in their particular conference tournament?

RE: We have talked at length about the Pac-12 and I am going to keep riding the Ducks all the way to the conference tournament title after picking them to win the regular-season crown. I really like the way that Dillon Brooks has played down the stretch, and I am looking for a couple of big games from him this weekend.

Doc's Sports: We know that college basketball takes center stage this entire week in the countdown to Selection Sunday, but is there anything else on your betting radar right now that might be of interest for sports bettors?

RE : The great thing about this time of the year is that with so much college hoops action on the board, you are bound to find some soft lines for games in major sports leagues such as the NHL, MLS and possibly even in the NBA. I will be focusing most of my attention on college basketball as well, but I am always on the lookout for soft lines for anything else that might be going on at the same time.

Click here to visit Raphael Esparza's Insider's Page at Doc's Sports for more information on his amazingly-profitable sports handicapping picks. Also, get $60 worth of Esparza's member's picks absolutely free - no obligation, no sales people - you don't even have to enter credit card information. You can use this $60 credit for any sport Esparza handicaps. Click here for $60 worth of free picks from Raphael Esparza .

Pick:	CHICAGO BEARS +3
Start:	November 24, 2024 @ 1:00 PM
Expert:	Doc's Sports

Analysis:

Free Play from Doc’s Sports. Take #256 Chicago Bears +3 over Minnesota Vikings (1p.m., Sunday, November 24 FOX) We used the Bears as a free play winner last Sunday and easily covered the spread and should have been an underdog outright winner. Now we will ride them for a second straight week against another NFC North rival, the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings are 8-2 on the season, yet are only around a field goal favorite. I still do not trust Sam Donald to win consistently over the course of a 17 game regular season. Minnesota is not as good as their 8-2 record would indicate and playing outdoors in Chicago on Sunday will cause issues for them on both sides of the ball. Chicago has been hit or miss this season, but they will be up to play another divisional rival and we expect them to take this down to the wire as well. Do not miss out on Doc’s Sports Weekend Card featuring top plays in college and NFL football. Read More Read Less

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