Olympic Bet of the Day – We came darned close yesterday – our Japanese skater finished second by a very small margin. That means that we are down $125 after three days of betting. We’re going to get it back today by betting on women’s curling. I may get my passport taken away here because Canada loves their curling, but I am going to bet against them. Canada is the favorite in the tournament, and I like their chances of hitting the podium, but they have no international experience and little experience dealing with the pressure of large-crowd tournaments. Their first game is against he Swiss. Mirjam Ott has the distinction of being the only curler to own two curling medals – both silver. She’s a wily veteran and will be more settled early than Bernard and Canada. The Swiss are at +175, and I see a lot of value there.
The Other Stuff
My vexation with the Big East continued in earnest today. Last time out against Cincinnati, UConn played as poorly as a team can play en route to a 12 point home loss. They had lost five of six since beating Texas, and that Texas loss is less impressive now than it was then given the play of the Longhorns since. In short, it was pretty easy to write off the Huskies. Or so it seemed. Tonight they headed into Villanova – a team riding an 11 game winning streak and playing impressive ball. So, it makes perfect sense, then, that UConn smoked the Wildcats. Big East aficionados will use this as further proof that the conference is so deep that any team can beat any other team at any given time. I look at it the other way – that this is further proof this year that the top team sin the Big East are not built to last next month. We won’t have to wait too long to see which theory holds up.
Kansas, on the other hand, continues to show me what I want to see. They faced some real adversity again tonight – they got behind at Texas A&M, and Sherron Collins just couldn’t score – but they got tough, got things under control, and came out with a nice win. They aren’t flashy, but they are gutter-fighters, and that’s what it takes to win in March. They are going to go deep in my bracket.
