While fun to root for, Cinderellas not always smart bets

Upsets are always a colorful theme early in the NCAA Tournament. The little guys become the biggest and best stories, and superstars such as Ohio State's Evan Turner get overshadowed.

That's the way it should be, because that's what makes the tournament so fascinating.

But there are times when bettors are with fine with boring games. Upsets bust brackets (did the Kansas loss knock you out of the office pool?) and blow up parlays, and the truth is a majority of bettors are parlaying favorites.

"People might talk about it and root for the Cinderella," said Jimmy Vaccaro, director of operations for Lucky's sports books. "But when they get to the window, it's Syracuse and West Virginia, and they still bet the best teams."

Syracuse and West Virginia covered Sunday, as did Duke and Ohio State. All four were favored in the range of six to seven points, and little point-spread drama was involved.

But the public was attracted to one underdog, and jumping on Cornell against Wisconsin was a wise move. It was a boring game, which in this case also was a good thing. The Big Red of the Ivy League schooled Bo Ryan and blew out the Badgers, 87-69.

Cornell was the rare underdog that took an early lead and did not let it slowly slip away. There was no reason to nervously suck on cigarettes while pacing around the sports book cussing to no one in particular.

"That was the only game where we actually had more money on the 'dog in the parlay action," Vaccaro said. "It looked like people just woke up at the same time and said this Cornell team isn't a 12 seed."

The Badgers, who were
4-point favorites, looked nothing like a 4 seed.

There are good stories behind the Big Red. Its star, guard Ryan Wittman, is the son of a former NBA head coach. Wittman, like most of his teammates, could not get a major scholarship offer.

Those stories will be told frequently this week. Cornell is headed to the Sweet 16, where it will run into John Wall and Kentucky. So this is when dreams collide with reality. The Wildcats are 9½-point favorites. How much faith remains in the Big Red?

Four underdogs won outright in Sunday's second round, and while none of the results were major surprises, two of the games featured dramatic endings.

Korie Lucious drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift Michigan State to an 85-83 victory over Maryland. The game opened pick'em and closed Terrapins minus-1.

The Spartans had squandered all of a 16-point second-half lead after Greivis Vasquez hit a driving jumper to put Maryland up one with six seconds left.

The finish was a flurry of emotions, the agony of defeat and the thrill of victory switching sides in an instant.

"It's just wonderful to watch," Vaccaro said. "How many games came down to the last minute, whether you win or lose your bet?"

The Purdue-Texas A&M game was another. The Boilermakers climbed out of an 11-point second-half hole and won 63-61 in overtime on Chris Kramer's hard-charging layup with four seconds to go.

The money was on the Aggies, who closed as 2-point favorites. It was not a boring game, and most bettors hated it.

"The A&M game would have been a disaster for us. We really needed Purdue," Vaccaro said. "That was our biggest parlay game of the day. We got a little bit lucky on that one."

The bettors did beat the books decisively on at least two games Saturday, when Kansas State beat Brigham Young by 12 and Kentucky crushed Wake Forest by 30.

"We couldn't get a bet on BYU if we gave away a coupon," Vaccaro said. "The Kentucky game was an absolute one-way attack.

"Our ticket count was good, just a little down from last year. The people are still betting, but they're simply betting a little bit less."

Vaccaro said Las Vegas books are "looking at a 60 to 70 percent decrease in volume" from the first two rounds to the Sweet 16.

The action slows now, but it's still far from boring.

Michigan State, which appears to have lost star guard Kalin Lucas to a likely Achilles' tendon tear, is tentatively a 4-point favorite over Northern Iowa and Ali Farokhmanesh. That matchup is intriguing.

The Cinderella teams -- Cornell, Northern Iowa and Butler -- will be fun to watch. But will you be betting on them?

Contact Las Vegas Review-Journal sports betting columnist Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.