It's that time a year where you get to bet on teams you might have never bet on.
Honestly, it's what makes March so fun.
So today, I'm diving in and picking the best of the most random matchup that's on ESPN+ and being played in Las Vegas at Michelob Ultra Arena.
And the best value I can find on the board is Grand Canyon as only a 9.5-point favorite over UT-Arlington.
Grand Canyon at 20-11 is a good team, coached by March Madness "Pacer" hero Bryce Drew. Their best player, after losing WAC preseason player of the year Javon Blackshear Jr. in the middle of the season, is Ray Harrison, who probably should have won WAC player of the year. What inspires me is he has no problem publicly telling the world he got snubbed and he's angry.
"I'm more locked in than ever," said Harrison, who is averaging more than 17 points per game. "I don't care too much about awards, but of course when they came out, I felt overlooked. I've got a chip the size of Mount Everest on my shoulder right now. I'm ready to show them who I am."
That's not good news to UT-Arlington (11-20), who last time against the Lopes lost by the score of 80-48 after being up 30-28 at the half! Is this UT-Arlington team much better? No. They're probably worse. Their sophomore forward leader Shemar Wilson has missed the last seven games with a hip injury and he's likely out again.
This season, when a team has beaten an opponent by more than 20, and plays the second game in February or March, the initial winning team is 94-67-1 against the spread.
UT-Arlington is also compromised. It's on the seventh game being coached by interim coach Royce Johnson after the school fired their head coach with just six games in the regular season left. In their last two games, they lost by 19 and 34 to Utah and Seattle.
Take the Lopes -9.5 at BetMGM.
