Friday's NCAA tournament games could have been called the "Revenge of the Favorites."
While Thursday felt like a chalky day as all four higher-seeded teams won, the betting favorites were actually 3-1 straight-up as Notre Dame went off as a 2-point underdog against Wichita State despite being a No. 3 seed versus a No. 7. Favorites/underdogs were 2-2 ATS as Arizona didn't cover the 12-point spread against Xavier.
However, on Friday, the betting favorites not only won all four games but also covered the spread in each game. There was another No. 7 seed favored over a No. 3, but this time Michigan St. covered as a 1.5-point favorite in its 62-58 win over Oklahoma.
The closest call ended up being the Duke-Utah game that "ended" with Duke -- which closed as a 5-point favorite, though many Utah bettors were sitting on plus-5.5 and hoping for the clock to run out -- ahead 62-57 with the final horn sounding and TBS posting it as a "FINAL" on the screen. However, the referees had called a foul and went to look at the replay to see if it was before time expired. They put 0.7 seconds back on the clock. Quinn Cook went to the line and missed his first foul shot, but sank the second to make the final 63-57 and cause millions of dollars to change hands.
While I was on Utah and certainly was hurt by the call, I'm objective to not call it a "bad beat," as Duke was the right side for most of the game (though it would have been nice to get a makeup result for the real bad beat on North Carolina from Thursday).
Friday's results, and favorites going 6-2 ATS in the Sweet 16, lowered underdogs' overall lead to 29-27 ATS for the tournament (33-27 ATS if including the "First Four"). Unders were 5-3 in the Sweet 16 and are 30-24-2 (55.6 percent).
But we move on to the Elite Eight. If you're reading this Saturday before the games tip off, go here for our plays on Arizona-Wisconsin and Kentucky-Notre Dame.
This column is for Sunday's regional semifinals. I'll take a look at the East Regional that's set for 2:20 p.m. ET, and Andrew Lange will give his breakdown of the South Regional.
East Regional
No. 4 Louisville Cardinals vs. No. 7 Michigan State Spartans
Westgate line: Michigan State minus-2.5; over/under 128.5 PickCenter intel
Tuley: As the lowest seeds left in the NCAA tournament, these two teams are the biggest surprises, but not too many people are shocked because they're led by Tom Izzo and Rick Pitino, whom we're used to see coaching late into March.
It's not too surprising that the No. 7 Spartans are favored over the No. 4 Cardinals. A lot of people have said Michigan State was underseeded. In fact, our CBB Vegas Rankings have the Spartans one point ahead of the Cardinals and they were above them before the tournament started.