I think of college basketball as a purer form of the game than the pros. In my mind, this is true not only for the type of basketball they play, but for the integrity of each game; remember the NBA ref who got busted “cheating”? With the nationwide spread of gambling, more and more people are in tune with the spread of a game. For those of us who have been down this path for a while already, it’s old hat. We KNOW games are impacted by referees; the bigger the game, the more control the refs/Papa Vegas want to exert. But college basketball??? Say it ain’t so… Nothing is out of reach for Vegas; we know College Football is part of it. And College Basketball… the bigger the game… definitely some beak wetting. Vegas wasn’t built on winners, just remember. I saw a good one on Saturday night at the end of the UCLA Northwestern game.
We watched the whole game; UCLA is our adopted team, and we root for them pretty hard, even over local team Northwestern. Besides that fact, I picked them to win it all in my brackets, so… yeah, all in on UCLA on Saturday night. I was pissed that I couldn’t bet on the spread of UCLA -7.5; I cannot bet on games involving Illinois college teams. At the end of the night, I would remember that sometimes, not getting what you want, is exactly what you need.
UCLA dominated the game for the first half, then Northwestern made a push, a pretty good one. It was close down the stretch until UCLA hit a big trey to give them a 6 point lead late. The lead was at 6 points down the stretch when Northwestern had to foul. The UCLA player made both free throws, putting them up 8, covering the spread, with 11 seconds left. The Northwestern guy dribbled down court and chucked up a trey that had no chance, but… they called a phantom foul, which allowed him to hit 3 free throws to pull the Cats within 5 points. With still 7 seconds left, surely they would be fouling again? They didn’t. Sure looked to me that once they covered that spread, they were good. If you’ve been watching any of these games, you know 7 seconds is an eternity. Only down 5 points… a missed free throw and you’re still within 2 possessions. Sure, the odds are still against it, but… 5 points is still close enough to push until triple zeroes. But they didn’t… like I said, glad I wasn’t able to bet on the game.
Maybe I’m making too much out of this one; surely it wasn’t as obvious as other ones over the years, but still… it was a reminder. Don’t think for a second that most folks involved in the game know damn well what the spread is, especially the refs, but both teams too. Does it taint the game? Yeah, I think it does. Since I’ve been back gambling on games, it does make it more fun, no doubt, and it feels good to win money, when that happens, but it does take something away from the purity of the game, even as a fan, even watching a “clean game”, if that even exists. Not going down that rabbit hole; going to enjoy the rest of the tourney first and foremost. UCLA is marching on; I know damn well I’ll be betting on their next game.
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