* Without going into long rants about each team I will say that Michigan and Juwan Howard are super impressive and for real (even though they likely lose tonight at Louisville in a truly horrible scheduling spot). While discussing scheduling spots you will find many teams in trap games returning from long holiday tournament trips with some nondescript team coming to visit this week right around finals time. You have to put the work in to find these games but trust me they are there every year.
I hope some of my Friar fans get to read this.
Since I'm home mentally recovering today while delaying the start of shoveling I'll share this story. I met my friend Alan in Vegas at the old Stardust sports book in the mid-80's when I had just turned 21. Me and my buddies were on our first Vegas trip and were wearing Providence or Boston gear which prompted Alan to approach me and ask where we were from. He is originally from Maine so he embraced the New England connection. We hung out and I can honestly say I learned more about college hoops handicapping in that one weekend than I had ever learned from anyone in my life. Each year we'd go to Vegas we'd get up with Alan at the Stardust. When I left the dog racing/sports betting game in the mid-90's to return to school and live a normal life I lost touch with so many characters from this previous life. In 2012, when I left my job in NC to return home to spend time with family that ultimately led to me playing poker full time I would occasionally run into these blast from the past guys. This meeting one fall afternoon 4-5 years ago was unique however. I had not seen Alan since I'm guessing 1993.....it was now 2014 (or 2015) when I felt someone over my shoulder at Foxwoods when I was in a game. As I began turning my head to see who this was I heard a voice saying "Good fold" and while I could tell this was someone I knew 20-30 years ago I couldn't immediately place the face. Then he said, ''Did you ever play poker at The Stardust?" That's when it hit me who this was as I jumped up and gave him a big hug! I had read many stories about him over the years, I had even bought his book, but how the hell did he ever recognize a 150 lb, 20-25 year old kid who he'd see in Vegas once a year a few times as a nearly 200 lb, 50-year old guy player poker in a room filled with 500 other poker players on the other side of the country? That's how nuts and truly special a human this man is.
Anyway, damn I'm in a rambling mood today look out, when we were in Vegas over Thanksgiving weekend one year with a couple of buddies (none of our families were happy with this) and I remember this like it was yesterday. We are watching our PC Friars in Rick Pitino's second year whip American University the day after Thanksgiving by 30 points as all 4 of us were holding tickets (i think we were laying 10 or 11) that comprised about 80% of our Vegas bankrolls for the weekend at the time. Alan was also on Providence and told me how this Rick Pitino guy was going to revolutionize the game of basketball by playing a trapping press for 40 minutes with a focus on deflections leading to turnovers and ultimately either a 3-point shot or a layup while eliminating the mid-range shot from the game. This was November, 1986 and Pitino later that year led the overachieving Friars to the Final Four. Alan was on this Coach from Day One.....he was THAT sharp.
So we all cash our tickets and get ready to go back to our rooms across the street at The Riviera to change and get ready to party all night. Before I leave Alan asks if I'm going to be at Stardust tomorrow. When i tell him yes he just says we'll talk then. We get up on Saturday, he asks when are we heading home I tell him Monday night on the redeye. All he says is "Good, save some money for Monday and be here by 2pm (5pm EST)," Me being me i press him on this which ended with him saying "If I were you I wouldn't make another bet until you see me at 2pm on Monday." I share this info with my buddies and naturally we didn't listen but still had a decent chunk between the 4 of us probably about 7k of which 3200 was mine.
We all head to Stardust around 1:30 with intrigue and assuming he had a game for us. By this time we are well aware of his reputation around Vegas so I trusted any info to be legit. We hang around for awhile but no Alan. Finally just after 2pm he arrives all out of breath with one of his guys looking like he ran all over Vegas saying that he ran back cuz he didn't want to leave us hanging (this is type of guy he is)......well, he did cuz that's how you got down on games back then along with the pager/beeper that some carried which at the time had to be hidden as they were not allowed inside the sports book and a nearby pay phone. He was done getting down on his Monday night games all over town but the info he had for us was tied to our hometown as one of his games was taking place at tiny Marvel Gym on the Brown University campus. He asks me who i like in the American U/Brown game. I almost laugh and say that I know half the guys on Brown, played summer league or pickup games with most of them and played in HS with their best player (Patrick Lynch). I told him how horrible of a team they were and lost all their best players from the previous year......yes we were all betting on American that day! He smiled at me, then he chuckled, then he made a snide comment while smiling and laughing. Finally he said, "Ok, now that you're done talking like a moron do you want to make some money?" Uh yeah, I'm all ears. "For a game like this the most most places will take is $500 so you've got about an hour and a half to run to as many places as you can." This is when I look up at the board with excitement and glee since American was a 6-point favorite earlier in the day and now they were only a 2-point favorite! I tell him how excited I am to fire my entire roll on American and only have to lay 2 now as opposed to 6 earlier. His next words I can still hear vividly over 30 years later......."You fuckin morons! You aren't betting American you are betting on BROWN! They are going to wipe American off the court by 20." He tries to end the convo but I won't let him. I want to know why. This is when he tells me (paraphrasing), "American (from DC) bused up to Providence on Thankgiving Night, for one of those 2-day Thanksgiving tournaments at the old Civic Center, arrived at their hotel at 2am, got blown out by PC then got their win on the trip the following day. Their job was done and they would head home.......but American scheduled a game for that Monday night at Brown. Ed Tapscott (their coach and later coach of Wizards) brought a bunch of inner city kids up to Provdence for a Sat and Sun night, what could possibly go wrong? Trust me Gary, this is a blowout. The last place these kids want to be tonight is playing basketball at Marvel Gym. You want to know why the number moved from 6 to 2? It's cuz I've been running to every casino on the strip getting down on them. I moved the number. By the time you get down it will probably be at a Pick." As i look up it's now at 1......I run to the window to bet 500. The teller calls a supervisor over, he stares me down and glances over in the direction of Alan and my friends (i hadnt told them the plan yet) and says he'll let me bet 200! I start screaming at the guy (LOL) about Vegas being a joke yada yada and grab the crew as we hit up other sports books who didn't see us with Alan to give off a red flag. I ended up getting down for 2600 total and my buddies probably another 3k or so as we bounced around from casino to casino while stopping at vacant payphones to take turns calling n Brown to our bookies back home as well. One hysterical side note was that we ran out of change to make the long distance calls so we began calling our guys collect!! It was one incredible rush running around Vegas like this at 22 year olds.
Oh and Brown took an early lead (i recall seeing 13-4 as first score we saw on the ticker), their Honorable Mention All-American got two quick fouls, headed to the bench, then picked up a quick 3rd in the 1H, and Brown comfortably won by double digits. We spent from 6pm-8pm running back around town cashing our tickets, running upstairs to pack and barely made our redeye flight home. That was a fun fun night.