CBB Cover Odds
See the probability of your bet hitting, live
The NCAA Tournament's First Four wrapped up Wednesday night with both favorites going down. Prairie View A&M and Miami (OH) each advanced to the Round of 64, burning anyone who backed the favorites to cover. It was a tale of two styles: one game turned into a defensive grind well below its total, the other a high-scoring shootout that cruised over.
Neither spread was particularly close by the final whistle. Two teams punched their tickets, and the bracket opens in earnest Thursday.
Prairie View A&M 67, Lehigh 55 — Prairie View dominated from wire to wire, winning the 16-seed play-in by 12 and sending Lehigh home as the team that never found its footing offensively. Lehigh opened as a 3.5-point favorite but couldn't keep up, falling behind early and never generating enough offense to threaten a cover. The under crushed the total — the combined 122 points was a full 18.5 under the 140.5 line, a defensive performance that made the total look almost comically high in retrospect.
Miami (OH) 89, SMU 79 — SMU entered as a 6.5-point favorite but spent the entire game chasing Miami (OH), who led 43-34 at halftime and never let the Mustangs back within striking distance. SMU's cover probability fell below 50% at the start of the second half and never recovered — the model had effectively written off the cover as soon as the second-half clock started. On the total side, this was the kind of game over bettors dream about: 77 first-half points set the pace, and the final score of 168 cleared the 162.5 line with room to spare. Miami (OH) advances to meet a 6-seed in the Round of 64.