Daily Sports Betting Preview 03/20/2021: March Madness And NBA Betting

• Norfolk State is a 33 point underdog to Gonzaga.
• The Charlotte Hornets have +340 odds to defeat the Los Angeles Clippers.
• LaMelo Ball has -1000 odds to win the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award.

LAS VEGAS - Welcome to this Saturday edition of the Daily Sports Betting Preview - an all-basketball edition.

The first basketball game up for discussion features one of the favorites to win the entire NCAA tournament as the Gonzaga Bulldogs take on the Norfolk State Spartans.

Then, in the NBA, the Charlotte Hornets - featuring Rookie of the Year frontrunner LaMelo Ball - take on the Los Angeles Clippers.

There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started!

March Madness Betting

March Madness started off with a bang on Friday as upsets abounded, including second seed Ohio State falling to 15th seed Oral Roberts.

Ohio State was only the ninth #2 seed to fall in the first round since 1985, and such a rare occurrence might have gamblers eyeing other possible upsets. This matchup, however, appears to be as close to a sure thing for the favorites as it gets.

Normally in an article like this, the first aspect of the betting line up for discussion would be the moneyline. This matchup is so lopsided the sportsbooks have simply opted not to include a moneyline option.

The online sportsbooks seem to be so certain that Gonzaga will win this game that they aren’t letting anyone get any kind of marginal profit on it.

Even odds of -10000 would potentially see action from big money bettors looking for an easy and quick return. Gonzaga is arguably the best team in the tournament - an elite squad with zero losses on the season so far. Norfolk State, on the other hand, is a 16 seed.

Only once has a 16 seed defeated a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. As unlikely as Oral Roberts upsetting Ohio State was, Norfolk State upsetting Gonzaga is nearly an order of magnitude more unlikely.

Counting Ohio State, nine #2 seeds have fallen, while only one #1 seed has. This allows an approximation that #1 seeds losing in the first round is 1/9th as likely as #2 seeds losing, or, 11.1% as likely.

The spread itself is a truly bizarre number, being set at 33.0 points, and reflects the degree of difference between these two teams. March Madness bettors might be scared off by a 33 point spread, but it’s set there for a reason - Gonzaga is that good.

This is not an unreasonable spread for this game, and March Madness betting enthusiasts should take it seriously as a wager going both ways.

NBA Betting

While March Madness is surely drawing attention, so is LaMelo Ball.

Ball has demonstrated abilities that are beyond most rookies in the NBA, and has helped the Charlotte Hornets reach the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference.

LaMelo Ball with the rare spin move three! #AllFly pic.twitter.com/FOSoEpPBGQ

— THE L00NG TW00 (@TheLong2Podcast) March 14, 2021

Ball has not shown a sign of slowing down, and the most unique aspect of his game is that it mostly has not changed entering the NBA. For example, here’s Ball doing a similar spin move in a slightly different context more than two years ago.

LaMelo Ball puts up 44 PTS, 12 AST, 11 REB, 5 STL, drops defender with a Penny Hardaway spin move!

Full highlights + more angles of the move: https://t.co/2wLYuhySaS pic.twitter.com/b9EfaFPj8N

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) October 15, 2018

It should be no surprise that Ball is leading the Rookie of the Year award race by a very significant margin according to the online sportsbooks.

However, despite the heroics of Ball and his Charlotte teammates such as Gordon Hayward and Terry Rozier, the Hornets are big time underdogs Saturday night.

Why? They’re playing the Los Angeles Clippers.

If the Hornets are the Neo of this NBA season, the plucky protagonist with unlikely talents, the Clippers are Agent Smith.

They’re full of elite perimeter defenders and dangerous scorers, sitting in the top 10 among NBA teams in both defensive rating and offensive rating. They exist to smother opponents defensively and drown them in efficiency on offense, ruthlessly exterminating those in their path.

However, the Clippers are on a particularly un-Clippers-like slide right now, having won only four of their last 10 games.

The Clippers have also only covered the spread in four of their last 10 games, which is a tough run for them.

Before this 10 game stretch, the Clippers were a fairly healthy 18-14 against the spread, but they seem to be regressing a bit.

This could be the window that Charlotte needs to take a game off of the dangerous Clippers and demonstrate their true potential. On the other hand, the Clippers could just as easily find themselves and slam the door shut, giving doubters more proof that while Charlotte is fun, they aren’t serious contenders.

NBA betting fans have a great game on their hands tonight, despite the wide spread, and it’s definitely worth checking out.

Good luck!