Posted at 10:30 AM EST. Odds subject to change.

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Ivy League Tournament

Francis S. Levien Gymnasium, New York, NY

Yale -8 over Brown

Streaming: ESPN 2

12:00 PM EST. The Bears of Brown were not expected to get this far in the Ivy League Tournament, but after knocking off top-seeded Princeton yesterday, 90-81, as a +9½-point underdog, they are now in a position to punch their tickets to The Big Dance. The Bears finished fourth in the Ivy League, which features just a four-team tournament dubbed the “Ivy Madness,” a reputation that Brown helped to further spread after such a big upset win yesterday. Brown finished 8-6 in the Ivy League and 13-17 overall after playing a non-conference schedule that ranked 187th out of 362 ranked Division I programs. While their record may be middling, Brown finished the regular season on a heater, winning six straight games before beating #1 Princeton yesterday. Not only that, but the Bears have been paying out like a broken slot machine, cashing tickets in eight of 10 and seven in a row.

The Bears may be a team of destiny, and they may confirm their position in the NCAA Tournament, but to back them today would be like trying to catch a train that has already left the station. If there was value to be had on the Bears, it is gone now, as they are very much on the radar and they are a sexy “sleeper” pick today to cut down the nets in New York. It’s when the talking head takes up a team’s cause that causes us to take a step back and find out why.

Yesterday was a wild day with top seeds in Houston, Purdue, and of course, Princeton falling, along with a handful of other favorites that went down in spectacular fashion, and the media and the market love an underdog story. Today, the Bears are the biggest underdog on the board. However, the Bulldogs of Yale are no pushover, and surely they got the message to not take Brown lightly after yesterday. To get here, Yale took care of business versus #3 Cornell, 69-57 in the semifinal. The Bulldogs finished the season at 11-3 in the Ivy League and 21-9 overall after playing a very competitive non-conference schedule that ranked 60th in the nation. 

When these two teams played earlier this season, Yale was a -7-point favorite on the road at Brown in January, and they were -11-point favorites at home to the Bears. Today, with the Bears winning and cashing tickets at a high clip, Yale is spotting the modest price you see now. The reality is that the Bulldogs should be spotting double-digits, but they aren’t. We’ll gladly swallow the deflated points here.

Sherwood

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