Posted at 12:00 PM EST odds are subject to change.

Pinnacle -1 -103  BET365  -1 -110 Sportsinteraction -1 -110 888Sport -1 -110

Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, NV

Streaming: ESPN2

Southern Utah -1 over Grand Canyon

11:30 PM EST. It’s the final game of the night, aka one of the two bailout games from a long, long day at the office if things aren’t going well for the inefficient market. UCLA vs Arizona is the other bailout game, which is also on our slate but we’ve all been there. What we’re referring to is having an awful day betting when nothing is going right and then you force yourself to bet on the Sunday night NFL game to “get out” even though you don’t really like it. Well, there are going to be lots of bettors on these two bailout games and while UCLA will take most of the action, Grand Canyon will be right alongside them on a boatload of parlays.

It’s not that the Antelopes have a great market presence but they do in Las Vegas because of the close proximity. Perhaps more significant is that Southern Utah is a nobody. It is an unrecognizable program in which one out of 1000 people even know their mascot or last name. The Thunderbirds have appeared in the NCAA tournament once, which was in 2001.

The best news is that the market and most media have no idea how good this Thunderbird team truly is. They finished with almost an identical record to Grand Canyon but all won/loss records and are not created equally. While the Antelopes played the 168th ranked non-conference Strength of Schedule (SOS), the Thunderbirds non-conference SOS ranked 42nd.

Southern Utah lost to Kansas by 6, in Kansas. They lost at Colorado by just eight. They lost at Montana State by just 3. They beat both New Mexico State and Cal State Fullerton. Every player on Southern Utah is a shooter. Few programs across the landscape of college basketball have experienced the type of laughable-to-formidable jump in recent years as Southern Utah. In 2014, the Thunderbirds recorded just a single victory against a D1 opponent. The past two years, SUU is a combined 43-16 yet remain way under the radar. Coach Todd Simon and his staff have ignited the massive overhaul in Cedar City. In the current college hoops era where mid-major rosters are often gutted by the transfer portal, Southern Utah has been a rare case of continuity. Three noteworthy seniors cashed in on their extra eligibility in hopes of sending the Thunderbirds back to the NCAA Tournament. Doubting Simon has been a losing proposition for several years now. This roster is oozing with upside while Grand Canyon is a very mediocre WAC squad that won a couple of close games v Seattle and Sam Houston State to get here, This is truly a deflated price on a team that nobody knows. Don’t miss out.

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