SI:AM | Gambling Watchdog Flags College Hoops Game

Thursday’s Temple-UAB game was determined to have attracted unusual betting activity.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m frankly overwhelmed by the amount of crucial college basketball games this weekend.

In today’s SI:AM:

????️ Betting activity under scrutiny

???? ​​Men’s bubble teams

☘️ NBA power rankings

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Betting scandal brewing?

UAB beat Temple last night in Philadelphia, 100–72, in a men’s basketball game that likely wasn't on your radar. No reason, that is, unless you had money on the game.

Pat Forde reports that the game was flagged by gambling watchdog U.S. Integrity for unusual betting activity. The company sent an alert to casinos after the spread on the game moved significantly throughout the day Thursday. UAB was a 1.5-point favorite at the start of the day and was favored by as much as eight points at one casino by mid-afternoon before the spread closed at seven points. A spokesperson for the American Athletic Conference confirmed that the league was aware the game had been flagged.

Temple didn’t come close to covering the spread in its last game, either, losing by five to Tulsa on Saturday as a 5.5-point favorite. Forde reports that “U.S. Integrity has been monitoring Temple games for a while.”

U.S. Integrity wasn’t the only one that noticed something fishy with the Temple game. Before the game, Jim Root, who covers college basketball for Three Man Weave, said on the gambling show VSiN Live that he had noticed the unusual movement of the betting line.

“That’s the kind of move where I start looking into it like, ‘O.K., what’s going on here? Who on Temple is out?’ UAB doesn’t have anyone coming back, so it’s not like that would be contributing to it. There’s nothing we can find here,” Root said. “I’m not gonna say this is point shaving, but in my betting career, I’ve seen a couple of these where [there’s] truly no injury that I can find.”

Root also said that there was a similar situation with Temple’s game against Memphis on Feb. 8 where there was an unexpected amount of action on the Tigers for no clear reason.

“It’s weird to see it [happen] a second time with Temple,” Root said. “This is bizarre, and not a normal happening in the market—especially this late in the season.”

While it’s distressing to hear reports of unusual gambling activity—even a game inconsequential for two teams not destined for the NCAA tournament—there is solace that such activity can be detected by watchdogs like U.S. Integrity. That company is the same firm that detected the unusual bets placed on an Alabama baseball game last year that led to the firing of Crimson Tide coach Brad Bohannon. But at the same time, legalizing sports betting makes it easier for scandals to occur. More opportunities to bet means more opportunities to place improper bets.

While there are no indications that anyone associated with the Temple program has done anything wrong, this is surely the last story the NCAA wants out there as March Madness gets underway.

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Ahead of a make or break weekend in college basketball, Kevin Sweeney looks at the men’s bubble teams with the most at stake.
• The top spot in Chris Mannix’s NBA power rankings (published before the Nuggets beat the Celtics last night) remains unchanged, but he’s thinking the Lakers are toast.
• Another NBA contender was dealt a serious blow yesterday when Karl-Anthony Towns was diagnosed with a torn meniscus. Rohan Nadkarni evaluates what that means for the Timberwolves.
• Jimmy Traina has inside info on the puzzling decision to move the hit NFL Network show Good Morning Football from New York to Los Angeles.
• Sean O’Malley will fight in the main event of UFC 299 tomorrow night in Miami, defending his bantamweight championship against Marlon Vera. Jon Wertheim profiled the reigning champ, writing that he “exudes star wattage, perhaps more than any MMA fighter since Conor McGregor.”
• The Penguins traded Jake Guentzel to the Hurricanes after eight seasons.
• The Aces are the first team in WNBA history to sell out their entire allotment of season tickets.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Luka Dončić’s wild shot after a broken play. (Kevin Harlan’s call was electrifying.)

4. Cam Talbot’s diving glove save.

3. Aaron Gordon’s reverse alley-oop that he made look too easy.

2. Gordon’s even more impressive rim-rocking put-back dunk.

1. Anthony Edwards’s outrageous game-winning block. He jumped so high that he smacked his head on the backboard. (This video, shot from the stands, is the best angle of the play.)

SIQ

Which of the following schools was not part of the so-called “Catholic 7” when the Big East agreed on this day in 2013 to allow its non-football members to use the name going forward?

• Marquette
• DePaul
• Xavier
• Providence

Yesterday’s SIQ: What was the last major-conference men’s basketball team to go undefeated in the regular season?

• Purdue
• Kentucky
• Kansas
• Louisville

Answer: Kentucky. The Wildcats went undefeated in the 2014–15 regular season, only losing in the Final Four against a Wisconsin team led by Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker.

That Kentucky team was stacked. A whopping nine players went on to play in the NBA, including Devin Booker, Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein.

The Wildcats were the first major-conference team to go undefeated in the regular season since Indiana in 1975–76. Rutgers (’75–76), Indiana State (’78–79), UNLV (’90–91) and Wichita State (2013–14) also went undefeated before Kentucky did. Since then, only one men’s team has finished the regular season unbeaten: Gonzaga in ’20–21.