Bet busters: Players making and breaking your wagers
By DAVE CAREY
Post-football season can be traumatic for many sports fans. There’s plenty of good things coming up (Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue) and plenty better left untouched (Sunday afternoon bowling on ESPN).
Bettors feel the same way toward players this time of year. They have to find the ones who will allow them to reap the most rewards and avoid the disasters.
It should be easy to distinguish below, which pair of players are hotter than Daniella Sarahyba in a two-piece and which are more hurting than Walter Ray Williams Jr.’s mustache.
Helping your bets
Kyle Spain, San Diego State Aztecs
This juggernaut from the Mountain West Conference could be the ultimate bracket buster in next month’s NCAA Tournament. Spain, a 6-foot-5, 209-pound forward has guided the Aztecs (17-5 US, 12-4-1 ATS) to the top of their league and four straight wins.
The senior leads the team in points (14.5 ppg) and rebounds (5.2 rpg) and paced his squad in scoring once and rebounding twice during its winning streak. What makes Spain elite is his ability to consistently hit jumpers. He makes more than 40 percent of his shots from beyond the arc. He also knows how to play with fouls. He has finished with four personals five times and has yet to be disqualified.
Zach Parise, New Jersey Devils
The 24-year-old left winger finally has emerged as the face of one of the most successful teams in the NHL.
Parise, at just 5-foot-11, 190-pounds is working on the greatest season of his brief, three-year career. Through 53 games, he has amassed 30 goals and 31 assists and is well on his way to breaking last year’s personal best of 65 total points. The Devils (33-17-3 SU, 25-24-3 O/U) are 8-2 in their past 10 games, climbing to the third-seed in the Eastern Conference.
Hurting your bets
DaJuan Summers, Georgetown Hoyas
The junior forward was expected to make the Hoyas a title contender this season. Instead, he has been hampered by a foot injury as Georgetown has tumbled down the Big East standings.
Georgetown (13-9 SU, 6-10-1 ATS) has lost six of its past seven games and seven of 10 overall. During that streak, Summers (14.2 ppg) hit double figures in scoring seven times and is shooting 45 percent from the floor. But he is turning the ball over an average of nearly three times in the same span and has attempted just four free throws the past four games. Be wary of the Hoyas on the road. They are a terrible 1-5 SU away from the nation’s capital.
Andrea Bargnani, Toronto Raptors
It’s just too easy to pile on the Raptors lately. Toronto (19-34 SU, 19-31-3 ATS) has lost six straight and seven of its past 10 games. At the heart of its slide is Bargnani (13.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg), who has embodied the team’s soft psyche by becoming incredibly reliant on jump-shots and is careless with the ball.
During the team’s losing streak, Bargnani is a horrid 6-for-25 from beyond the arc and the seven-foot center has reached double digits in rebounds just once. In the team’s past three games, he has turned the ball over eight times.