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Vegas Continues to Fade Providence Ahead of Big East Tournament, March Madness

By Joe Summers

Al Durham and the Friars have excelled in the face of adversity all season and find themselves disrespected in the market
Al Durham and the Friars have excelled in the face of adversity all season and find themselves disrespected in the market / Mitchell Layton/GettyImages
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Despite winning the Big East Conference and going 24-4 on the season, my beloved Providence Friars can't buy respect.

I've heard all season about how the Friars are lucky and due to fall off at any time, but they just keep winning and staying competitive.

Even still, WynnBET has Providence at +7500 to win the NCAA Tournament and +600 to win the Big East Tournament, so they aren't getting the love on the national scale that I feel for them in my heart.

The Case for Providence

Sure, KenPom ranks Providence as the luckiest team in all of college basketball, which typically tells us that a team is punching above its weight. But so what? Better to be lucky than good, right? But never fear, because the Friars are both.

Providence has been an auto-bet as an underdog all year. They're 9-1 against the spread (ATS) in their last 10 as an underdog and won eight of those games outright. The Friars are comfortable when the odds are stacked against them thanks to a deep, experienced roster led by one of my favorite coaches in America in Ed Cooley.

The Friars are strong on both offense and defense but excel at the little things that help you win games, such as their 94th-percentile ranking in free throw attempts per game. Seniors Al Durham and Nate Watson are fantastic at penetrating defenses and getting to the charity stripe to settle their offense down, and with shooters like A.J. Reeves, Jared Bynum, and Noah Horchler surrounding them, all it takes is one of their guys to get hot and they're rolling.

They're stout defensively, with the 36th-best defensive effective field goal percentage, and protect the ball with their strong guard play.

I've loved the Friars all season and see no reason to fade them now. You need a little luck in March Madness and Providence plays a style of basketball that gives them opportunities to get lucky. With a number of shooters that can catch fire, an excellent ability to get to the free throw line and an annoying defense and keeps them hanging around in games, I like the value on the Friars moving forward.

Any chance you have for the remainder of the year, bet this squad as an underdog. They've cashed in for us all season and I love their chances to continue doing so. Who cares what Vegas says?

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