The Point Spread Column

By: Bob Johnson   Date: March 17, 2006

Tiny Gonzaga College used to be the darling of the wise guys in basketball. Now, they are the darling of the public. That's right, Gonzaga has become a public team and I seriously considered taking Xavier, but got off of them at the last moment. I was just worried that Gonzaga might actually start covering the spread because they have been so bad in doing so. With their four point win over Xavier in the opening round of tournament play, the Zags failed to cover the spread once again. They are now on a 7-17 spread slide. Gonzaga is usually installed as a favorite and their numbers have been inflated by the public perception that they are world beaters. The fact is, Gonzaga has been involved in a lot of very close games. Even though the Zags are winning, they have not been able to get any margin to boost them over the number. They trailed Xavier for the entire game until very late. Laying 5 1/2 and ahead by 6, they allowed a meaningless uncontested layup at the buzzer and left their backers with another losing ticket. This has been their pattern all season.