Vegas Play of the Day: Wake Forest vs. Kansas State

By Jesse Granger

Tuesday, March 14, 2017 | 1:54 p.m.

We’ve entered the third season of the annual South Point-lined Play of the Day competition, effective July 1.

Starting bankrolls have reset to $10,000, with the maximum bet being to win $1,000 and the minimum wager $300. Ray Brewer won the 2015-2016 season, after Taylor Bern prevailed in 2014-2015. Bern stepped away in the middle of the 2016-2017 season with a 16-12 record and $13,317 bankroll, with Mike Grimala taking his place.

Wake Forest plus-1.5 vs. Kansas State, $440 to win $400:

It’s tournament time. Why wait until Thursday’s full slate to get betting action in on the NCAA Tournament when there are two play-in games both today and Wednesday?

While Mount St. Mary’s and New Orleans tip things off this afternoon, I chose to go with the nightcap between Kansas State and Wake Forest. Both teams hit mid-season slumps and looked like they’d be on the outside looking in when March arrived, but the Wildcats and Demon Deacons came alive at the right time.

This game opened as a pick’em and bettors have moved it to Kansas State minus-1.5. The Wildcats had big wins over Texas Tech and Baylor late, but I don’t trust them. They also went 2-8 down the stretch of the regular season, losing to Big 12 bottom feeders Texas and Oklahoma.

Wake Forest is one of the best scoring teams in the entire field and if the Demon Deacons get going, the Wildcats have no chance of keeping up. Kansas State will have to slow the game down to a crawl and bruise their way to a win. Sophomore forward John Collins is a future pro, leading Wake Forest in points (19), rebounds (10) and blocks (1.6) per game. I don’t see the Wildcats slowing Collins down, and Wake Forest outscores them to move on to the round of 64.

I’ll take the Demon Deacons plus-1.5 points.

Current Standings: Grimala (5-7, $9,500), Granger (12-13-1, $8,390), Keefer (38-34-2, $7,881), Brewer (25-26-1, $6,885)