FSU (16-14 straight up, 16-14 against the spread) has won eight of its last 10 games after winning 75-74 at Pittsburgh last night. The Seminoles improved to 9-8 in ACC games after their 0-5 start in league play.
However, that’s not why we’re discussing this game right now. We’re talking about this result because it might represent the worst Bad Beat of the season for gamblers.
Most books had FSU at -2 or -2.5 yesterday morning and afternoon. The line closed at -1.5 at a lot of spots.
Luke Loucks’s teams took its first double-digit lead over the Panthers at 18-8 with 12:55 left in the first half. FSU would extend its advantage to 46-30 by halftime.
The Seminoles came out hot again in the second half, going on an 8-0 run to make it 54-30 with 17:49 remaining. At that point, I felt good about the FSU -2 ticket I was holding.
Therefore, I decided to change the channel. I scolded myself for not backing Wisconsin when I saw how bad it was beating up on Buzz Williams and the Terrapins.
Next, I scolded myself even more for not fading Purdue when I saw Northwestern winning outright in the second half as a double-digit home underdog. I tuned in to a little bit of Baylor at Houston as well.
I had split my earlier games, losing on Texas +7 at Arkansas but easily hitting the ‘over’ in that same game. I had considered Wisconsin and Northwestern, only to decide to go with only FSU as my third and final pick of the night.
I was thinking I had a 2-1 night in the bag for a small profit, but I was frustrated with that result. Litte did I know, Pitt had other plans for my picks record on Wednesday.
FSU had leads of 58-35 with 16:30 left, 67-58 with 6:15 remaining, 71-63 with 45 ticks left and 73-66 with 21 seconds remaining.
In the final 4:33, FSU’s Robert McCray V didn’t help Seminole backers when he committed the first of his three turnovers at crunch time. McCray’s missed dunk with 2:33 remaining wasn’t good, either.
With FSU leading 73-68, McCray coughed up that third turnover with 15 seconds left. Four seconds later, Pitt’s Damarco Minor buried a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to two.
With five ticks remaining, McCray was fouled. It wasn’t the double bonus yet, though, so he had to shoot the front end of a one-and-one opportunity. He buried the front end and hit the second free throw for a 75-71 advantage.
Pitt threw inbounds to Minor, who hurried up the court and took a running leaner from 3-point land that got nothing but the bottom of the nets with 0.5 seconds left.
However, the officials went to review the clock. They ruled that there was actually 1.3 seconds left.
FSU was suddenly behind the number with a 75-74 lead, but Seminole backers still had a chance if the Panthers fouled before the 1.3 ticks dripped off the clock.
FSU threw a long inbounds pass across halfcourt. The Pitt player tried to foul, but the refs let it go.
Final Score: FSU 75, Pitt 74. Pitt backers collected a miracle backdoor cover as a 1.5, 2 or 2.5-point home underdog.
FSU supporters (hand raised) were left with one of their worst Bad Beats of the season. Ouch!