In the history of sports gambling, there have been some epic bad beats or backdoor covers, but Sunday night's TCU cover against Gonzaga with 0.7 seconds to go has to be among the most insane.
In the span of the final 14 seconds, nine points were scored to put Gonzaga up six with 0.7 to go and TCU having to go the full length of the court if they wanted to take a meaningless shot.
That's exactly what happened.
After Gonzaga's Hunter Sallis hit two free throws to put the Zags up by six points, the ball was inbounded to Damion Baugh, who didn't touch the ball until after it crossed half court and then took his shot at a 40-footer.
It hit, and the Horned Frogs lost by 3. Gonzaga -4.5 was a loser. TCU +4.5 was a winner.
Word got to Baugh immediately, as he quickly tweeted a reaction.
I Don’t Get How Y’all Mad Because I Played Until The Last Buzzer🤦🏾♂️Proud Of My Team And We Taught To Fight Until The End……Nobody Told Y’all To Bet🤷🏾♂️
— DAM10N BAUGH (@_swaggyd10_) March 20, 2023
"Since we were on Gonzaga, the end of the game 'toss' was a heartbreaker," said Jay Kornegay, executive vice president of sportsbook operations at the Superbook. "You could hear the gasp and the disbelief. The way it unfolded was just plain uncanny. I don't know why the TCU player would do that outside of personal stats."
Caesars assistant director of trading Adam Pullen called it "one for the ages."
"Things like this happen all the time," Pullen said, "but on this stage, and it being the last game of the day yesterday, it certainly affected a lot of bettors."
Those looking for a little boosted odds in their parlay winding up wiping out on the Bulldogs not covering the spread.
At least prior to this, the most memorable backdoor cover in NCAA history is arguably, the 38-footer that Chris Duhon hit in the 2004 semifinals against UConn. Duhon threw up his last second heave and in doing so, cut the final score to a 1-point victory. Those who bet on UConn got the Huskies as two- to three-point favorites depending on when they bet it. Duhon's shot made losers of winners and winners of losers.
I asked Duhon about the shot two years later.
"You always throw up a shot even if you can’t win and you’re down 10 points,” he said.
Duhon's shot swung a ton of money at the time because of how deep in the tournament it was. While it would be hard to get exact numbers for Sunday night's game, the money might have been more given that sports gambling is now legal in more than half the country.
