March Update: We Have UPSETS & a Darling!

Conference championship week hasn't even officially started yet, and the internet is already buzzing over a small-school player’s incredible performance. In the little-known Summit League, we had a quarterfinal matchup that, to many, wouldn’t have even been worth a score check. But instead, No. 6 seed North Dakota, led by Treysen Eaglestaff, an 11-20 team, took Twitter/X by storm with his 51-point performance! This helped his team reach the semifinals with an 85-69 win.

Yes, Eaglestaff scored 60% of his team’s points in this major upset.

This is why we love March...you wake up assuming Purdue & Illinois should be a good game (which it was, by the way), but never in a million years would you have thought a North Dakota player would go viral for scoring 50, also becoming the only player in D1 to score 40+ points twice this season.

Some people may say we’re crazy for focusing on a now 12-20 squad, but that’s the beauty of the madness...we find teams and players we never expected to cross our paths, and suddenly, we’re rooting for them. North Dakota now plays tonight on CBS Sports(10:30et) in the semifinals vs St. Thomas Tommies(Yes, they are nicknamed the Tommies) who is NOT eligible for NCAA tournament play(this is another argument for another day). So North Dakota trying to continue their Cinderella story, needing just two more wins to clinch an automatic NCAA tournament bid.

As for Eaglestaff, in the new age of NIL & Transfer Portal, he could be earning himself an opportunity for new horizons. Being only a junior, publicity like this is sure to draw interest in the transfer portal, and the Summit League is no stranger to developing talent that moves on to big-time basketball. In recent years, we’ve seen Grant Nelson from North Dakota State & Zeke Mayo from South Dakota State land at Alabama and Kansas, respectively. So for Eaglestaff, not only is he trying to help his team reach the Big Dance, but his own future could be on the line as well.

We can love or hate the new NIL/Transfer Portal world, but either way, you have to admit it adds extra juice for these kids on teams looking to get noticed.

I love it all—the upsets, the mid-majors’ desperation, and players seizing their chance to win the hearts of all us degenerate ball-watching fans. Now, we head into the next eight days of basketball filled with auto bids, bubbles, and buzzer-beaters...it’s a wonderful time of the year, and I am here for it!

Bet Recap: Another solid day going 2-1, very close to the sweep but still ahead!

Bet(s) of the Day:

03-08

Kentucky +6.5 -108

Penn - Princeton Over 143.5 -115

New Hampshire - Vermont over 129.5 -105

Belmont +7.5 -105