Exponent Parlay: Best bets for Saturday, Feb. 19

This week, I will be bringing up some under-the-radar bets that you should be making this coming weekend. So, have your sports bookie on speed dial and be ready to place bets that I think are sure to pay out big. If you dare, parlay this wager for an even bigger payout, maybe it’ll help pay your rent for the month. 

Olympic Men’s Hockey Gold Medal (Gold Medal Game on Saturday, Feb. 19, 11:50 p.m. MST)

Olympic hockey does not include NHL stars this time around as fans hoped. Instead, teams are made up of the best players in the world that don’t play in the NHL, which gives the tournament a peculiar vibe as college kids compete alongside veterans who never made it to the show. It seemed the U.S. had done its best with the impossible task of making an all-star team that includes exactly zero all-stars. They had a perfect record going into elimination games and they beat the Canadian bunch 4-2 in group play. But in the quarterfinal, the Stars and Stripes fell in shoot-outs to Slovakia. While the Olympics have become an odd dimension in the hockey universe (Germany won gold in 2018), I’ll still be interested to see who comes out on top. With the usual North American heavyweights elimated, will a European underdog rise to the occasion? The easy pick here was the U.S. or Canada, but chaos broke loose in the latter stages of the tournament. The Americans and Canadians both went down in the playoffs, paving the way for the Slovaks to become the new kings of international hockey.

MSU Women’s Basketball vs Southern Utah (Saturday, Feb. 19, 2 p.m. MST)

Over the course of the last few weeks, the women’s basketball team has been on an absolute tear. The Cats have won nine of their last 10 games and won eight in a row during that stretch. The team’s only loss since Jan. 22 was to Southern Utah on Thursday, Feb. 10. Fortunately for the Bobcats, a rematch with Southern Utah is scheduled for Saturday, giving the Cats a chance to flip the script on the Thunderbirds. MSU was in control for most of Thursday’s loss, but let thelead slip away in the final minutes, pushing the game into overtime. Southern Utah dominated the extra period, and the Cats watched what should have been their ninth consecutive win slide right through their hands. This weekend, MSU will be motivated to avenge its loss. I foresee the Cats building a sizable lead by halftime and cruising to victory in Worthington Arena in front of a home crowd. Final Score: Cats 73 - Thunderbirds 58.

NCAA Basketball: No. 2 Auburn vs Florida (Saturday, Feb. 19, 12 p.m. MST)

It’s February, and you know what that means: It’s almost March. March is the glorious month where 68 college basketball teams ranging from pretty okay to better-than-the-Pistons duke it out (yes, that was on purpose) on the hardwood and the best team usually does not win. The utter chaos that is March Madness transforms me from a mere casual college hoops observer to a rabid fan. I make 50 brackets and tear them all up, then make one more and cry as Florida Gulf Coast destroys it on the first day of the tourney. I watch March Madness from daybreak to sunset. I watch it at dinner, in class, in the shower, you name it. This year, I’ve decided to undertake the radical task of watching random college basketball games IN FEBRUARY to prepare myself to make a perfect bracket. I don’t care what anyone says, this will work. I’ll begin my journey on Saturday, when Florida faces second-ranked Auburn and, in the spirit of March Madness, I forecast a huge upset. Score: Florida 84 - Auburn 80.