March 17, 2026 • 21 mins
March Madness is upon us, so we call on Splash Sports host and betting expert Kelly Stewart, aka @KellyInVegas, to give us all the insight into this year's tournament
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
All right, that's still we Rockapella. Saint Patty's Week, feeling lucky.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Brolet mean, listen, we're gonna talk about being lucky. We'll
talk a bunch of March madness, not our specialty.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So we bring in an expert.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm more excited about baseball starting NBA playoffs before you know.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hell yeah, ell time. Maybe a little vacation action right
spring cleaning. Anyway, I'm Cavino. That is Rich Covino and
Rich Fox Sports Radio Monday through Friday, two to four
out here on the West side, five to seven on
the east. And this is our bonus podcast. And we
said happy Saint Patty's Week. But yeah, the madness is here.
(00:43):
The madness is a stupid People are coming up to
you about your bracket. You filled out my brackett to
know the bragget bragging, bragget bragget. So we got to
do our best to keep you post on what to do.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
In fact, you can see our brackets Fox Sports Radio
dot Com posting all the hosts brackets.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
We do it every year.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It's guessing games or is it.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Well, people come out of the woodworks like they're the experts.
It's like, do you really know all these teams's amazing.
People are really impressive that with their expertise on social
I mean.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
No matter what happens in the world of life, sports, politics, yeah,
social media experts.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
But we're bringing in a real ex a real expert.
We have a guest. Let's welcome at Kelly in Vegas.
Kelly Stewart from Splash Sports is on the show. We
caught on with Kelly at the Super Bowl and now
she's here to break down some March madness. Baby, baby,
gipsy dude, don't guru, baby, how are you? Kelly? Hey, Kelly,
(01:38):
Oh good.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
I'm gonna have to redeem myself from the Super Bowl though.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Man, that was well, you know what it was they
I didn't know how deep you were going to go
to all these prop bets. And I was like, I
don't know, you want to talk about the color of
gatorade And You're like no, no, no, like legit shit.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
So it was like's nott No.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
The props were fine. It was just the the way
that I saw the game playing out. The Patriots, Like
I said, I gott to redeem myself with some basketballs.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Well, you know though, because we had such a good time,
and it was so nice speaking to you, and you
were so knowledgeable. We're like, yeah, let's get her in
here to explain what's going on this year with the
March madness and with all the brackets all right now, first.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Thing I want to start with is when you see
this bracket come out, are you are you looking at
actual seating? Do you trust more advanced stuff? Like what's
your first thought when you look at a new bracket
every March?
Speaker 4 (02:27):
So I did a live show yesterday during selection Sunday.
That was a first for me. So I've got the
TV on, I'm managing four different personalities on air, and
I'm going, Okay, this is going to get to be
a lot. And it really wasn't because none of that matters.
The power ratings set by Vegas matters so much more
than the seatings. And I think the committee has started
(02:48):
to almost align right years before we would be shocked.
I can't believe X team is an eleven seed. I
think it was North Carolina NC State a few years ago.
There was no thing outside of Missouri being a tend
seed that made me go, huh, what is going on here?
Sianna being a sixteen seed was kind of funny. We
had a Sienna Grad on the show and he's he's
(03:10):
throwing a fit. They should have been a fifteen seed,
but once we saw the fifteens, it's like, no, they shouldn't.
There was no team yesterday that I was surprised got
in that got in, and no one that got left
out surprised me. It was a very just straightforward selection Sunday.
And that's so unusual for me.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Kelly in Vegas. If you want to follow and play
long on social media at Kelly in Vegas, when you
talk about the seeding, you know, we're filling our brackets out.
For Fox Sports Radio, I'm just picking whatever. I'm wondering
with all these teams involved, and for the casual fans,
is there any skill involved when choosing your bracket? When
choosing these teams.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Oh, there has to be, but the number one and
the number one skill that you need is luck. We've
all seen. We've all seen that filling out the perfect
bracket is like hitting the Mega millions. It's got to
be probably even higher odds, and that truth be told.
I do one bracket every single year just for fun,
just so that I can kind of map things out
and it's not really to see who's gonna win the
(04:10):
national championship. It's to find spots after the round of
sixty four where I go, Okay, here's who I've got circled,
here's who I want to look at, to go a
little bit farther than Vegas expects or than the selection
committee expects. So we saw last year there was like
hardly any upsets, and that was upsetting to me. Right,
I'm I'm the queen of the underdogs. I want the chaos,
(04:31):
I want the madness, and I'm hoping we see it
a little bit this year. Right, Yeah, two years ago, Ducaine,
I was in Mexico for one of my best friend's
birthdays and we're at this little tequila bar on the
beach and Duquaine upsets BYU and the whole bar just
goes nuts, because that's what March is about. So I'm
hoping we see some really fun things. Does my bracket
(04:52):
have way too many of those? Of course it does.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
What is the strategy, Kelly, I mean, let's talk about
making money now. Is this a sucker's time to bet
or is this a really great opportunity to make some money?
Because there's a lot of point spreads, probably with I mean,
I know Vegas knows, but unfamiliar teams. You and I
were talking before we went on this podcast that no
one knows all these teams, that there's hundreds of teams
(05:14):
in college hoops, no one knows them all.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
No one knows. Oh, they be talking about it. I
see all these experts on social media.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Exactly is there a strategy here? Is this an opportunity
to make money or not?
Speaker 4 (05:25):
No, of course there's always an opportunity to make money
where you can find an edge, and there's going to
be some spots where you're paying a premium for the
blue bloods, if you will, the Dukes of the world.
Florida just won the national championship last year, so obviously
people are expecting them to not necessarily run it back,
but to go far in the tournament. A lot of
people loved Michigan in January. They were the team to
(05:47):
win it all, and guess what, since then, they haven't
covered the spread, and so everybody's jumped off the Michigan bandwagon.
In my spider, since it start to go off and
go all right, maybe this is the time to start
paying attention to Michigan, now that everybody's written them off.
Looking to fade some ACC teams. I'm looking to fade
some of the bottom of the barrel SEC teams that
did get in right. Last year, they got fourteen teams
(06:08):
in this year only ten, so at least the committee
got that part right. But some of those teams that
squeaked in, if you will, I'm looking to say, all right,
you probably were on the fringe. They let you in
because of the conference you were in, and I'm going
to be betting against you early and often. I will
say this some of the for just basic bracket strategy.
(06:28):
If you are looking to do some upsets, sixteen seeds
versus one seeds are two and seventy six all time
to win, right, you're just advancing. I'm not even talking gambling.
This is just for your bracketology. Fifteen seeds seven and
seventy three, fourteen seeds ten and seventy, thirteen seeds seventeen
(06:51):
and sixty three. So kind of take that with a
grain of salt. Nobody wants a chalky March madness, but
those really long shots are for a reason.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Kelly gamblers seem to have a I can't think of
a better word than boner for twelve versus five seeds,
what's what the twelve five is that because that's the
first first matchup that seems like realistic is and we've
seen so many twelve five upsets before.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Is there something to be said about the twelve five?
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Of course, they're thirty one and forty nine outright, So
most of the time these twelve seeds are This year
all three out of four double digit underdogs. Right, Akron
was almost a double digit dog, and it got bet
down early because everybody's looking to bet against Texas Tech
for all obvious reasons. They have not been profitable since
Toppin got hurt. I do think that the twelve five
(07:41):
narratives a tiny bit overblown anymore, Right, eleven seeds have
been better thirty eight and forty two. The nine seeds
are literally a coin flip. So nine to eight seeds,
that's where you've got to figure out which team is
going to match up better. Because when they're one and
a half point favorite, Vegas is kind of telling you
that this game could go either way down to free
(08:01):
throws at the end. So for me, I'm kind of
looking in that thirteen that tell thirteen fourteen seed range
twelve seeds. Of course, I've got one that I do
like the eleven seeds. I've got one that I'm actually
gonna take in my Calcutta tonight. If you guys don't
know what a Calcutt is, it's like a gambling pool
of money where you bid on different teams and I'm
(08:24):
gonna be taking VCU to hopefully get me to the
elite eight, so you get paid per round. It's really fun.
I've been doing it for a long time, and we
had SDSU a couple of years ago, and I'm gonna
still ride that gravy train of finding those higher seeds
that you can get at a bargain price.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Kelly Stewart here from Splash Sports, speaking of all these underdogs,
who is your Cinderella team? Who's the Cinderella team to
look out for this year that we're going to be
all excited about.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
I wish that it was a real Cinderella and they're not.
And that's the hard part. And I just mentioned them.
That's VCU. I mean, I wish I could make a
case for Akron to go far, but they have no
quad one wins, no quad two wins, those are really
hard teams to get behind. If they had a couple
of quality ones like a Saint Louis who's a nine
seed two and one against Quad one teams six and
(09:12):
three against Quad two, like they're not, but I wouldn't
say that they're a Cinderella at a nine seed. That's
the hard part. Everybody wants those Davidson's back when everyone.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Wants when we were younger, I'm every like for the
first time when you're like, what's Gonzaga?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Also in the program was built, but before that it
was like.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
What's and yet everyone pretending like they knew about it.
Bobby players, though, is they're like a player that's gonna
go viral because he's gonna take the world by storm.
Like I'm reading already about Bobby Avila from Indiana State,
the St. Louis Kareem Abdul Jabbar calling them and yeah, exactly.
So are there certain players that we're gonna take note
(09:50):
of and be like, man, this guy's a star?
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Yeah, you know. I Actually I'm gonna go the other way.
I think Darren Darren Peterson's gonna just upset everybody once again.
And Kansas is going to be on the ropes to
cal Baptists early. That is I think everybody's expecting so
much more from these teams that have historically done so
well in the tournament, and I think we've got to
realize that just maybe they've had a rough season, because
(10:15):
they're truly a rough team. When you have no control
over your locker room. Sorry Bill self, but that is
the absolute facts. You're not going to have control over
them in March. And I know everyody's like, oh, he's
got to show out so he can be the number ones,
number one overall pick in the NBA. I just don't
see that happening. So I do like cal Baptists as
that thirteen seed plus the double digits there, I think
(10:35):
thirteen and a half fourteen is available right now. I
will say this Northern Iowa is a twelve seed. That
is also one that you can look at. They are
zero and three against their quad one opponents, But if
you look at those losses and you dissect them, all
three of them were by five points or less.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
What I hope people are taking notes from you, because
I am clueless as far as these later you know,
smaller school teams, I don't know a thing. So I'm
I'm taking notes from Kelly here. We gotta have some
bullet points when you got to barbershop.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
I was also thinking, Kelly, based on those terrible odds
for like fifteen sixteen fourteen seeds, is it like terror?
It's probably a dumb fools bet. But what if you
just did a moneyline parlay for all one, twos and
threes in the first round. It's a large parlay with
that probably ends up being an even money bet. But
do we think there's gonna be any ones or twos upset?
Speaker 4 (11:26):
You know, let me looking exactly at the bracket one
more time on which because I'm not betting against Houston
this early, I'm not betting against Iowa State this early,
and against the spread is one thing, but actually saying
that they're going to lose out right on the money line,
Florida is not going to lose outright to either Very
View or Lehigh Arizona. I like to probably be the
(11:50):
national champion, so I'm gonna go ahead and say they're
not going to lose, even though historically they have choked.
I think this is the most complete team they've had
in a really, really long time, you know, And I
think there are three seed and they're playing Hofstra Alabama.
Alabama is one of those teams where, because of their
pace of play and their style, they get a lot
(12:11):
of love during the regular season and then someone inevitably
exploits it in March. And I would not be surprised
to see this Hofstra team, who has a couple of
really nice wins on their resume, being able to say, hey,
we lost at UCF by only four, and then two
and two against basically that next tier of opponents in
(12:32):
Quad two seven game win streak eleven and two in
their last twelve games. I think I like those teams
coming in hot to catch teams like in Alabama off guard. Again,
I think Alabama's a three seed. I don't do as
much with brackets as I should, but the reality is
is you're right the first one in two seeds. The
(12:53):
chance of them actually losing the game outright is is
that one hundred and forty nine. I mean, it's only
happened nine times, and that's that's not very often guys.
So but when you had the three season there, it
gets a little spicy for me. I would not be
surprised to see not the round of sixty four, but
(13:16):
the following round, maybe we see us.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
On ourselves at Kelly in Vegas. Now there's a lot
of pressure around the office. Everyone's coming up to you
about your bracket. Did you fill yours out? You already
mentioned that you only do one bracket. Is it lame
to do multiple brackets? What's your thoughts on that? What's
the etiquette here? Are there rules?
Speaker 4 (13:35):
No, of course, not like that'd be like be like Kelly,
it's lame to do multiple splash context, Well, that's the limit.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Then hold on, there's got to be a limit because
like people with their fantasy teams, it's like, all right, dude,
how many fantasy leagues are you in? Like, there's got
to be a limit. Then, no, Like, there's got to
be a limit.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Listen, if you're doing five dollars brackets around the office
and you do fifteen of them, I mean, I guess
like that's that's a top of tegue for me. It's
not also because I just I feel like my bracket
is usually busted by day three. Like last year was
the first time I have ever had the national championship
with Florida, and they could have been busted three or
(14:12):
four times. I mean, there were so many close games
they were in. Like I said, brackets involve a lot
a lot of luck.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
And there were reminded to anyone that fills out their
bracket on day two or three, you don't go around
your office or anywhere saying like, oh my my bracket's
already done. No one wants to hear about your bracket.
It's like your fantasy football team no one really cares about.
I mean, maybe Kelly does do you like hearing about.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Okay, leading about my fantasy football team to my group
of guy friends, like back in October and finally someone
just wrote in all capa letters, Kelly, No one cares.
I'm like, all right, fair enough, I lost by half
a point, but don't worry about me.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah. No, It's it's like when you tell your fans
I missed one leg of a parlay.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
And you just know everyone else is thinking, who gives
a ship?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
No one cares. But I do have a one thought
though about a mistake people might make. Is it is
it just a fool's decision to just pick your alma
mater to at least win a game. I feel like
every year people are like, well, how can I root
against what How can I pick against my own college?
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Is that a fool's bet?
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Or see? I would rather bet on my own team
at least you know that. My problem is when people
try to hedge their happiness. I don't understand that at all.
They bet against their team and they're like, well that
I'm happy either way. If they lose, I win money,
and if they win, they win, and I'm like, yeah,
but you still lost money, right, But either I'm going
to bet on my team because I know they're in
a great situation. Like I went to Kansas State, as
(15:38):
you guys can see behind me, and the day after
Jerome Tang got fired, case played Baylor and Casey was
a three point underdog to Baylor, and I was like,
I'm absolutely betting case State in the spot. This is
the spot to do it. That's how I think you
should bet your team. They can choose your spots where
you know that they can exploit their opponent's weaknesses, where
you know that they're going to excel. They're your team.
You should know them better than any other team.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Rich announced this week that he's getting a vasected me.
I don't know if that's too much information he scheduled it.
He scheduled it too late, though, he missed the opportunity right,
because they say this is the window, this is the
best time for them to do it.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Because Master's weekend is the weekend you're supposed to get
the victor. You can sit on couch all Masters weekend.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I always thought that was the same thing for March Madness. Right,
sit there and watch the entire tournament. I'm wondering if
you have any advice for the ladies listening, Like, if
their man is getting of a secretary, what do the
ladies do do they just like, is there something that
they could do to kill some time too?
Speaker 4 (16:35):
That's really hilarious. I should just like schedule like an
augmentation or something like that, get some.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Work done or something. I'm not saying it has to
be cosmetic, but is there like a health upbraid or
is there something that wait, he said it's a good
time to get like a booty lifters.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I didn't know if there was a female or woman
equivalent to that.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
You know, I'm trying to think of what I mean.
I'm just gonna be in Vegas, so that's it's like
it's like the same as being on your couch, but
it's being in the on the sportsbook couch, yea with
a thousand people that you hate around you because they're
cheering against your bets. Uh No, I actually can't think
of anything other than like, yeah, my yes, my brain
goes to plastic surgery.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yet, of course, by the way, Vegas no better place
to be for March Madness.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
We've been there.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Before, and you know, the sports book, every casino, every
pool party, every that's a great spot to be for
March Madness.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
So you're going to be having a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Hull Kelly, oh man, my liver is already crying. I
am going with a group of ladies, two of which
have never been to Vegas, and I have already set
the precedence. I said this on another podcast last week.
I'm not leaving the sports book. Do not ask me
to go do anything. No, I don't want to see
the Bolaggio fountains or the sign or any other tour stuff.
I Am here to work work. I'll put them in
(17:48):
a airport.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
No thunder from down under, whatever you want, No thunder
from down under, no fun time.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
No, you know what I am doing. We did get
a suite for Luke Colmb's on Saturday, and there's gonna
be TV, So I'm gonna like bounce back and forth
between Luke and the TVs. And if there's a game
that I don't really care about that so happens to
be playing at the time, I'll focus on Luke. And
if Luke's just playing in the background while there's a
game that I care more about, he'll be in front
(18:15):
of the television.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
We're talking about March Man is Kelly and Vegas at
Kelly in Vegas on social media. Kelly Stewart here on
the caven O Rich Show over promised. Now you're part
of a tournament that's that's giving away two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars, right, a Survivor Madness contest or something
like that. Tell us about it.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Yeah, Splash has always been great. I've been a commission
over there for the last few years, and March Madness
is actually when I started doing stuff with them, because
I thought, Hey, we've got all of these really great
things for other sports, right, We've got NFL Survivor, We've
got college football against the spread contests. What can we
do for March and we came up with this March
Madness Survivor. We call it Survivor Madness for you know,
(18:56):
legal purposes over there on Splash, and they said, okay,
this year, we're gonna give away two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars guaranteed twenty five dollars to enter. I've got
eight entries. Because that's exactly what happens. The chaos ensues
and all of a sudden, you're going You're sitting there
before the final four, going, I got no teams left,
which means you're out. So you want to kind of
map it out and figure out who your national championship
(19:17):
or who your national champion is going to be, who
your final four is going to be, and then you
can kind of work it backwards. So first round I
took a lot of chalk. I mean, admittedly, I've got Gonzaga,
I've got Louisville, I've got Arkansas, Illinois, Houston, Vanderbilt, because
I do think that there's going to be some upsets
in the round of sixty four. So really excited over
(19:37):
there right now. There is a overlay one hundred and
eighty five thousand dollars, which to those who don't gamble
means that it's basically free money. There's only twenty two
hundred people that have entered so far. There's eleven thousand spots.
Regardless if it fills, it's gonna fill. But regardless if
it does, Splash is guaranteed the money. And they've got
a ton of other contests for March Madness over on
(19:58):
the homepage as well.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Again, always good seeing you.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I wish you luck, and you know, the sad reality
is she is so well versed in those everything and
probably like old Barbara in accounting, will win the U inevitably.
It's always like it's always like you know, some old
lady in accounting that wins the office pool.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Well, especially last year when all four one seeds end
up in the final four. Come on, do you think
anybody else predicted that? Absolutely, good luck to the Barbara.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Thank you so much Kelly in Vegas for being on
over promise. We appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
We'll see soon.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Okay, thanks guys, thank you. I don't know about you.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
I took notes. Maybe a couple upsets, that's.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Not my thing, but hey, we wish you the best
of luck. Maybe we try to win some money. Thanks luck,
to make some money. And I hope you took some notes.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Your college is not in it this year. Montclair State
University didn't get there, so maybe next year.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Well enjoy and we'll see you guys next time.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Until that, are we with there? She Baby, see you
in the over promise March Madness Baby, Enjoy the Madness
bet
All right, that's still we Rockapella. Saint Patty's Week, feeling lucky.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Brolet mean, listen, we're gonna talk about being lucky. We'll
talk a bunch of March madness, not our specialty.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So we bring in an expert.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm more excited about baseball starting NBA playoffs before you know.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hell yeah, ell time. Maybe a little vacation action right
spring cleaning. Anyway, I'm Cavino. That is Rich Covino and
Rich Fox Sports Radio Monday through Friday, two to four
out here on the West side, five to seven on
the east. And this is our bonus podcast. And we
said happy Saint Patty's Week. But yeah, the madness is here.
(00:43):
The madness is a stupid People are coming up to
you about your bracket. You filled out my brackett to
know the bragget bragging, bragget bragget. So we got to
do our best to keep you post on what to do.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
In fact, you can see our brackets Fox Sports Radio
dot Com posting all the hosts brackets.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
We do it every year.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It's guessing games or is it.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Well, people come out of the woodworks like they're the experts.
It's like, do you really know all these teams's amazing.
People are really impressive that with their expertise on social
I mean.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
No matter what happens in the world of life, sports, politics, yeah,
social media experts.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
But we're bringing in a real ex a real expert.
We have a guest. Let's welcome at Kelly in Vegas.
Kelly Stewart from Splash Sports is on the show. We
caught on with Kelly at the Super Bowl and now
she's here to break down some March madness. Baby, baby,
gipsy dude, don't guru, baby, how are you? Kelly? Hey, Kelly,
(01:38):
Oh good.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
I'm gonna have to redeem myself from the Super Bowl though.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Man, that was well, you know what it was they
I didn't know how deep you were going to go
to all these prop bets. And I was like, I
don't know, you want to talk about the color of
gatorade And You're like no, no, no, like legit shit.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
So it was like's nott No.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
The props were fine. It was just the the way
that I saw the game playing out. The Patriots, Like
I said, I gott to redeem myself with some basketballs.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Well, you know though, because we had such a good time,
and it was so nice speaking to you, and you
were so knowledgeable. We're like, yeah, let's get her in
here to explain what's going on this year with the
March madness and with all the brackets all right now, first.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Thing I want to start with is when you see
this bracket come out, are you are you looking at
actual seating? Do you trust more advanced stuff? Like what's
your first thought when you look at a new bracket
every March?
Speaker 4 (02:27):
So I did a live show yesterday during selection Sunday.
That was a first for me. So I've got the
TV on, I'm managing four different personalities on air, and
I'm going, Okay, this is going to get to be
a lot. And it really wasn't because none of that matters.
The power ratings set by Vegas matters so much more
than the seatings. And I think the committee has started
(02:48):
to almost align right years before we would be shocked.
I can't believe X team is an eleven seed. I
think it was North Carolina NC State a few years ago.
There was no thing outside of Missouri being a tend
seed that made me go, huh, what is going on here?
Sianna being a sixteen seed was kind of funny. We
had a Sienna Grad on the show and he's he's
(03:10):
throwing a fit. They should have been a fifteen seed,
but once we saw the fifteens, it's like, no, they shouldn't.
There was no team yesterday that I was surprised got
in that got in, and no one that got left
out surprised me. It was a very just straightforward selection Sunday.
And that's so unusual for me.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Kelly in Vegas. If you want to follow and play
long on social media at Kelly in Vegas, when you
talk about the seeding, you know, we're filling our brackets out.
For Fox Sports Radio, I'm just picking whatever. I'm wondering
with all these teams involved, and for the casual fans,
is there any skill involved when choosing your bracket? When
choosing these teams.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Oh, there has to be, but the number one and
the number one skill that you need is luck. We've
all seen. We've all seen that filling out the perfect
bracket is like hitting the Mega millions. It's got to
be probably even higher odds, and that truth be told.
I do one bracket every single year just for fun,
just so that I can kind of map things out
and it's not really to see who's gonna win the
(04:10):
national championship. It's to find spots after the round of
sixty four where I go, Okay, here's who I've got circled,
here's who I want to look at, to go a
little bit farther than Vegas expects or than the selection
committee expects. So we saw last year there was like
hardly any upsets, and that was upsetting to me. Right,
I'm I'm the queen of the underdogs. I want the chaos,
(04:31):
I want the madness, and I'm hoping we see it
a little bit this year. Right, Yeah, two years ago, Ducaine,
I was in Mexico for one of my best friend's
birthdays and we're at this little tequila bar on the
beach and Duquaine upsets BYU and the whole bar just
goes nuts, because that's what March is about. So I'm
hoping we see some really fun things. Does my bracket
(04:52):
have way too many of those? Of course it does.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
What is the strategy, Kelly, I mean, let's talk about
making money now. Is this a sucker's time to bet
or is this a really great opportunity to make some money?
Because there's a lot of point spreads, probably with I mean,
I know Vegas knows, but unfamiliar teams. You and I
were talking before we went on this podcast that no
one knows all these teams, that there's hundreds of teams
(05:14):
in college hoops, no one knows them all.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
No one knows. Oh, they be talking about it. I
see all these experts on social media.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Exactly is there a strategy here? Is this an opportunity
to make money or not?
Speaker 4 (05:25):
No, of course there's always an opportunity to make money
where you can find an edge, and there's going to
be some spots where you're paying a premium for the
blue bloods, if you will, the Dukes of the world.
Florida just won the national championship last year, so obviously
people are expecting them to not necessarily run it back,
but to go far in the tournament. A lot of
people loved Michigan in January. They were the team to
(05:47):
win it all, and guess what, since then, they haven't
covered the spread, and so everybody's jumped off the Michigan bandwagon.
In my spider, since it start to go off and
go all right, maybe this is the time to start
paying attention to Michigan, now that everybody's written them off.
Looking to fade some ACC teams. I'm looking to fade
some of the bottom of the barrel SEC teams that
did get in right. Last year, they got fourteen teams
(06:08):
in this year only ten, so at least the committee
got that part right. But some of those teams that
squeaked in, if you will, I'm looking to say, all right,
you probably were on the fringe. They let you in
because of the conference you were in, and I'm going
to be betting against you early and often. I will
say this some of the for just basic bracket strategy.
(06:28):
If you are looking to do some upsets, sixteen seeds
versus one seeds are two and seventy six all time
to win, right, you're just advancing. I'm not even talking gambling.
This is just for your bracketology. Fifteen seeds seven and
seventy three, fourteen seeds ten and seventy, thirteen seeds seventeen
(06:51):
and sixty three. So kind of take that with a
grain of salt. Nobody wants a chalky March madness, but
those really long shots are for a reason.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Kelly gamblers seem to have a I can't think of
a better word than boner for twelve versus five seeds,
what's what the twelve five is that because that's the
first first matchup that seems like realistic is and we've
seen so many twelve five upsets before.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Is there something to be said about the twelve five?
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Of course, they're thirty one and forty nine outright, So
most of the time these twelve seeds are This year
all three out of four double digit underdogs. Right, Akron
was almost a double digit dog, and it got bet
down early because everybody's looking to bet against Texas Tech
for all obvious reasons. They have not been profitable since
Toppin got hurt. I do think that the twelve five
(07:41):
narratives a tiny bit overblown anymore, Right, eleven seeds have
been better thirty eight and forty two. The nine seeds
are literally a coin flip. So nine to eight seeds,
that's where you've got to figure out which team is
going to match up better. Because when they're one and
a half point favorite, Vegas is kind of telling you
that this game could go either way down to free
(08:01):
throws at the end. So for me, I'm kind of
looking in that thirteen that tell thirteen fourteen seed range
twelve seeds. Of course, I've got one that I do
like the eleven seeds. I've got one that I'm actually
gonna take in my Calcutta tonight. If you guys don't
know what a Calcutt is, it's like a gambling pool
of money where you bid on different teams and I'm
(08:24):
gonna be taking VCU to hopefully get me to the
elite eight, so you get paid per round. It's really fun.
I've been doing it for a long time, and we
had SDSU a couple of years ago, and I'm gonna
still ride that gravy train of finding those higher seeds
that you can get at a bargain price.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Kelly Stewart here from Splash Sports, speaking of all these underdogs,
who is your Cinderella team? Who's the Cinderella team to
look out for this year that we're going to be
all excited about.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
I wish that it was a real Cinderella and they're not.
And that's the hard part. And I just mentioned them.
That's VCU. I mean, I wish I could make a
case for Akron to go far, but they have no
quad one wins, no quad two wins, those are really
hard teams to get behind. If they had a couple
of quality ones like a Saint Louis who's a nine
seed two and one against Quad one teams six and
(09:12):
three against Quad two, like they're not, but I wouldn't
say that they're a Cinderella at a nine seed. That's
the hard part. Everybody wants those Davidson's back when everyone.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Wants when we were younger, I'm every like for the
first time when you're like, what's Gonzaga?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Also in the program was built, but before that it
was like.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
What's and yet everyone pretending like they knew about it.
Bobby players, though, is they're like a player that's gonna
go viral because he's gonna take the world by storm.
Like I'm reading already about Bobby Avila from Indiana State,
the St. Louis Kareem Abdul Jabbar calling them and yeah, exactly.
So are there certain players that we're gonna take note
(09:50):
of and be like, man, this guy's a star?
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Yeah, you know. I Actually I'm gonna go the other way.
I think Darren Darren Peterson's gonna just upset everybody once again.
And Kansas is going to be on the ropes to
cal Baptists early. That is I think everybody's expecting so
much more from these teams that have historically done so
well in the tournament, and I think we've got to
realize that just maybe they've had a rough season, because
(10:15):
they're truly a rough team. When you have no control
over your locker room. Sorry Bill self, but that is
the absolute facts. You're not going to have control over
them in March. And I know everyody's like, oh, he's
got to show out so he can be the number ones,
number one overall pick in the NBA. I just don't
see that happening. So I do like cal Baptists as
that thirteen seed plus the double digits there, I think
(10:35):
thirteen and a half fourteen is available right now. I
will say this Northern Iowa is a twelve seed. That
is also one that you can look at. They are
zero and three against their quad one opponents, But if
you look at those losses and you dissect them, all
three of them were by five points or less.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
What I hope people are taking notes from you, because
I am clueless as far as these later you know,
smaller school teams, I don't know a thing. So I'm
I'm taking notes from Kelly here. We gotta have some
bullet points when you got to barbershop.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
I was also thinking, Kelly, based on those terrible odds
for like fifteen sixteen fourteen seeds, is it like terror?
It's probably a dumb fools bet. But what if you
just did a moneyline parlay for all one, twos and
threes in the first round. It's a large parlay with
that probably ends up being an even money bet. But
do we think there's gonna be any ones or twos upset?
Speaker 4 (11:26):
You know, let me looking exactly at the bracket one
more time on which because I'm not betting against Houston
this early, I'm not betting against Iowa State this early,
and against the spread is one thing, but actually saying
that they're going to lose out right on the money line,
Florida is not going to lose outright to either Very
View or Lehigh Arizona. I like to probably be the
(11:50):
national champion, so I'm gonna go ahead and say they're
not going to lose, even though historically they have choked.
I think this is the most complete team they've had
in a really, really long time, you know, And I
think there are three seed and they're playing Hofstra Alabama.
Alabama is one of those teams where, because of their
pace of play and their style, they get a lot
(12:11):
of love during the regular season and then someone inevitably
exploits it in March. And I would not be surprised
to see this Hofstra team, who has a couple of
really nice wins on their resume, being able to say, hey,
we lost at UCF by only four, and then two
and two against basically that next tier of opponents in
(12:32):
Quad two seven game win streak eleven and two in
their last twelve games. I think I like those teams
coming in hot to catch teams like in Alabama off guard. Again,
I think Alabama's a three seed. I don't do as
much with brackets as I should, but the reality is
is you're right the first one in two seeds. The
(12:53):
chance of them actually losing the game outright is is
that one hundred and forty nine. I mean, it's only
happened nine times, and that's that's not very often guys.
So but when you had the three season there, it
gets a little spicy for me. I would not be
surprised to see not the round of sixty four, but
(13:16):
the following round, maybe we see us.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
On ourselves at Kelly in Vegas. Now there's a lot
of pressure around the office. Everyone's coming up to you
about your bracket. Did you fill yours out? You already
mentioned that you only do one bracket. Is it lame
to do multiple brackets? What's your thoughts on that? What's
the etiquette here? Are there rules?
Speaker 4 (13:35):
No, of course, not like that'd be like be like Kelly,
it's lame to do multiple splash context, Well, that's the limit.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Then hold on, there's got to be a limit because
like people with their fantasy teams, it's like, all right, dude,
how many fantasy leagues are you in? Like, there's got
to be a limit. Then, no, Like, there's got to
be a limit.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Listen, if you're doing five dollars brackets around the office
and you do fifteen of them, I mean, I guess
like that's that's a top of tegue for me. It's
not also because I just I feel like my bracket
is usually busted by day three. Like last year was
the first time I have ever had the national championship
with Florida, and they could have been busted three or
(14:12):
four times. I mean, there were so many close games
they were in. Like I said, brackets involve a lot
a lot of luck.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
And there were reminded to anyone that fills out their
bracket on day two or three, you don't go around
your office or anywhere saying like, oh my my bracket's
already done. No one wants to hear about your bracket.
It's like your fantasy football team no one really cares about.
I mean, maybe Kelly does do you like hearing about.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Okay, leading about my fantasy football team to my group
of guy friends, like back in October and finally someone
just wrote in all capa letters, Kelly, No one cares.
I'm like, all right, fair enough, I lost by half
a point, but don't worry about me.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah. No, It's it's like when you tell your fans
I missed one leg of a parlay.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
And you just know everyone else is thinking, who gives
a ship?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
No one cares. But I do have a one thought
though about a mistake people might make. Is it is
it just a fool's decision to just pick your alma
mater to at least win a game. I feel like
every year people are like, well, how can I root
against what How can I pick against my own college?
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Is that a fool's bet?
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Or see? I would rather bet on my own team
at least you know that. My problem is when people
try to hedge their happiness. I don't understand that at all.
They bet against their team and they're like, well that
I'm happy either way. If they lose, I win money,
and if they win, they win, and I'm like, yeah,
but you still lost money, right, But either I'm going
to bet on my team because I know they're in
a great situation. Like I went to Kansas State, as
(15:38):
you guys can see behind me, and the day after
Jerome Tang got fired, case played Baylor and Casey was
a three point underdog to Baylor, and I was like,
I'm absolutely betting case State in the spot. This is
the spot to do it. That's how I think you
should bet your team. They can choose your spots where
you know that they can exploit their opponent's weaknesses, where
you know that they're going to excel. They're your team.
You should know them better than any other team.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Rich announced this week that he's getting a vasected me.
I don't know if that's too much information he scheduled it.
He scheduled it too late, though, he missed the opportunity right,
because they say this is the window, this is the
best time for them to do it.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Because Master's weekend is the weekend you're supposed to get
the victor. You can sit on couch all Masters weekend.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I always thought that was the same thing for March Madness. Right,
sit there and watch the entire tournament. I'm wondering if
you have any advice for the ladies listening, Like, if
their man is getting of a secretary, what do the
ladies do do they just like, is there something that
they could do to kill some time too?
Speaker 4 (16:35):
That's really hilarious. I should just like schedule like an
augmentation or something like that, get some.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Work done or something. I'm not saying it has to
be cosmetic, but is there like a health upbraid or
is there something that wait, he said it's a good
time to get like a booty lifters.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I didn't know if there was a female or woman
equivalent to that.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
You know, I'm trying to think of what I mean.
I'm just gonna be in Vegas, so that's it's like
it's like the same as being on your couch, but
it's being in the on the sportsbook couch, yea with
a thousand people that you hate around you because they're
cheering against your bets. Uh No, I actually can't think
of anything other than like, yeah, my yes, my brain
goes to plastic surgery.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yet, of course, by the way, Vegas no better place
to be for March Madness.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
We've been there.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Before, and you know, the sports book, every casino, every
pool party, every that's a great spot to be for
March Madness.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
So you're going to be having a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Hull Kelly, oh man, my liver is already crying. I
am going with a group of ladies, two of which
have never been to Vegas, and I have already set
the precedence. I said this on another podcast last week.
I'm not leaving the sports book. Do not ask me
to go do anything. No, I don't want to see
the Bolaggio fountains or the sign or any other tour stuff.
I Am here to work work. I'll put them in
(17:48):
a airport.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
No thunder from down under, whatever you want, No thunder
from down under, no fun time.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
No, you know what I am doing. We did get
a suite for Luke Colmb's on Saturday, and there's gonna
be TV, So I'm gonna like bounce back and forth
between Luke and the TVs. And if there's a game
that I don't really care about that so happens to
be playing at the time, I'll focus on Luke. And
if Luke's just playing in the background while there's a
game that I care more about, he'll be in front
(18:15):
of the television.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
We're talking about March Man is Kelly and Vegas at
Kelly in Vegas on social media. Kelly Stewart here on
the caven O Rich Show over promised. Now you're part
of a tournament that's that's giving away two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars, right, a Survivor Madness contest or something
like that. Tell us about it.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Yeah, Splash has always been great. I've been a commission
over there for the last few years, and March Madness
is actually when I started doing stuff with them, because
I thought, Hey, we've got all of these really great
things for other sports, right, We've got NFL Survivor, We've
got college football against the spread contests. What can we
do for March and we came up with this March
Madness Survivor. We call it Survivor Madness for you know,
(18:56):
legal purposes over there on Splash, and they said, okay,
this year, we're gonna give away two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars guaranteed twenty five dollars to enter. I've got
eight entries. Because that's exactly what happens. The chaos ensues
and all of a sudden, you're going You're sitting there
before the final four, going, I got no teams left,
which means you're out. So you want to kind of
map it out and figure out who your national championship
(19:17):
or who your national champion is going to be, who
your final four is going to be, and then you
can kind of work it backwards. So first round I
took a lot of chalk. I mean, admittedly, I've got Gonzaga,
I've got Louisville, I've got Arkansas, Illinois, Houston, Vanderbilt, because
I do think that there's going to be some upsets
in the round of sixty four. So really excited over
(19:37):
there right now. There is a overlay one hundred and
eighty five thousand dollars, which to those who don't gamble
means that it's basically free money. There's only twenty two
hundred people that have entered so far. There's eleven thousand spots.
Regardless if it fills, it's gonna fill. But regardless if
it does, Splash is guaranteed the money. And they've got
a ton of other contests for March Madness over on
(19:58):
the homepage as well.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Again, always good seeing you.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I wish you luck, and you know, the sad reality
is she is so well versed in those everything and
probably like old Barbara in accounting, will win the U inevitably.
It's always like it's always like you know, some old
lady in accounting that wins the office pool.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Well, especially last year when all four one seeds end
up in the final four. Come on, do you think
anybody else predicted that? Absolutely, good luck to the Barbara.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Thank you so much Kelly in Vegas for being on
over promise. We appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
We'll see soon.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Okay, thanks guys, thank you. I don't know about you.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
I took notes. Maybe a couple upsets, that's.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Not my thing, but hey, we wish you the best
of luck. Maybe we try to win some money. Thanks luck,
to make some money. And I hope you took some notes.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Your college is not in it this year. Montclair State
University didn't get there, so maybe next year.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Well enjoy and we'll see you guys next time.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Until that, are we with there? She Baby, see you
in the over promise March Madness Baby, Enjoy the Madness
bet
Hosts And Creators
Rich Davis
Steve Covino
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