The Brown Bears finished the 2004-05 season with a record of 12-16 straight up and 9-10 against the spread. The Bears did get off to a solid start against the board that year at 6-3 but couldn’t sustain momentum as they went on to fail to cover the number in thirteen of their final nineteen games of the year.
Losing when not hibernating
Brown Bears began the 2005-06 season with a 53-67 neutral court loss to Northeastern as 8-point dogs. Then, as is the case with many Ivy League teams, the Bears went into frequent hibernation from the college basketball betting boards in non-conference action. Brown next lost to Birmingham Southern 62-63 on a neutral court and then won at Hartford 70-60. Back on the board at Rhode Island, the Brown Bears lost 40-57 as 7.5-point dogs to remain losing when not hibernating from the board. Brown then resumed unlined action in a string of seven games beginning with a 59-72 home loss to Wagner. That was followed by a 41-64 loss at Holy Cross. Next was a 71-61 win at Binghamton and then a 57-59 home loss to Maryland Eastern Shore. The 2-6 straight up Bears then lost at home to Navy 64-73 and then at home to Albany 47-62 before finally getting an unlined win at Army 59-57 to stand at 3-8 straight up as they jumped back on the college basketball betting board. At home against Canisius as a 1-point home dog, the Brown Bears lost badly 55-69 before winning at Quinnipiac 64-60 in their final unlined game of the season.
Poison Ivy Brown Bears
Ivy League play began in earnest as the Brown Bears returned once and for all to the board with a 61-75 loss at Yale as 7-point dogs. That was followed by the second game of a home and home series against the Bulldogs which the Bears won at home 67-62 as 1-point dogs. In their next game at home against Dartmouth, the Bears scored a 73-70 overtime win at 7-point overlays before losing at home to Harvard 58-75 as 2.5-point dogs for their third failure to get the cash in the last four games against the spread. After a 51-68 loss at league leader Pennsylvania as 20-point bargain dogs, the Bulldogs lost at Princeton 37-52 as 7-point dogs. That was followed by a 59-63 home loss to Cornell as 1-point dogs as conference play proved to be poison ivy for the Bears, who were 2-5 against the spread.
Up and down
Brown’s poor start in the Ivy League portion of their schedule briefly served to make them bargain values starting with an 86-75 home win over Columbia as 4-point chalks. That was followed by a 79-66 win at Harvard as 11-point dogs. But Brown proved to be up and down as they then went on to lose at Dartmouth 46-58 as 2.5-point dogs and then at Columbia 56-68 as 3-point dogs.
Brown Bears Profitable finish
One thing about an Ivy League bottom feeder/also ran is that they can often bring solid board value due to their unappealing status with the college basketball betting public, as Brown Bears was to prove at the end of the season. First at Cornell, the Bears scored a 69-64 win and cover as 6.5-point bargain dogs. That was followed by a 61-46 home win over Princeton as 1-point dogs. In the regular season finale, the Bears scored a 68-74 overtime loss to league champion Penn as 10.5-point dogs for a profitable finish to the season with three straight payoffs.