The Charlotte 49ers were coming off an impressive 2004-05 campaign in which they went 21-8 straight up with a season ending loss in the NCAA Tournament to North Carolina State. Incredibly enough however, Charlotte covered just 10 out of 26 lined games as they became overvalued and an overlay as one of the more respected programs in the Atlantic 10. The 49ers ended the 2004-05 season with just 2 covers in their final 9 games which was a strong indicator that the mainstream gambling public had caught on to them as the year went on, causing value depletion.
Winning while losing
Charlotte began the 2005-06 season with a neutral court game against Coppin State in which they won and got the cash 82-65 as 15.5-point chalks. In their next game, however, they were blown out by perennial Big Ten conference also-ran Northwestern 47-61 as a 4-point chalk. The 49ers went on to blow two more games both straight up and against the spread at Wyoming and at home to Mississippi State as they started off on the wrong foot by going 1-3 both SU and ATS.
Charlotte next won three games in a row straight up at Georgia State and then at home against Portland and Davidson but failed to cover the latter two games against the spread as they were winning while losing, much as was the case in 2004-05. They got back on track in their next game with a 67-62 win and cover at Louisiana-Lafayette as a 1-point dog.
Incredibly enough, just when things appeared on track for the 49ers they dropped back-to-back straight up home games to Valparaiso, (non-lined), and Indiana, (an ATS loss). Charlotte was just 3-6 against the oddsmakers and an unattractive commodity at this point.
Value increased
In their next game at highly touted Rutgers, however, the combination of Charlotte’s weak performance and Rutgers’ favorable reputation with the mainstream gambling public worked in the 49ers’ favor as they scored an 85-82 upset win and cover as 7.5-point dogs. This win began a stretch in which Charlotte went 5-0 straight up and 4-1 against the spread.
Conference play brought some bumps in the road
Charlotte entered the meat of Atlantic 10 conference action playing their best basketball to date but conference play brought some bumps in the road as the 49ers lost 3 of their next 4 both straight up and against the spread. Rock bottom was hit with a 56-63 loss at Richmond as 2-point chalks. Charlotte was also trending over at this point with 6 overs in their last 8 games.
Cash cow
Based on their play so far in 2005-06 and on their ATS performance from the previous season, few mainstream gamblers were very impressed with Charlotte as they traveled to St. Bonaventure where they were a 6.5-point chalk over the Bonnies. Charlotte came out firing, however, and easily covered a 76-60 win that was the springboard to a 7-game winning streak against the spread.
The 49ers came home to face Dayton and defeated the Flyers 62-49 as 6-point chalks. This was followed up with a nice 66-59 win over Temple as 2.5-point chalks, which demonstrated that the 49ers were still a bargain value at this point, largely ignored by the mainstream gambling public. Charlotte continued to demonstrate their excellent value on the betting boards with a 56-59 loss/cover at ACC Wake Forest as a 5.5-point dog. They next hosted Richmond and scored a 64-47 win as 11.5-point chalks. Charlotte completed their run as a cash cow with back-to-back straight up wins and covers at Fordham, (81-75 as a 2.5-point chalk), and at Massachusetts, (72-71 as 1.5-point dogs).
Value depleted
Long winning streaks against the pointspread always catch attention not just from the oddsmakers but also from the mainstream gambling public and Charlotte’s value was depleted by the time they hosted Saint Louis in a 74-77 defeat as 6.5-point chalks. They next were 19.5-point overlays in a 77-71 win over Duquesne and ended the season with a brutal 85-86 overtime loss to George Washington as 8-point dogs.