2005 Stats
College Basketball Betting Lines
| Straight up | 20-11 overall, 10-5 conference, 2nd Southern South
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| Against the spread | 13-14-1 (8-4 home, 3-9 away)
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| Over/Under | 14-14 (7-5 home, 6-6 away)
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| Offensive Rank | 24th
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| Defensive Rank | 180th
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2005 Season Summary
The Davidson Wildcats finished the 2004-05 season with a strong record of 23-9, including a Southern Conference record of a perfect 16-0, which was good for a first place finish in the South Division.
Davidson proved to be nearly as effective on the college basketball gambling board as they lost just ten out of twenty-nine games against the spread and got the cash in twelve of their final seventeen games.
The Wildcats suffered a costly conference tournament loss to NC-Greensboro, however, and had to settle for the NIT rather than the NCAA tournament. Davidson made the third round before being eliminated by Maryland 63-78 as 9.5-point road dogs.
The highly successful season “outed” the Wildcats, who were now a respected team by many in the college basketball gambling public. Now that the “word/secret” was out, Davidson would lose some of their board value and would no longer catch gamblers or the odds makers, (not to mention their on-court opponents), by surprise.
Early stumble
Davidson opened the season with a 55-84 loss at Duke as whopping 25-point dogs for a discouraging start. That was followed by a 66-63 home win over Massachusetts as 6-point home overlays for an early stumble of 0-2 ATS.
Putting themselves together
Davidson next hosted St. Joseph’s and scored a 100-94 overtime win as 1.5-point dogs as they started putting themselves together. That was followed by an 81-85 loss at Charlotte, also in overtime, which the Wildcats covered as 5.5-point dogs.
Davidson next scored a 102-69 blowout win at Appalachian State as 1-point chalks and followed that up with an 82-73 home win over Missouri as 6.5-point chalks for a fourth consecutive payoff. At this point, it appeared as if the Wildcats had picked up right where they left off from a season ago.
Red ink run
Davidson next had a pair of unlined home games starting with an 80-56 win over Catholic, which was followed by a 112-59 win over St. Mary’s of Maryland. Back on the board against Syracuse, the Wildcats suffered an 80-90 loss as 8.5-point dogs. That was then followed by an unlined home win over Clark 108-57.
Back on the board at Illinois-Chicago, Davidson resumed a red ink run with a 67-76 loss as 1-point dogs and followed that up with a 58-82 blowout loss at defending national champion North Carolina as 10.5-point dogs and a third consecutive ATS failure.
Back on track
Davidson stopped the bleeding and got back on track with an 80-62 home win over Wofford as 13-point chalks. That was followed by an 85-49 home win over the Citadel as 23-point chalks. After a 66-70 loss at Furman, the Wildcats resumed the payoffs with an 80-70 win at Charleston as 2-point chalks. That was then followed by an 83-58 home win over Georgia Southern as 10-point chalks for a fourth payoff in five games.
Depleted value
The nice run coupled with their good season of 2004-05 caused Davidson to suffer from depleted value beginning with a 59-65 loss at Chattanooga as 5.5-point chalks. That as then followed by a 79-60 home win over Elon University as 12.5-point chalks. But from there, the Wildcats would struggle for the rest of the way, beginning with a 65-50 home win over Princeton as 16-point overlays, a clear indicator of Davidson’s poor value. That was followed by a 70-77 loss against Western Carolina as 13.5-point home chalks. After a 92-73 home win over NC-Greensboro as 13.5-point chalks, the Wildcats went on to finish the season 3-2 straight up but just 1-4 against the spread.
Davidson won the Southern Conference tournament and then met Ohio State in the “Big Dance” as they lost 62-70 as 10.5-point dogs to finish the post season 2-1-1 ATS.