2005 Season Summary
The University of Alabama Birmingham Blazers were coming off a solid 2004-05 season in which they went 22-11 straight up and 16-15 against the spread as they made the second round of the NCAA tournament. UAB Blazers had struggled heavily in the middle portion of their schedule against the spread during conference play but finished string with four straight payoffs before their season ending loss in the “Big Dance” to Arizona.
Conference USA went through a dramatic makeover during the offseason as Marquette, Louisville, DePaul, and Cincinnati all bolted for the Big East, leaving a power vacuum that UAB would try and fill.
Solid start for UAB Blazers
UAB began the 2005-06 season with a strong 86-77 win over Massachusetts as 4.5-point neutral court dogs. This was followed by an unlined win over South Carolina State.
Next came a 73-72 win at Nebraska as 3-point dogs but that was followed by a disappointing 66-70 loss at DePaul as 1-point chalks against their old CUSA foe/deserter. UAB followed that up with an unlined win over Alcorn State. That was followed by a 68-69 loss/cover at Minnesota as 4.5-point dogs, which was the start of a four game payoff streak.
After another unlined win over Centenary, UAB beat Old Dominion 85-57 as 1.5-point chalks. That was followed by a 90-71 win over Oklahoma State as 3-point chalks and then a 59-47 win at South Florida as 7-point chalks for a solid start to 2005-06 at 8-3 straight up and 6-2 against the UAB Blazers spread.
UAB had a brief blip against the books with a 68-62 win over Virginia Commonwealth as 10-point home overlays. After an unlined win over Valdosta State, the UAB Blazers got back on track with two straight wins and covers over Tulsa and at Marshall.
UAB Blazers Value depletion
Having covered eight of their first eleven games against the spread, UAB had attracted the attention of more gamblers, which caused them to suffer value depletion as a result.
This was immediately evident in their next two games, which they won straight up even as they lost against the spread. First was a 75-68 win at Rice as 8.5-point overlays and then an 82-79 win over Houston as 10.5-point chalks. The dog continued to bite in UAB’s next game as they covered a 66-73 loss at Memphis as 10-point dogs.
Gushing red ink
Unfortunately UAB was unable to sustain momentum as they once again proved to be overlays against the sportsbooks.
They beat Southern Mississippi 87-73 as 21-point chalks, a clear sign of their status as overvalued. That was followed by a 75-68 win at Central Florida as 9-point chalks.
UAB lost both straight up and against the spread at Texas El Paso in a dreadful 37-65 performance as 1-point dogs as their value continued to prove to be poor.
They next beat East Carolina 72-64 as 16-point chalks for another overlay loss and that was followed by an 87-82 win over Tulane as 16-point overlays for their fifth straight loss against the spread and seventh in their last eight games.
Strong finish
UAB had burned up a lot of good will with gamblers after that losing streak, which enhanced their value for the final four regular season games in which they went 4-0 straight up and 3-0-1 against the spread.
Post season losers
In post season, however, UAB went back to form as a poor value as they went 2-2 straight up but just 1-3 against the spread as the season ended with a 64-69 loss to Kentucky in the “Big Dance” as 3-point dogs.