2005 Season Summary
The Western Carolina Catamounts finished the 2004-05 season with a record of 8-22 straight up, including a Southern conference mark of 3-13, which was good for a last place finish in the North Division.
The Catamounts fared little better against the sportsbooks as they went 7-18 against the spread while covering just four of their final eighteen games against the board.
The Western Carolina Catamounts season was so horrific both on the court and at the sportsbook that it did offer the possibility of Western Carolina becoming something of a bargain value on the boards, since they were one of the least appealing teams to the mainstream gambling public. That lack of appeal would possibly make Western Carolina a value-added team for 2005-06 as they would often be getting better odds than what was actually warranted.
Along those same lines a team as bad as Western Carolina was in 2004-05 would not be taken all that seriously on the court, either, which meant that the Western Carolina Catamounts had a shot at pulling some surprises on the court, which would naturally be felt at sportsbooks.
Up then down Western Carolina Catamounts
Western Carolina opened the 2005-06 season with a 56-50 neutral court win over Bowling Green as 5.5-point dogs. That was then followed by a discouraging unlined neutral court loss to Radford by a score of 56-69.
Back on the board against Virginia Tech, the Western Carolina Catamounts scored a 40-54 loss/cover as 18.5-point road dogs. But Western Carolina was unable to sustain momentum as they next lost at home to South Carolina 62-87 as 11.5-point dogs and then followed that up with a 46-68 neutral court loss to Northern Iowa as 20-point dogs for an up then down start to the season.
Western Carolina then went off the board for a series of five games beginning with a 110-51 home win over Atlanta Christian College. That was followed by a 66-73 loss at High Point. Next came a 96-37 blowout home win over Toccoa Falls followed by a 76-59 home win over Montreat-Anderson. The last unlined game of this stretch was an 80-64 home win over NC-Asheville. The Catamounts then returned to the board at Maryland and were blown out 57-87 as 25.5-point dogs.
In the black
Western Carolina next traveled to East Carolina and was back in the black with a 56-48 win as 9-point dogs. That was followed by an 83-57 home win over Citadel as 8-point chalks and then another unlined game at home against Gardner-Webb, which the Catamounts lost in overtime by a score of 83-90.
Western Carolina next went on the road to face a pair of Southeastern Conference teams beginning with a 65-89 loss at Georgia as 17-point dogs. That was then followed by a 59-65 loss/cover at Mississippi as 13-point dogs.
Back in Southern Conference action the Catamounts lost at Appalachian State 53-68 as 6-point dogs. That was then followed by a 74-56 home win over Chattanooga as 3.5-point chalks and then an 87-76 win at NC-Greensboro as 4.5-point dogs. The Catamounts then got the cash for the sixth time in eight games with a 48-50 loss at Elon University as 5.5-point dogs.
Brief blip Western Carolina Catamounts
Western Carolina proved to be a value-added team for much of the season but suffered a brief blip with back-to-back SU&ATS losses to Charleston and at Wofford.
Cranking cash
But Western Carolina couldn’t be held down for long and was cranking cash
again starting with an 85-76 home win over Furman as 2.5-point dogs. That was then followed by a 77-70 win at Davidson as 13.5-point dogs and then a 67-72 loss/cover at Georgia Southern as 8.5-point dogs. After a SU&ATS home loss to Appalachian State, the Catamounts scored SU&ATS wins over Elon and NC-Greensboro before getting a loss/cover at Chattanooga They then lost SU&ATS at home to NC-Greensboro.