Morning Coffee: Duke rolls into Elite Eight as favourites sweep Thursday’s Sweet 16 games

Forget the glass slipper.

This world is chaotic enough without a Cinderella crashing the party and busting all our brackets.

As somebody who bet the NCAA men’s basketball tournament favourite to win and cover each of its first three games, reach the Final Four, and ultimately be crowned champion, I prefer this Chalk Madness over March Madness with my Morning Coffee.

Duke’s fairytale season continued with a 100-93 win over Arizona in the Sweet 16 last night.

If you jumped on the Blue Devils -6.5 with me earlier in the week or played their team total over 81.5 that I gave out in Thursday’s column, then you were a winner.

Now I need a Houston outright win tonight versus Purdue as the second leg of my chalk moneyline parlay.

Plus, I’m one win away from cashing Duke to reach the Final Four at -140 and two wins away from cashing the Blue Devils to win the NCAA championship at +300.

After winning and covering each of their first two games, Duke opened -6.5, closed -9.5, and beat the Wildcats by seven points on Thursday.

The March Madness Sweet 16 favourites went 4-0 straight up last night to improve to 40-12 overall.

March Madness favourites of 8+ points have gone a perfect 19-0 straight up in the tournament so far.

No fairy godmother required.

With Houston ML in pocket, I’m hoping the Cougars can dodge a pumpkin and avoid another upset loss in the Sweet 16 tonight.

Purdue will need to pull off the biggest upset of the tournament to date to knock them off.

Hopefully, the clock strikes midnight for the Boilermakers instead tonight.

Glass slippers are overhyped and impractical, anyways.

This is the Morning Coffee for Friday March 28th, 2025.

Duke Rolls into Elite Eight as Favourites Sweep Thursday’s Sweet 16 Games

My March Madness Sweet 16 picks went 3-2 on Thursday with Houston ML pending as the second leg of a parlay I recommended earlier in the week.

I also gave out Michigan State -3 versus Ole Miss, under 144.5 in Kentucky versus Tennessee, and under 132.5 in Houston versus Purdue.

While the favourites went 4-0 straight up last night, the over also went 4-0, which has me a little concerned about the two totals I have pending.

Meanwhile, FanDuel has Duke -6.5 versus Alabama in the Elite Eight.

As somebody who was on BYU +5.5 on Thursday, I’m hoping we don’t see the Tide deliver a repeat of their shooting performance from beyond the arc on Saturday.

Here is my full card for the remaining Sweet 16 games:

Michigan State -3 versus Ole Miss

Kentucky versus Tennessee under 144.5

Houston versus Purdue under 132.5

Can Habs End Slide As Massive Underdog In Carolina?

The Montreal Canadiens failed to capitalize on the opportunity to pick up two important points as a -120 favourite in last night’s loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Habs will be in tough to snap a four-game winless drought as a +255 moneyline underdog on the road tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes.

My NHL best bets went 3-3 with the Canadiens losing in Philadelphia and the Toronto Maple Leafs losing in San Jose.

Turning the page this morning, I’m hoping to finish the week with some winners.

I’ll start with a FanDuel Best Bet Same Game Parlay that features Carolina’s Jackson Blake to record 2+ shots on goal and the alt over 4.5 total goals at -116.

Blake leads the Hurricanes with 4.67 shots on goal per game over the last seven days with four or more in each of his last three contests.

Skating on the top line with Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis at 5-on-5 and on the top powerplay, I’ll bank on Blake to keep putting pucks on net in a game that features five or more total goals.

Here is my full NHL card for this morning:

SGP (-116): Blake 2+ shots on goal | alt over 4.5

Jackson Blake 1+ point +112

SGP (-120): Verhaeghe 2+ shots on goal | Panthers ML

Jets win in 60 -115 over Devils

Golden Knights -1.5 (-120) over Blackhawks

Ohtani, Dodgers Extend Perfect Start

Shohei Ohtani hit his second home run in three games as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Detroit Tigers 5-4 to improve to 3-0 on MLB Opening Day.

Ohtani to hit a home run at +350 cashed.

I also cashed my first Morning Coffee MLB best bet of the season after the Seattle Mariners rallied to beat the Oakland Athletics 4-2.

Ohtani remains the obvious favourite to repeat as the NL MVP at +145 at FanDuel.

The Dodgers are the obvious favourite to repeat as World Series champions at +240.

LA is -225 to extend its perfect start to four wins in a row in the rematch with Detroit tonight.

Turning the page this morning, here’s my full MLB card:

Orioles ML +108 over Blue Jays

Pirates -1.5 +125 over Marlins

Red Sox -120 over Rangers

Astros -126 over Mets

Mariners -134 over Athletics

Braves +108 over Padres

Dodgers -1.5 -108 over Tigers

Make sure you give me a follow @Domenic_Padula on X for today’s home run parlay.