I loved West Virginia getting four points against Duke on Saturday and sure enough it paid off. Duke got exposed in the first round as a team that relies too much on the three-pointer. However my parlays continued to miss -- thanks to Notre Dame. I broke my rule of never betting on or against N.D. ever since years of them raking me over no matter which way I went.

Another run of bad cards at the poker table also cost me. You can fold as many hands as you want, and try to bluff when your position is good and there's not much action on the table, but if you don't make something you don't make something. And when you agressively play a straight you hit on the turn then proceed to lose to someone who hit the straight flush, you know things are not going well.

Back to basketball. Games to watch today:

Texas laying 6 1/2 to Miami. I thought the Hurricanes would go out in the first round given their efficiency margin, or lack thereof, but Jack McClinton made sure they didn't with a career-high 38 points, 32 of which came in the second half.

Georgetown -5 against Davidson. It'll be like a home game for Davidson with the game in Raleigh, N.C., but Georgetown's too good defensively to let Davidson's Stephen Curry drop another 40 points. The Hoyas shut down UMBC in the second half, holding them to 32 percent shooting on their way to a 19-point win. Laying just five against a Davidson at least seems like a good bet.

Finally, it's odd being in Vegas on Easter. Then again, maybe all these tough beats are some sort of penance. Hopefully I'll get a little divine intervention though before I leave.

-- Brian Wacker, Sun-Sentinel.com