TCU’s heave makes for the wildest bad beat of the 2023 NCAA Tournament

UPDATE: VSiN provided a crowd reaction at a Las Vegas sportsbook. It’s about what you’d expect from an event that would see people have very different reactions that all end up sounding similar in the book.

The second round of the NCAA Tournament ended in style for bettors because of TCU’s Damion Baugh. And Horned Frogs backers (and the sportsbooks) thank him.

It was a mad finish no matter what side of the closing line of Gonzaga -4.5 you had. The play-by-play:

15 seconds left: Zags lead 80-73 and have possession, but a turnover on the inbounds forced a foul on the Frogs Mike Miles Jr, who made a pair to cut it to five.

13 seconds: Zags throw it long for an easy dunk by Hunter Sails. 82-75 Zags.

6 seconds: Three-pointer by TCU’s Rondel Walker. 82-78 Zags.

0.7 seconds: TCU fouls (!!). Sails makes two “meaningless” free throws. 84-78 Zags.

And then Damion Baugh of TCU did this:

There are emotional roller coaster, and then there is this. And because of the numbers involved, 100% of TCU bettors went from winner to loser, and that is reversed for Gonzaga selectors.

There’s always a ton of variance at the end of college basketball games when the spread is involved. But even by the standards of this sport, this was absolutely absurd.

The Zags open as a one-point underdog to UCLA in the Regional Semifinal on Thursday in ... Las Vegas. A city they can knock over with a feather presently after that finish.