In this college hoops parlay, losers shall become winners

Illinois might be the Land of Lincoln, but for smart bettors, today it's the Land of Opportunity.

Two college basketball teams from Illinois — DePaul and Loyola — have just nine wins each this season, and with both really struggling, we're taking their opponents — Fordham and Butler — in a parlay.

Best of all, the odds line isn't good or great, it's amazing: +275 to be exact. And with both teams heading in the wrong direction, you'd be a fool not to bet this parlay. 

DePaul is actually favored in Wednesday's Big East matchup against Butler, but we're not exactly sure why. The Blue Demons have lost eight in a row and nine of their last 10 and lost to Butler earlier this season. And it's not like most of these games have been close. In fact, six of DePaul's last eight losses have been by nine or more points. 

Now before we get started on Butler, let's establish one thing — they're not exactly good either, but they're nowhere near as bad as DePaul. The Bulldogs are 13-15 overall and 5-12 in conference play, and despite losing to Georgetown on Sunday, have won two of their last four games. Not exactly a whole to be proud of, but not nearly as bad as DePaul. 

As for Loyola-Chicago, well, this is their first season in the Atlantic-10, and it has been a brutal transition after coming over from the Missouri Valley Conference. The Ramblers are dead last in the A-10 at 3-11 and have dropped three of their last four games. 

Surprisingly, Fordham is only a 2.5-point favorite in this one, however, even though we think the Rams cover the spread with ease, we're only going to take them on the moneyline. Fordham is 21-6 on the season and has won three of four. We know the Rams got smoked by VCU on Saturday, but we're not all that concerned. Loyola-Chicago is far from figuring out the A-10, which is why Fordham on the moneyline is a must to cap off this Wednesday night college hoops parlay. 

The Bet: Fordham (moneyline) and Butler (moneyline) (+275 odds via FanDuel) Bet $100 to win $275

In the news ...

Atlanta Hawks fire Nate McMillan — The Atlanta Hawks fired head coach Nate McMillan on Tuesday after a 29-30 start to the first half of the season. McMillan was 99-80 as the team's head coach and guided the Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021. Assistant coach Joe Prunty was named Atlanta's interim head coach and makes his Hawks head coaching debut on Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Hawks are currently 65/1 to win the Eastern Conference and 130/1 to win the NBA Finals.

Police say Alabama's Brandon Miller provided gun in shooting — Alabama freshman phenom Brandon Miller gave a former teammate a handgun that was used to kill a woman last month, according to the police in Tuscaloosa. Miller has not been charged with a crime and neither the basketball program nor the University has taken disciplinary action against Miller, who is currently a projected top-10 pick in this year's NBA Draft. Alabama, currently the No. 2 team in the country, is currently 8/1 to win the NCAA tournament. 

Reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge could see time in left field — New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone said on Tuesday that he's considering playing reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge in left field for the first time in his career this season. Judge, who broke Roger Maris' AL single-season record of 61 home runs last year, has played center field and right field but never left field. Judge is currently the consensus favorite (+600) to repeat as baseball's home run leader in 2023 and +650 to repeat as AL MVP, trailing only Los Angeles Angels' Shohei Ohtani (+200). 

Today's Bark Bets is written by Jared Shlensky