24 hours of basketball

Diane,
Today was the official kickoff to the NCAA basketball season. It began last night at midnight and had continuous games across the country televised nationally on ESPN for the full 24 hours. The University of Tulsa was a part of it and we had a game against the University of Arkansas-Little Rock. The Golden Hurricane is expected to win Conference USA and make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a few years. Needless to say, this was a mis-match.
The interesting part was how the game played out. I convinced a friend to come with me, but only after he put $50 on Tulsa against the spread...which was 16 points. As the game neared the end, Tulsa was flirting with that number, leading by between 14 and 19 points in the final 3 minutes. But even though the game was out of reach, the final minutes played out like it was a 3 point game. The UALR Trojans were playing a full court press the whole time, even though there was no way they could win. In the end the Trojans ended on a 5-0 run and lost the game by 14, but won against the Las Vegas spread, costing my friend his $50 bet.
It really got me wondering; Why was the team playing so hard? I know there's pride on the line, but have we really reached the point in college sports where teams know the spread and play to beat Vegas expectations, but not necessarily the team they're facing? The Trojans played flat most of the game and only came to life in the final seconds to just cover the spread. Had they played that frantic, up tempo-style all game long, they probably could have won. I guess it's more important to set the bar low and just get over it.
So to the University of Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans...Congratulations! You made a few more people losers with you today.