Illinois State Redbirds finished the season with a record of 17-13 straight up, which included a Missouri Valley Conference record of 8-10 to give the Redbirds a sixth place finish.
Illinois State kept pace on the board with their on court record as they finished 16-12 against the spread but faded badly down the stretch with just two payoffs in their final eight games.
Nice Start
Illinois State opened the 2005-06 season with an unlined 54-50 home win over the Indianapolis Greyhounds. That was followed by their first lined game of the season, a 59-76 loss at Cincinnati as 18.5-point dogs.
Illinois State then got their second straight payoff with a 64-47 home win over Western Michigan as 3-point dogs. That was followed by an unlined 62-50 home win over Grambling State. After a 59-51 home win/push over Wisconsin-Green Bay as 8-point chalks, the Redbirds got a 65-36 blowout home win over IUPU-Ft. Wayne that was off the board to complete a nice start of 5-1 straight up and 2-1-1 against the spread.
Down and then up Illinois State Redbirds
Illinois State next scored a 61-64 home loss to Georgia Southern as 6-point chalks. That was followed by a 69-73 loss/push as 4-point dogs at Northridge and then a 59-69 loss at Indiana State in overtime as 7.5-point dogs.
Illinois State stopped the bleeding with a 53-50 home win over Creighton as 6-point dogs and followed that up with a 47-60 loss at Northern Iowa as 13.5-point dogs as they were down and then up.
Free fall
Illinois State could not maintain momentum against the board, however, starting with an ugly 52-71 blowout revenge loss at Creighton as 12.5-point dogs. That was followed by a 47-56 home loss to Wichita State as 3-point dogs. The free fall went into full speed with a 54-70 debacle at Missouri State as 14.5-point dogs.
Illinois State’s problems continued with a 52-67 home loss to Northern Iowa as 6-point dogs followed by a 65-57 home win over Evansville as 9-point chalks for a fifth consecutive loss ATS.
Illinois State enjoyed a brief break from their misery on the college basketball betting boards with a 44-56 loss/cover at Southern Illinois as 12.5-point dogs. That was then followed by a 75-48 blowout win over Indiana State as 7-point chalks.
But the Redbirds were so bad that they couldn’t sustain momentum, even as they appeared to be bargain values. Illinois State first lost at home to Southern Illinois 52-65 as 4.5-point dogs. That was followed by a 44-73 blowout loss at Bradley as 12-point dogs. Illinois State couldn’t even hang in their against fellow “Valley” bottom feeders as evidenced by their 47-54 loss at Evansville as 1.5-point dogs for a third consecutive loss against the board and eighth failure in their last ten games.
Bargain values Illinois State Redbirds
As so often happens with struggling mid-major programs, just when they are at their most unappealing part of the season, when nothing at all seems to be going their way, they are at their most valuable state against the college basketball betting boards.
Illinois State stopped the bleeding with a 41-45 loss/cover at Drake as 7.5-point dogs. That was then followed by a 59-71 home loss to Bradley as 4.5-point dogs.
The Redbirds then got back on track with a 58-56 overtime win over Drake as 1.5-point home chalks. That was followed by a 49-51 win at Miami-Ohio as 10-point dogs. Illinois State next lost at home to Missouri State 61-72 as 7-point dogs and followed that up with a 57-64 loss at Wichita State as 13.5-point dogs to finish as bargain values that went 4-2 ATS. The Redbirds lost SU&ATS to Evansville in the MVC tourney.