Imagine this scenario. You bet on Virginia’s basketball team to not only beat Clemson on Tuesday but to cover the 6.5-point spread. With Virginia holding a seven-point lead and only seconds remaining, Clemson’s Chase Hunter. You held your breath but quickly exhaled, realizing that Hunter’s shot was well of the mark. Still, you lost your bet.
That scenario is plausible, thanks to one of the strangest player props imaginable.
Because while Hunter’s shot effectively came as time expired, it wasn’t true from a literal sense. The final buzzer sounded after Virginia’s Ben Vander Plas caught Hunter’s wayward shot attempt.
As fate would have it, Vander Plas over/under rebounds for the night was — like the point spread — 6.5. When Vander Plas caught Hunter’s errant shot with 0.1 seconds remaining, he secured his seventh rebound for the game.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sean Koerner of The Action Network cited Vander Plas’ under 6.5 at -135 as one of the better player props of the day, noting that Vander Plas had only grabbed seven or more once over the previous seven games.
After Vander Plas’ grabbed his seventh rebound, Koerner shared that it “Had to be one of my worst beat of all time.” Though, judging by his emoji choice, he seemed to keep a sense of humor about it.
He was not alone.
[The Action Network, YouTube. The Action Network, Twitter]