Norfolk State Spartans head coach Robert Jones is fuming over the nearly 30-point spread favoring No. 1 seed Florida in their March Madness showdown later today.
The current spread has the MEAC champs +28.5.
Even with his Spartans coming in as a 16-seed, a slot reserved for the biggest underdogs in the tournament, Jones thinks that kind of line out of Vegas is disrespectful.
“I know Florida’s really, really good, and they run a great program, got great players. But are we that bad that the point spread is like that?” Jones asked in an interview with Fox News.
The Norfolk State coach went on to say that getting on his bad side motivates him.
“I’m a little angry, and, like I said, I’m a little bit more focused and play better when I’m angry,” Jones admitted. “I think the players play better when they’re angry.”
Norfolk State Set For The Biggest Upset In Tournament History?
We asked Grok AI to run a simulation between Florida and Coach Jones’ team 100 times and give us the results. They weren’t pretty.
According to Grok, Florida won 98 out of the 100 simulations, with an average likely score of 90-62. You might notice, though, that this means that Norfolk State would cover the spread by 0.5 points
If the Spartans somehow pulled off the miracle, it would instantly become the biggest upset in NCAA tournament history. Only two 16-seeds in the tournament’s history have beaten a 1-seed: UMBC was the first to stun Virginia in 2018, while Fairleigh Dickinson topped Purdue in 2023.
FDU has the claim to biggest upset overall, having been a 23.5-point underdog for their game.
Can They Get Angry Enough?
It’s going to take a lot more than anger to propel Norfolk State past Florida this afternoon. Under Jones, the Spartans have entered the tournament two times, each time as the 16-seed.
They lost to Gonzaga in 2021 by a score of 98-55. They were 33-point underdogs that year.
As angry as they might have been about that, Norfolk State returned the following year and lost to Baylor, 85-49. The line that year was Baylor -20.5.
Neither time, despite probably feeling slighted by the massive point spreads, did Jones and Norfolk State come close to pulling off the upset. They didn’t even come close to covering.
Who knows, maybe this year will be different. This is, after all, why they call it March Madness.
More about:College Basketball News