Happy MDW, fam! Growing up in Jersey, Memorial Day Weekend was always the unofficial start of summer. It also signified everybody racing to go down the shore (IFKYK). As I've gotten older, obviously it means more from a remembrance standpoint. Instead of hitting the beach though, the time of year now signifies the start of the best postseason in sports in the NCAA Tournament.
We took the L on West Virginia on Saturday for the +320 pre-conference ticket, but if you hedged on Kansas at plus-money, you came away with something. This is Championship Sunday, and the last day before the regionals start next week, so let's go out with a winner.
Arkansas Razorbacks (+140) vs. Georgia Bulldogs (-180) | Total: 12.5 (at DraftKings)
There's not a lot of options Sunday, especially because I need to give out games that have a late enough start time for enough people to see them. I got a late start on the day, so I wouldn't be able to get out the Georgia Tech/North Carolina game on-time.
Two of the best teams in Georgia and UCLA go for their chance to etch their name in their respective conference's history. Now, I placed a 17:1 Arkansas ticket for them to win the SEC Tournament early in the week, but I also placed a sizeable hedge on Georgia since they have a big advantage in this one at -180.
It's unclear who is pitching for either team, but Georgia could elect to go with Matt Scott in some capacity since he only threw 39 pitches on Thursday against Mississippi State. Joey Volchko and Dylan Vigue already threw, as well as Caden Aoki. Chances are it will be a good mix of a few different arms.
The truth is I'm going with UGA because of how insanely great their offense is in 2026. It has hit the most taters in the nation (148), while hitting .325 as a unit. UGA likely has the Golden Spikes winner in catcher, Daniel Jackson (27 HR, 25 SB, .392 avg). The Dawgs have six players in double figures for homers with nearly their entire starting lineup batting over .300. It's a relentless juggernaut that much to my chagrin erased a 6-0 lead against Florida on Saturday.
The Razorbacks also may not go all out to win this one since they probably locked up a hosting seed for next week. They will still probably be able to put out some good arms on the mound, but if UGA scores less than six runs, I'd be surprised.
Arkansas' offense has some hitters of its own like Cam Kozeal (20 HR, .322 avg) and Ryder Helfrick (16 HR, .281 avg) etc. And, while they could win this one, the Razorbacks are also at a disadvantage having played one more game this week than UGA. Georgia is in much better shape to get it done in this one.
Oregon Ducks (+180) vs. UCLA Bruins (-238) | Total: 11 (at DraftKings)
For UCLA, it wants to add Big 10 Championship to its resume on an already historical season. Oregon is the only team that's blemished the otherwise perfect Big 10 season of the Bruins, providing them with that one loss. Context clues would say the Ducks go with Colin Clarke (4.48 ERA, 74 K: 18 BB ratio in 74.1 IP) since he hasn't thrown this week.
The constant challenge remains dealing with a relentless UCLA lineup led by probable 1.1 pick this summer, Roch Cholowsky (.321 avg, 21 HR). It's more than just him, though. Mulivai Levu is on a breakout season (.350 avg, 17 HR), as well as Will Gasparino (.313 avg, 19 HR).
The Ducks offense hits for power (100 HR) with five players in double figures. Guys like Angel Laya (14 HR, .303 avg), Drew Smith (15 HR, .327 avg), and Ryan Cooney (.338 avg, 8 HR) have done a lot of damage for this crew all year. It's unclear who UCLA will be throwing here, but there's a handful of guys who didn't rack up a big pitch count in relief this weekend that are options.
Both UCLA and UGA are likely to be top three seeds when selections are announced Monday, and both want to add conference champ winners to the resume. It's fair to say each of them have solid advantages on Sunday, making a plus-money parlay a strong play.
