North Carolina point guard Ty Lawson wasted little time after his team arrived Wednesday in Detroit, heading out to a local casino to play craps.
"I went over to Greektown and won about $250," he said. "So I already had my time there. It's probably the last time I go there before the games start."
Lawson rambled on and it became clear that he is no stranger to felt tables.
"The only time I lost was in Reno; that's when everybody on the team lost," he said. "It's the only place I lost. The other five or six times I did gamble, I won at least $500."
Yes, that's how it always starts. A bartender in Las Vegas once told me that the worst thing that ever happened to him was winning $200 the first time he played blackjack.
"That was $40,000 ago," he said.
So Lawson has the gambling itch. The news did not go over well with NCAA president Myles Brand, who was asked about the governing body's stance on such activities.
"Well, I warn against that slippery slope. It's a fair question," said Brand, who was not asked specifically about Lawson. "What a student does, play bingo in his church for example, while we discourage that, we prefer not to try and regulate that particular kind of activity. But it's highly discouraged."
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