Nobody may be enjoying UMBC's historic upset victory over Virginia more than 42-year-old alum Eric Barger and his friends.
Barger and seven of his friends were in Las Vegas for the first weekend of March Madness — as they go every year — and they pooled together $800, contributing $100 each, at The Venetian to bet on the moneyline for his 16-seeded Retrievers to defeat No. 1 overall seed Virginia.
"Me and my buddy Dan went to UMBC, so we spent all day talking up how much we were going to bet," Barger told ESPN. "We, of course, thought we were throwing our money down the drain."
Instead, UMBC shocked the world with a 74-54 victory and Barger and his friends cashed in for $16,800 in winnings — a $16,000 profit.
"We expected to be down pretty quickly, but we hung in there, and they won by 20," he said. "It was surreal."
But Barger's story does not end there.
UMBC's historic upset over Virginia led to a healthy payday for Eric Barger and his friends.
(Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)With luck on their side, the eight friends took $200 of their winnings each and put it down on a game of roulette. They won number, of course, cashing in another $1,900, which was divided evenly amongst them.
The group of friends went to play golf on Saturday, where Barger shot a 37 on the back nine.
"I'm not even that good," he said.
Barger hopes to keep his incredible hot streak rolling on Sunday when UMBC faces No. 9 Kansas State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
"With odds at about 5-to-1 we'll have at least a couple hundred on the game," he said. "How could we not?"