Special College Basketball Bracket News
East
Heavy-favorites No.1 UNC headlines a busy bracket in the East. With a 32-2 SU record and an Atlantic Championship in their back pocket, there’s no doubt in many betting minds that the baby-blue will be in the national championship game.
With the second best offense in the league (88.7 points per game) and the best rebounding unit in the country, there’s little reason to believe that UNC won’t put themselves in a position to come out as champs once the madness is over. Of course, getting their all-pro point guard back to full health, and keeping him there, is a major concern for those lumping big dollars in to our NCAA Basketball futures, as has team defense. They give up 72.7 points per game, and have shown the ability to shut down opponents…
West
Let’s get started by looking at the No. 1 seed in the West, the UCLA Bruins, (31-3 SU, 19-12-2 ATS, 17-16 O/U). Looking at the West bracket, half of the tournament’s selection committee members must be UCLA alumni after placing them in almost perfect position to advance to the final group of games by making the West Region the easiest of all four regions this year.
UCLA will easily dispatch their first round opponents, Mississippi Valley State (17-15 SU, 1-3 ATS, 1-3 O/U) before moving on to later rounds.
Before the second round can kick off however, eighth-seeded BYU, (27-7 SU, 16-11-3 ATS, 12-18 O/U), plays No. 9 Texas A&M (24-10 SU, 15-13 ATS, 10-18 O/U) in a contest that should be the best of the region’s first round…
Midwest
No. 1 seed Kansas Jayhawks (31-3 SU, 18-14, ATS, 17-15 O/U) will face a very respectable No. 16 seed in a Portland State (23-9 SU, 16-12-1 ATS, 18-10 O/U) team that posted solid wagering statistics across the board this season but won’t be able to hang with KU come the second half of this contest.
Next up, No. 8 UNLV (26-7 SU, 17-11-2 ATS) takes on No. 9 Kent State (28-6 SU, 17-12 ATS, 13-14-2 O/U) in a matchup of two teams that averaged an identical 69.2 points per game in the regular season, though Kent State shot the ball better from the field than the Rebs (46.7 percent to 42.0 percent, respectively). Forget the seeding each team has been given here and expect a down to the wire finish in this contest, though I say UNLV walks away with it.
Fifth-seeded Clemson (24-9 SU, 19-11 ATS, 15-13-1 O/U) takes on No. 12 seed Villanova (20-12 SU, 12-17 ATS, 10-19 O/U) in a contest between one team that overachieved…
South
Okay, so just by looking at the South Bracket it appears that Memphis, the number one seed, should cakewalk their way to the last four, right? Not so fast! There are quite a few teams in the South Bracket who could cause them serious fits, and even make them look, dare I say “ordinary”.
Luckily for Memphis, most of these teams will have to beat up on each other before facing Calipari’s boys. That means that Memphis should have an easy time of it in the first round when they get to squash Texas-Arlington. After that, things could change quickly.
There are a few teams that qualify as “dark horses” in the South Bracket. The first is No. 11 Kentucky. Sure, Kentucky had a down year, but those guys are extremely athletic. They also play with a lot of heart and their coach, Billie Gillispie, is used to the pressure. I believe that Kentucky has a shot to upset the apple-cart this year. I also like Temple although their first-round game versus Michigan State is going to be tough…
LIVE In-Game Betting This Week
Pro Basketball:
Boston at Dallas
TNT - Thursday, March 20 8pm ET
Los Angeles (L) at Utah
TNT - Thursday, March 20 10:30pm ET
San Antonio at Dallas
ABC - Sunday, March 23 1:00pm ET
Detroit at Washington
ESPN - Sunday, March 23 8:00pm ET
College Basketball:
BetUS is pleased to present LIVE In-Game betting on all CBS nationally televised games during the First Round of the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament! Check the sportsbook for details!
