Let the Madness begin! The term was created in reference to what happens on the hardwood, but it very easily could describe the office pools or any viewing party with a group of people gathering to watch their favorite, or least favorite, team. Either way, it hits mark. The wackiest three weeks in sports gets going with a 16-game slate of first-round NCAA Tournament games on Thursday.
And don’t forget about the madness at the betting window and offshore sportsbooks, because it’s just as real. The diehard fans think they know which teams are going to advance, but not many had UMBC upsetting Virginia in a seismic first round upset in last year’s Tournament. Will another No. 11 seed upset the bracket on its way to the Final Four like Loyola-Chicago did last season? One thing we can likely count on is that a team seeded worse than No. 8 won’t win the title since that has never happened. But we also didn’t expect a 16-seed to beat a No. 1 in the first round. There are no sure things, but there are some best bets, and we’ll take a look at a few of them.
BookMaker.eu will have college basketball odds and live betting options for every game on the Thursday schedule.
NCAA Tournament Betting at Bookmaker.eu
College Basketball Schedule for Thursday, March 21, 2019
No. 10 Minnesota vs. No. 7 Louisville, 12:15 p.m. ET (CBS)
No. 14 Yale vs. No. 3 LSU, 12:40 p.m. ET (truTV)
No. 12 New Mexico State vs. No. 5 Auburn, 1:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
No. 13 Vermont vs. No. 4 Florida State, 2 p.m. ET (TBS)
No. 15 Bradley vs. No. 2 Michigan State, 2:45 p.m. ET (CBS)
No. 11 Belmont vs. No. 6 Maryland, 3:10 p.m. ET (truTV)
No. 13 Northeastern vs. No. 4 Kansas, 4 p.m. ET (TNT)
No. 12 Murray State vs. No. 5 Marquette, 4:30 p.m. ET (TBS)
No. 10 Florida vs. No. 7 Nevada, 6:50 p.m. ET (TNT)
No. 15 Abilene Christian vs. No. 2 Kentucky, 7:10 p.m. ET (CBS)
No. 11 Saint Mary's vs. No. 6 Villanova, 7:20 p.m. ET (TBS)
No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson vs. No. 1 Gonzaga, 7:27 p.m. ET (truTV)
No. 15 Montana vs. No. 2 Michigan, 9:20 p.m. ET (TNT)
No. 10 Seton Hall vs. No. 7 Wofford, 9:40 p.m. ET (CBS)
No. 14 Old Dominion vs. No. 3 Purdue, 9:50 p.m. ET (TBS)
No. 9 Baylor vs. No. 8 Syracuse, 9:57 p.m. ET (truTV)
March Madness Bracket Challenge
Thursday Best Bets
No. 11 Belmont vs. No. 6 Maryland ( -3, 147 ), 3:10 p.m. ET (truTV)
The Bruins did everything they had to do to get into the Dance except get the OVC’s automatic bid. That left the team a little restless ahead of the selections. The committee gave the 27-win Bruins an at-large bid, something that rarely happens for a mid-major when there are 17-win power teams hanging around. Belmont validated it’s selection with a First Four win over Temple and didn’t get the best effort from leading scorer Dylan Windler, who scored just five points. Yet they still put up 81 and won the game by 11.
Having played in the Tournament atmosphere already and getting the program’s first Tournament victory, Belmont is playing with house money. And they catch a Maryland team that skidded into the Dance with three losses in its last four games that included setbacks to Penn State and Nebraska in the first round of the Big Ten tournament. Only Gonzaga scores more points per game than Belmont and you can expect Windler to have a say in the Bruins upset of the Terps.
No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson vs. No. 1 Gonzaga ( -27, 152.5 ), 7:27 p.m. ET (truTV)
And speaking of the Zags, they will play their first game since having a long winning streak stopped by Saint Mary’s in the West Coast Conference final. It’s never fun to lose, but that may have been the best thing to happen to the Bulldogs, since they hadn’t been tested since December. The loss didn’t do much to their seeding as the Zags got a No. 1 and they opened as a 27-point favorite over FDU.
Even good teams have an off night, and that was it for the Bulldogs. This team is too deep and talented to have two in a row and you know they are eager to get back on the floor. It’s been over a week since the Zags hit the floor and they might be slow out of the chute, but they should have no problem hitting their top scoring average of 88.8 in a cover win over the Knights, who squeaked by Prairie View A&M in the First Four.
No. 9 Baylor vs. No. 8 Syracuse ( -2, 129.5 ), 9:57 p.m. ET (truTV)
In a matchup of teams seeded closest to each other, the slightest change could make all the difference. Well, the Orange had a whopper when it was announced senior guard Frank Howard will not play. That’s the bad news. The good news is that leading scorer Tyus Battle, who missed the ACC tournament, is expected to return. Howard averages 8.9 points, 2.9 assists and 1.5 steals and scored 46 points in two conference tourney games while filling in for Battle.
The absence of Howard will hurt Syracuse’s depth, which there isn’t much of anyway. And it will force them to lock down even more on the defensive end. And you just can’t count the Orange out after they’ve made so many Tournament runs while entering on a bad note. Baylor wasn’t even supposed to be here overcoming obstacles along the way. Two tough defensive clubs won’t yield a lot of points and Cuse has a way of coming through when nobody expects them to.
NCAA Basketball Predictions
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