The mini-Madness is over, as Championship week delivered up tons of drama and entertainment for sports bettors…and now the bracket has been set and we march on to the full-meal deal…let the real Madness begin! In this article a March Madness bookie will give you the lowdown on the biggest weekend in sports betting.
What to make of North Carolina?
No. 1 has been a tenuous position atop the polls all year and the Tar Heels demonstrated this again last week, when they were dumped by Florida State in the ACC semi-finals…they were beat 73-70, failing to cover as 8.5-point favorites.
Bettors actually made out okay in this tilt, as the No. 1 team in the nation was only getting 54% of the betting action at online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.COM by tip-off. It appears many had this one handicapped right, feeling that was too many points to lay.
8.5-point underdog Ohio State defeated Michigan State by a final of 82-70 in the Big Ten semifinal but they couldn't withstand Purdue in the title game losing 65-61.
However, both were given invites to the Big Dance with OSU going to Indy to play Siena in Midwest region action and FSU headed to Boston to play Wisconsin in the East.
Ohio State is listed at +1500 to advance from the Midwest to the Final Four while Florida State is listed at +1200 to do the same from the East.
With 64 spots in the tournament, there is still one spot up for grabs. The Alabama State Hornets and Morehead State Eagles will vie for the last berth on St. Patrick's Day. The winner goes dancing the loser goes…well who cares.
The winner of this "play-in" game will then have a two-day respite before getting steamrolled in their first tournament game on Friday against Louisville.
But Thursday is the big day, when everything gets rolling.
Sure, the Tar Heels were dumped by the FSU in the Championship tourney, but North Carolina are still the odds-on to make it to the Final Four from the South Region at -150 and also to win the Championship, with odds at +300.
SPORTSBETTING.COM reported steady early action flowing in on NC to win the South Region, but bettors have been less enthusiastic so far on the Tar Heels to win it all. Perhaps the visions of them dropping that game to the Seminoles is still fresh.
They are still the favorites to cut the nets down on April 6th in Detroit, but the wagering action at the top has been evenly split between them, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Connecticut.
Just a heads up, while the Tar Heels were hot down the stretch going 16-4 straight up in their last 20 games, they were far from profitable for their backers, as they limped to a 7-13 mark against the spread.
North Carolina was the only ACC team to be seeded No. 1, in fact, the Big East was representing as Pitt, UConn and Louisville were the other top-seeds.
Strap yourselves in as March Madness is finally here.
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