First Round Best Bets, and Tournament Future Bets.

9 seed Creighton v. 8 seed Louisville: Thursday @ 12:15 PM EST

Both teams lost in their Conference championship games, Louisville losing to Duke in the ACC championship, and Creighton losing St.Johns in the Big East Championship. Going into selection Sunday Louisville was ranked by the AP the #10 team in the country, and I think they are severely undervalued as a 8 seed. Even though the ACC has been a very weak conference this year, which didn’t help their resume. But the number 10 team in the country should never be an 8 seed in the tourney. They are lead by two senior guards Chucky Hepburn and Terrence Edwards Jr. who have both been sensational this season, Chucky Hepburn winning the ACC deffensive player of the year. I expect the Senior leadership of these two senior guards to help Louisville make a deep run in the tournament.

Best Bet: Louisville -2.5 (-110) on FanDuel

12 seed McNeese v. 5 seed Clemson: Thursday @ 3:15 PM EST

McNeese has been one of the most popular upsets that I have seen since Selection Sunday. In the beginning of the season they played both Alabama and Mississippi State, and played both of those SEC teams very close, losing to Alabama by 8 points and only losing to Mississippi State by 3 points. But today, Wednesday March 18, it was reported that their Head Coach, Will Wade, will be leaving the program and becoming the Head Coach at North Carolina State. The timing of this announcement is definitely not ideal, and ruins any momentum that this McNeese team may have had coming into the tournament. On the Clemson side, they have had a very quality season to back up their run to the Elite 8 last season, finishing 19-3 in conference play, loosing to Louisville twice and Georgia Tech. This team is an experienced team as they brought back most of their players from their Tournament run last season, including leading scorer Chase Hunter who is averaging 16.4 points per game. I think Clemson will continue their tournament success from last season, and much like last year despite the pre-tournament noise for McNeese it will amount to nothing.

Best Bet: Clemson -7.5 (-110) on FanDuel

10 seed Arkansas v 7 seed Kansas: Thursday @ 7:15 PM EST

I think this game is one of the most interesting games of the first round, both teams have severely under performed this season, Kansas was the No.1 overall team in the country until the beginning of December, and once they picked up their first loss against Creighton it was all downhill from their. Meanwhile, pre-season their where plenty of people who where picking Arkansas to win the SEC, with new head coach John Calipari bringing in a plethora of talent through the portal, they started off SEC conference play 0-5. But the Razorbacks finished the season strong going 5-2 in their last 7 games, which lead to them being able to sneak into the tournament. On top of finishing the season on a roll the Razorbacks will get Star freshman guard, Boogie Fland, who was thought to have a season ending hand injury, but making the tournament made it possible for him to return. Before his injury Fland was averaging 15.1 points, 5.7 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game, and it will be interesting to see how much he will impact this game. The key matchup in this game, is gonna be in the paint between Zvonimir Ivisic and Hunter Dickinson, if Ivisic gives a big effort on the offensive and defensive glass for the Razorbacks, I believe Arkansas should dominate this game.

Best Bet: Arkansas +4.5 (-110), Arkansas ML (+164) on FanDuel

11 seed North Carolina v. 6 Ole Miss: Friday @ 4:05 PM EST

A lot of people including myself believed that the only reason North Carolina got in this tournament was because their Athletic Director being on the committee. But in North Carolina first game of the Tournament on Tuesday against San Diego State, they dominated on both sides of the ball, and put up 95 points on one of the best defensive teams in the country. North Carolina does not have a big man and rebounding on the defensive glass has been a problem for them all season long, and Ole Miss’s Junior Forward has shown time and time again that he can dominate the glass on both the offensive and defensive side of the glass. Including his monster 19 rebound performance against Alabama, which lead to them upsetting the Crimson Tide in Coleman Colosseum. If North Carolina is gonna win this game, they are must remain hot from the beyond the 3-point line, they shot 58.3% from beyond the arc against San Diego State. Including a monster performance from star graduate guard RJ Davis, who shot 6-6 from 3-point range. But Ole Miss has a shooter to Senior guard Sean Pedulla has been very good for the rebels this season, averaging 14.9 points per game, and shooting a stellar 38.8% from the beyond the arc this season. This game could really go either way but I believe North Carolina is coming into this game with a massive chip on their shoulder as well as a ton of confidence after dominating San Diego State on Tuesday.

Best Bet: North Carolina ML (-120), Over 155.5 (-110) on FanDuel

13 seed Akron v. 4 seed Arizona: Friday @ 7:35 PM EST

Arizona has been prone to get upset on the first weekend in a few of their last tournament appearances. This Wildcat team is lead by senior guard Caleb Love who is a very hot and cold shooter, especially from 3-point range, if he get’s hot the Wildcats are an extremely hard team stop. Arizona had a good Big 12 tournament losing to Houston in the Championship game, their run included beating two quality opponents in Kansas and Texas Tech. Akron is coming into this game on 7 game winning streak, which includes winning the MAC Championship in the final seconds against the University of Miami (Ohio). They have all confidence in the world coming into this game, and Zips are led by Junior guard Nate Johnson, who leads the team in scoring averaging 14 points per game. Johnson has been on fire in the zips last two games having 31 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds in the MAC semi-final game, and in the Championship game had 22 points, 5 assists and 2 rebounds. If the zips are gonna pull off the upset against this Arizona team, Nate Johnson is the key. In my bracket I have the zips going to the Sweet 16, so it’s obvious what the bet will be.

Best Bet: Akron +14.5 (-118), Akron ML (+740)

Future Bets – All odds from FanDuel

South Region Futures: 

Auburn to Reach the Sweet 16: NO (+320)

North Carolina to reach the Sweet 16: YES (+300)

South Region Winner: Michigan St (+500), Louisville (+2100)

West Region Futures: 

Arkansas to Reach the Sweet 16: YES (+720)

Texas Tech to Reach the Elite 8: YES (+180)

West Region Winner: Florida (-135), Maryland (+1000)

East Region Futures: 

Akron to Reach the Sweet 16: YES (+2300)

BYU to Reach the Sweet 16: YES  (+205)

Arizona to Reach the Sweet 16: NO (+158)

East Region Winner: Alabama (+410)

Midwest Region Futures: 

Gonzaga to Reach the Sweet 16: YES (+280)

Tennessee to Reach the Elite 8: YES (+112)

High Point to Reach the Sweet 16: YES (+1240)

Houston to Reach the Sweet 16: NO (+225)

Midwest Region Winner: Tennessee (+330), Gonzaga (+800)

 

National Champion: Florida (+340), Alabama (+1900)

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