Tag: UCLA

March Madness Sweet 16: Outright and ATS Picks and Predictions

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

There are four highly anticipated Sweet 16 games taking place on Friday as March Madness rages on, and there looks to be plenty of value on offer. Here we run through the four games and offer predictions on each.

Butler v North Carolina

Chris Holtmann taking Butler to the Sweet 16 is a tremendous achievement. He has fostered a versatile and balanced team, and they will not be intimidated by the Tar Heels here. They can slow the pace down and make life very difficult for them. North Carolina can win it, but it will be a tall order to cover the 7.5-point spread set by Vegas. UNC failed to cover an 11.5-point spread against Arkansas in its last game and was really pushed to the brink. The Bulldogs could well do the same here, as they are savvy and disciplined. North Carolina is joint-favourite for the tournament and should win this against a Butler team punching above its weight, but the best prices – 5/17 at Bet365, 2/7 at SkyBet – are not particularly appealing. You could see North Carolina win by four or five points, so Butler against the spread looks interesting at 19/20 with Coral.

South Carolina v Baylor

The east is a mess and Baylor will fancy its chances of progressing to the final four now. Seventh seed South Carolina pulled off one of the biggest shocks of the tournament in the last round by beating second-seeded Duke, pre-season favourite and many experts’ pick to win the tournament, thanks to a strong defence and a great performance from Sindarius Thornwell. But this could be a step too far. Baylor is now the highest remaining seed in the east after Villanova also crashed out, and has a clear route to the Final Four. All it has to do is beat a team that was 2-5 in its seven games before the tournament. Baylor has won its last three games against South Carolina, a team that is 3-7 against the spread versus winning teams. Baylor -3.5 at 10/11 with Bet365, William Hill and Ladbrokes looks good.

UCLA v Kentucky

The third and second seeds in the south face each other in what should be a fantastic game. It is the closest in the betting – Kentucky is 10/11 at William Hill and UCLA is 20/21 at Ladbrokes – and the spread is just -1 for Kentucky. It should be very close, but UCLA is such an exciting team at present and the slight underdogs can pull off a victory thanks to the superb form of Lonzo Ball, who is surely the best player in the tournament. Back him to lead UCLA to the next round.

Florida v Wisconsin

Fourth seed Florida plays eighth seed Wisconsin, giant killers of Villanova, in the final game. Wisconsin has gone this far thanks to its strong defence and will have momentum after toppling Nova, while Florida’s leading scorer KeVaughn Allen is struggling, so Wisconsin +2 with William Hill and Ladbrokes looks a good bet.

March Madness Betting Begins: First Round Picks and Futures Predictions

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

The most frenzied betting period in the US sporting calendar begins this week and there are several intriguing clashes to look forward to as college basketball’s finest teams go all out to win the NCAA Championship. March Madness begins with the First Four, a series of four games that whittles the pool down from 68 teams to 64. Then a round robin style tournament starts, with 64 becoming 32, then 16 and so on until the best two teams compete in the final.

First Four

This is similar to the wildcard round in the NFL playoffs and features the four lowest ranked at-large teams and the lowest automatic bid teams. There are four games and the winners progress to the First Round, while the losers go home. This year the fixtures are New Orleans v Mt St Mary’s; Wake Forest v Kansas State; NC Central v UC Davis; and Providence v USC. These games are hard to call, but New Orleans should beat Mt St Mary’s and the 5/6 on offer at Ladbrokes looks good. NC Central was superb in winning its three games by an average of 23.7 points in the MEAC Tournament and they can be confident of beating UC Davis. You can get 5/9 with Bet365, but for more value go NC Central -4 at 10/11 with Bet365. Providence v USC looks close but USC should shade it (4/6 with Bet365), while the 10/11 Coral has on Wake Forest beating Kansas State looks risky but interesting.

First Round

The First Round starts on Thursday and this is where the real excitement begins. With the First Four out of the way, all the remaining teams in March Madness go into a knockout tournament, and by the end of this round, only 32 will be left standing. You can expect Villanova, Kansas, SMU and UCLA to instantly knock out the teams that progress from the First Four. Highly rated teams Gonzaga, Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky and Arizona should also win their games pretty comfortably. That sounds like an interesting 10-team accumulator right there.

Elsewhere the 10th seeded Wichita State Shockers play the 7th seeded Dayton Flyers and should win that one at 4/11 with Bet365 as the Shockers have looked very dominant in recent weeks. The Wisconsin Badgers are 4/9 with Bet Victor to beat Virginia Tech and should pull it off as you would expect seniors Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig to prove too strong for the inexperienced Virginia Tech. A tight looking game sees Vanderbilt face Northwestern, and the 10/11 on Northwestern +1 at Bet365 looks good. Another trendy upset pick is Rhode Island to beat Creighton. Rhode Island won the A-10 Championship with a 70-63 victory over the VCU and has a strong defensive record along with excellent three-pointer stats. Creighton lost four of their last six games and struggled offensively, so Rhode Island could shut them out for large periods, and Rhode Island +1 looks interesting at 20/21 with Ladbrokes.

Futures

Select committee chairman Mark Hollis has declared that this year’s March Madness bracket is the most competitive he has ever seen, and experts are divided over who will seize the crown. The NC Tar Heels have been made 15/2 favourite with Betway, followed by Kansas (17/2 with Bet365), Gonzaga (9/1 with William Hill), Villanova (9/1 with Betway), Duke (10/1 with Bet Victor), Kentucky (11/1 with Bet365) and Arizona (14/1 with William Hill). It is very close and congested, emphasising Hollis’ point. Villanova has been made the overall top seed and the defending champion looks a good bet at 9/1. But the team with real momentum is Kansas and they look a great option at 17/2. Pre-season favourite Duke has secured a comfortable draw and can go far, while Arizona is a great longer shot at 14/1. To make things really interesting, you could back Kansas, Villanova, Duke and Arizona and if any come in you would still be well in profit. If you had to go for just one, Kansas is the team to beat.