Online betting giant Sportsbook.com released the NCAA betting lines last Sunday night and now that the odds have settled, let’s try and see if we can pick some winners.
Old Dominion-Butler preview and pick
ODU might be the lower seed (9), but they are the better team; evidenced by their being two-point favorites. Despite playing in the Colonial Conference, ODU played plenty of tournament teams this season; tallying a 6-4 record.
Butler, on the other hand, was just 1-3 versus teams that are dancing this season and haven’t played a tourney team since December 23rd.
ODU has been on an absolute tear down the home stretch, winning their last nine games in a row and 13 out of their last 14. They’ve also been very kind to the college basketball betting crowd, going 7-1-1 against the spread over their last nine games.
Don’t expect another Cinderella run from Butler this year, as a matter of fact, don’t even select them to win a game in your March Madness bracket. Take Old Dominion minus two points.
Penn State-Temple preview and pick
In the battle of the Keystone State, a red-hot Penn State Nittany Lions squad takes on a very consistent Temple Owls unit.
PSU looked nothing like an NCAA Tournament team until February 13th when they started a 10 game string in which they went 7-3 straight-up and 8-2 against the spread. Even more impressive, they were underdogs in four out of those seven victories.
Temple coach Fran Dunphey is no stranger to the NCAA Tournament; the guy can coach. However, he is a stranger to winning once the dance rolls around. Heading into this year, Dunph has made the NCAA Tournament 12 times in his illustrious career; however, he made it out of the first round just once.
Take Penn State plus two and a half points.
George Mason-Villanova preview and pick
Talk about two teams heading in the opposite directions. Colonial Conference regular season champs George Mason are 16-1 over the last 17 games of the season. Nova, on the other hand, finished the season on a five game losing streak.
For those that like to bet on college basketball, these teams netted polar opposite results. George Mason has been a covering machine this season, covering the point spread in over 73 percent of their games.
Jay Wright’s Wildcats were absolutely brutal to their faithful bettors. In their last 13 games, they managed to cover the point spread one lonely time. For the season they covered the spread just 41.4 percent of the time. The game was as intense as playing some Pkv games.
George Mason opened as one-and-a-half-point favorites; however, Sportsbook.com currently has Nova as one point chalk. Partly due to 62 percent of the bettors backing the Big East representative and partly due to the rumors that a couple Mason players were banged up in practice.
Ride the hot hand and take George Mason and the points.
