With the first three rounds of the 2011 NCAA Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament in the books, the 'Big Dance' continues on the road to Houston with a stop at regional sites Mar. 24-27 for the 'Sweet 16' semifinals and regional finals. By Sunday night, the tournament will be down to its Final Four who advance on to championship rounds at Reliant Stadium April 4-7.
Only one No. 1-seed, the Pitt Panthers, lost in the first set of rounds falling victim to the Butler Bulldogs in the Southeast Regional. The other three number-one's and NCAA Basketball Odds favorites , Ohio State, Duke and Kansas, joined by Butler advance to regional sites at Newark, New Orleans, San Antonio and Anaheim.
Heading into the 'Sweet 16' of the 2011 Big Dance, oddsmakers list the remaining No. 1 seeds Ohio State, Duke and Kansas at equal +250 odds to win the tournament.
The first action on Thursday (Mar. 24) will in the West Regional when 3-seed Connecticut takes on No. 2 San Diego State in Anaheim, Calif., at 7:15 ET followed by top-seed Duke and 5-Arizona at 9:45 pm. Florida, the No. 2 in the Southeast will take on 3-seed BYU at 7:30 pm followed by 8 Butler and 4 Wisconsin at 10 PM.
Now that the tournament is down to the last 16 teams many betting fans will be revising their College Basketball Picks since tearing up their original brackets.
As of early Monday, oddsmakers like UConn by -1 vs. San Diego State and Duke by -9 over Arizona. Florida is a 2 1/2-chalk favorite over BYU and oddsmakers have Wisconsin lined 4-point favorites versus Wisconsin.
No. 11 Marquette gets Friday's action going in the East by taking on 2 North Carolina followed by overall No. 1 Ohio State playing 4 Kentucky at 9:45 PM. Also Friday No. 1 Kansas laces them up against 12 Richmond at 7:30 PM and 11 Virginia Commonwealth and 10 Florida State follow at 10 PM.
Oddsmakers have North Carolina listed as 5-chalk favorites versus Marquette and Ohio State favored over Kentucky by -5. Kansas is a double digit -10 1/2-chalk favorite versus Richmond and Florida State is giving -4 to VCU.
The Duke Blue Devils are among my NCAA Basketball Picks to make it to the Final Four. I can see Butler giving Wisconsin problems and Richmond getting edged by Kansas. Kentucky has great talent but do they have what it takes to get past the Buckeyes? And how about those upstart Virginia Commonwealth Rams. My Final Four predictions – East – Ohio State; West – Duke; Southeast – Florida; Southwest – Kansas.
