The First Four is over and four bubble teams have successfully negotiated their way into what is now called the second round. Tennessee overcame a huge deficit early to surpass a slumping Iowa in OT 78-65 – proving that the odds makers were right to have the game a virtual coin flip. Cal Poly fared significantly better against Texas Southern, winning 81-69 – becoming the first 19 loss team to advance this far into the tournament. They were the favorite to win at -150, but their reward is facing first seed Wichita State. Ouch. In our other first round action, North Carolina State handled Xavier well for a 74-59 win, and Albany expanded on a slim first half lead to beat Mount St. Mary’s 71-64. Albany was the favorite, NC State was not, but as stated all of these games were toss-ups by the book even if some ended in a more lopsided fashion. For those not interested in the expanded fields, your wait is now over, as games tip off as early as 12:15 PM ET and run virtually all day long. Some of you probably called in sick to work – don’t worry, I won’t tell. We kick things off with 6 seed Ohio State vs. 11 seed Dayton in the South region. Ohio State is the favorite on the money line, -260 to +220, but when you’re picking upsets in your brackets it’s rarely (as in ALMOST NEVER) that 1 seeds go down. As such I’d call this a game to watch if you’re betting dogs. I also like 5 seed Cincinnati against 12 seed Harvard in the East, although at -158 to +138 the payout’s not high on the upset. Harvard only has 1 loss in conference play and 4 all year long, so this Ivy League team could be a big bracket buster. Oregon and BYU smells like an upset to me too. The 7 seed Oregon has nine losses and 10 seed BYU has two more – but they also played two more games. At -220 to +180, that dog’s going to hunt. If it’s easy money you want and not underdog risks, there are some huge favorites on Thursday – which always presents the temptation to play that million to one upset. No 1 seed has ever been beaten by a 16 seed though, and I can’t in good conscience tell you to pick Albany over Florida – the favorite at a whopping -8500 makes much more sense than the LITERAL dog known as the Great Danes. +3500? If it happens I’ll take the egg on my face, but I won’t take that bet. Once in a blue moon a 2 seed beats a 15, and we saw it last year when the virtually unknown Florida Gulf Coast Eagles beat the Georgetown Hoyas. Can Milwaukee do the same to Villanova? NYET COMRADE. -3500 to +1750 tells me it’s a risky proposition. If you want to play a 2 seed wait until Friday – right now Eastern Kentucky is +925 against Kansas at -1400. The Jayhawks will probably bounce back strong after losing to Iowa State in the Big 12 tournament, but the Colonels are on a 7 game winning streak and beat #1 seed Belmont in the Ohio Valley Conference. If Kansas comes out flat Eastern Kentucky may streak right past them. I’ll be back late Thursday with a closer look at the action going into Friday’s second round play. Please remember these previews are for entertainment purposes only and to wager responsibly.
