The Madness has begun!
O.K., the Tuesday First Four games weren’t particularly mad. There were no upsets—both favorites, Indiana and Texas Southern, won and covered—and both games were decided by eight or more points.
The Round of 64 is closer to being rounded out now, though.
- No. 12 Indiana will play No. 5 St. Mary’s Thursday at 7:20 p.m. ET. The Gaels are 3-point favorites.
- No. 16 Texas Southern earned the right to play No. 1 Kansas Thursday at 9:57 p.m. The Jayhawks are 21.5-point favorites.
If you were fumbling through channels in search of truTV to watch the First Four games, Nick Selbe has a handy guide to help find the home of Impractical Jokers and, for your March Madness viewing purposes, eight first-round games.
“It's a March tradition unlike any other: finding truTV on your dial,” Selbe writes.
Now let’s go to the other March tradition—thinking you’re going to fill out the first-ever perfect bracket. I think I’ve got it down this year!
Sorting Through the Madness
There’s a lot of information to consume between Sunday night and Thursday morning in the pursuit of perfection, or at least winning your office bracket pool. Lucky for you, SI assembled a hub for all of the NCAA Tournament betting material you’ll need – as well as ones specifically dedicated to the men’s and women’s tournaments.
Darron Cummings/AP
Betting on tournament games against the spread and filling out your bracket are not exactly the same thing—it’s a lot easier to pencil in all of the No. 1 seeds to the second round than it is to assure yourself that No. 1 Baylor will defeat No. 16 Norfolk State by 21 points. But betting odds can help you fill out your bracket.
Jen Piacenti explained how to use futures odds to your advantage when filling in picks for each round.
And if you are betting the individual games, it’s important to know how the top teams with lopsided lines fare against the spread. I broke down how each of the 16 top four seeds has performed ATS this season. Here’s some of the highlights:
- No. 4 Arkansas is a 5-point favorite against No. 13 Vermont, a tight spread for a 4-13 game. But the Razorbacks have been one of the best top seeds ATS this season and have covered seven of their last 10 games.
- No. 3 Purdue is favored by 15 points against No. 14 Yale, but the Boilermakers haven’t covered the spread in over a month.
Pat Forde ranked the Field of 68—which has already been whittled down to 66—from No. 1 Gonzaga all the way down to No. 68 Texas A&M Corpus Christi, which is no longer in the dance. Consult his rankings as you work your way through the four regions all the way to New Orleans.
“The Sports Illustrated 1–68 rankings aren’t beholden to Quad This or Quad That, or to any other metrics,” Forde writes. “This is simply a ranking of the teams playing best when it matters most, which is right now.”
And what everyone wants—and needs to know—to have a successful bracket: Which sleepers should I advance? And which top seeds will bust?
Frankie Taddeo addressed the sleepers question (I’m also keen on No. 5 Iowa making a deep run) and Kevin Sweeney touched on the high seeds bound for early exits.
Bets for Your Bracket
It’s great to have a successful opening weekend, but as the tournament rages on, picking correct teams later on in the tournament counts for more and more points in most pools.
That’s why correctly picking the Final Four and champion is so important. The SI Betting and college hoops writers made their picks for the Final Four, national championship and eventual champion.
As you can see, lots of No. 1 seeds are being picked to come out of their region, except in the East, where No. 1 Baylor has a tough draw with No. 2 Kentucky to contend with, as well as No. 3 Purdue and No. 4 UCLA.
Taking a step back, Jeremy Woo has 10 first-round locks to make sure your bracket begins on the right foot—and they’re not all No. 1s vs. No. 16s. Woo picks 10 seeds 1-10 that he trusts to still be standing in the Round of 32, from No. 1 Gonzaga to No. 10 Loyola Chicago.
Aaron Doster/AP
And what’s a bracket without a few upsets? Taddeo makes his picks for which feisty No. 12 seeds have the potential to upset No. 5 seeds, a somewhat common occurrence, especially given the disparity in seeding.
That's all for today. Visit the SI Betting NCAA Tournament hub later today for tonight's First Four picks for No. 16 Bryant vs. No. 16 Wright State and No. 11 Notre Dame vs. No. 11 Rutgers. I'll be back in your inbox Friday morning ahead of Day 2 of the Round of 64.