Top March Madness Betting Games for First Round

The NCAA Tournament has arrived. The big dance is here! There are 68 teams remaining, and we will see 67 games to name a champion. We have two games we want to discuss when it comes to a betting preview. These are both featuring top seeds in the tournament. The first game is the UConn Huskies against the Stetson Hatters, while the second is the Houston Cougars taking on the Longwood Lancers. Let’s see the March Madness Top Betting Games in the First Round:

2024 March Madness Top Betting Games Preview 1st Round: #1 Uconn vs #16 Stetson and #1 Houston vs #16 Longwood | College Basketball Betting Analysis for the NCAA Tournament

2024 March Madness | 85th edition of the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament
March Madness: Tuesday, March 19th – Monday, April 8th, 2024
First round: March 21-22 2024

UConn Huskies -26.5 vs. Stetson Hatters

First Round: Friday, March 22
2:45 pm, CBS

The Stetson Hatters, out of DeLand Florida are finally in the big dance. This Atlantic Sun team lost their regular season finale to North Florida. But, a win over Queens, Jacksonville and Austin Peay got them into the big dance. Stetson was really good on the offensive side in the tournament, as they scored 88 points per game. On the season, the Hatters are scoring 77.5 points per game. The man to look for is Jalen Blackmon. The 6’3 guard poured in 43 points in the win over Austin Peay. He has gone seven straight games scoring double digits per game. The Haters are also getting 13.8 per game from Stephan Swenson.

The defending national champions have won seven straight games. That was after a big time loss to Creighton. The Huskies are scoring 81.5 points per game, and making gnarly 50% of their shots on the season. The Huskies have a ton of offensive firepower. The top scorers for UConn include Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer. Those two are combining for nearly 30 points per game. The Huskies appear to be locked and loaded and ready to repeat.

The UConn Huskies are -26.5 in this game. The Huskies are the biggest favorite to win in round 1. The Huskies seem to be locked and loaded, and Coach Hurley is not going to let them have a let down. Their talent is strong. In the end though, the Hatters hit some shots and keep the high betting spread within reach. The Huskies win the game, and win it easily, but Stetson covers +26.5! UConn gets a chance to move to the sound round and take on the winner of Florida Atlantic or Northwestern.

NCAAB Lines: UConn -26.5 vs Stetson | Vegas College Basketball Odds MyBookie Basketball Lines

Houston Cougars -23.5 vs. Longwood Lancers

First Round: Friday, March 22
9:20 pm, TNT

The Longwood Lancers are 21-13. They finished 5th in the Big South, but took down the conference title with three straight wins. They beat UNC Asheville in the title game by scoring 85 points. During the conference tournament, the Lancers scored 74.5 points per game. The top scorer for the Longwood Lancers has been Walyn Napper. Napper has scored double digits in eight straight games. In the conference title game, he was held to 10, but he had 46 during the event.

The Houston Cougars are looking to come off a blowout loss in the Big 12 title game. Kelvin Sampson’s team won the Big 12 regular season, and was dominant. The Cougars are one of the best defensive teams in the country. Houston’s L.J Cryer, and Jamal Shead are two of the toughest players in the country to guard. Houston has their eyes on the prize, winning two games and getting to travel to Dallas for the sweet 16 and Elite 8.

The Houston Cougars are massive favorites here. Houston is listed at -23.5. Look for the Lancers to hang around awhile, but a struggle in scoring will come late, and the Cougars will run away. Taking Houston -23.5 is the bet to make here, as they bounce back in a big way and head to face either Nebraska or Texas A+M in the second round.

NCAAB Lines: Houston-23.5 vs. Longwood | Vegas College Basketball Odds MyBookie Basketball Lines

2024 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament | March Madness Calendar

Round	City	Venue	Dates
Final Four	Glendale, Arizona	State Farm Stadium	April 6
NCAA Championship Game	Glendale, Arizona	State Farm Stadium	April 8

There you have it. Those are our Top Betting Games Preview for first round games. UConn Huskies against Stetson Hatters and Houston Cougars battling Longwood Lancers. Enjoy the games and best of luck with all your College Basketball betting!

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2018 Top NCAA Predictions First Round

Every year, it seems, a No. 12 seed upsets a No. 5 in the NCAA Basketball tournament. At least one No. 12 seed has beaten a 5 seed in 29 of the past 33 years (1988, 2000, 2007, 2015 are the only exceptions). Last year, Middle Tennessee took out a Big Ten opponent in the first round for the second straight tourney, knocking off No. 5 Minnesota in Milwaukee. Let’s find out the safest NCAAB betting pick to carry on with the tradition this year while making some other predictions based on the latest March Madness odds at MyBookie.

Top NCAAB Betting Predictions for 2018 March Madness First Round

My NCAAB Betting pick to an early upset this year? South Dakota State over Ohio State in the West Region (and one more below). The Jackrabbits (28-6, 13-1 Summit League) enter the NCAA Tournament on an 11-game winning streak with three victories in The Summit League Tournament. The Buckeyes (24-8, 15-3 Big Ten) finished tied for second in the conference standings and are coming off a tournament loss to Penn State (69-68). This game features two of the best individual players in the nation: Ohio State’s Keita Bates-Diop and Mike Daum of South Dakota State. Bates-Diop averages 19.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game while Jae’Sean Tate is second among Buckeyes with 12.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Daum averages 24 points and 10 rebounds while shooting better than 40 percent from 3-point range. The last guy to do that? Kevin Durant while at Texas. Daum is the two-time defending Summit League Player of the Year and ranks among the best nationally in scoring this season. Daum is one of just three players nationally – joining Gonzaga’s Jock Landale and Duke’s Marvin Bagley III – to average a 20-10 double-double on the season with 23.8 points and 10.4 rebounds per contest. He has 21 double-doubles on the campaign (including 12 in 14 Summit League games) and has reached double figures in all but one contest, including 12 30-point performances. It’s the first meeting between the schools.

Double-Digit Seed Reaches Sweet 16

Just as we see a No. 12 upset a No. 5 each year, we often see a double-digit seed reach the Sweet 16 – sometimes that No. 12. And I’m going with another No. 12: New Mexico State (I don’t think South Dakota State will win its second game after beating Ohio State). The Aggies boast wins over Davidson and Miami. They’re ranked among the top 20 teams in adjusted defensive efficiency and top 10 in 3-point defense. NMSU has lost 13 straight NCAA tournament games dating to 1970, the longest streak in tournament history (they vacated wins in 1992 and 1993). Is this the year that one of the country’s most successful mid-majors gets over the hump? It opens against Clemson. With Zach Lofton (19.8 PPG), they’ll attack Clemson and Auburn at the rim and upset the Tigers in Round 1. Clemson (Donte Grantham) and Auburn (Anfernee McLemore), a probable second-round opponent, are each missing one of their biggest pieces in the paint. They haven’t been the same teams without those contributors. New Mexico State will expose those vulnerabilities. Jemerrio Jones was the WAC Player of the Year. At 6-foot-4, Jones led Division I in defensive rebounds per game (9.4), hauling in a ridiculous 37 percent of available boards on the defensive glass. What makes him so special is that he is capable of running the fast break after the opponent misses, often leading to easy opportunities in transition (3.1 assists per game led his team). He and Lofton are as good a 1-2 punch as you will find outside the power conferences.

Virginia Won’t Win Its First Title

Virginia deserved to be the top NCAAB Betting favorite after winning the ACC regular-season and tournament titles – that’s the best conference in the land. But I’m here to tell you the Wahoos won’t win their first national title. Virginia was picked in the preseason to finish sixth in the ACC. Now the Cavaliers, who headline the NCAA South bracket, will try to make the Final Four for only the third time and first since 1984. Virginia is the overall No. 1 seed in this year’s tourney. In the 14 years since the selection committee began specifying the overall No. 1, that team has reached the Final Four half the time (the other three No. 1s have combined to reach the Final Four just 33 percent of the time). Oddly, the overall No. 1 has won the title as often as it has been eliminated in the round of 32 (three times each). Last year, Villanova joined the “eliminated” when the Wildcats saw their hopes. Coach Tony Bennett has sent uber-efficient and effective squads to the postseason in past years. Still, he has just one Elite Eight appearance in his tenure. This year, he doesn’t have a Malcolm Brogdon or Justin Anderson on this roster to carry his offense through rocky chapters in the postseason. The Cavaliers’ offense relies heavily on the 3-ball. In their lone ACC regular-season loss to Virginia Tech, Bennett’s club shot poorly from behind the arc (11-for-38), and it ultimately cost them. Teams like Virginia, who live by the 3, sometimes die by the 3.