The month of March is one of the busiest times of the year for Doc’s Sports Service as our top-notch handicappers go to work breaking down every single matchup of this season’s NCAA Tournament. For well over 40 years, we have remained at the top of our game in the sports selection industry by providing our loyal customers a steady stream of winners in a number of sports. One of our top handicappers for close to five years now has been the Vegas Sports Informer. The secret to his success is combining an uncanny ability to break down matchups with the competitive edge that comes from spending the last 15 years behind the counter of one of the biggest sportsbooks in Las Vegas. This “insider’s edge” factors itself into all of his selections and allows The Informer to consistently produce winners for a wide selection of sports.

Since the beginning of last year’s football season, Doc’s Sports as taken full advantage of this “insiders edge” by creating a weekly dialog with The Informer in order to provide our readers with a first-hand, behind-the-scenes glimpse at what is really going in the Las Vegas books. Over the course of these discussions we have been able to gain valuable insight into some of the hottest trending topics in the sports gaming industry today. The following is this week’s interview.

Doc’s Sports: March Madness is upon us, and as you take a look at this year’s NCAA Tournament bracket, which teams are your favorites to make it to the Final Four out of each region?

VSI: I have to pretty much go chalk on this one with Louisville in the Midwest, Kansas in the South and Indiana in the East, but I have New Mexico making it to the Final Four out of the West Region. I am not sold on Gonzaga even making it to the Sweet 16 and No.2 Ohio State is going to have its hands full against Iowa State.

Doc’s Sports: Every NCAA Tournament has a couple of teams just lying in wait to become that year’s bracket busters. Which teams do you see stepping up to fill the role in this year’s Big Dance?

VSI: I already mentioned Iowa State in the West, which should get at least as far as the Sweet 16. In the Midwest, I would keep my eyes on St. Louis as a very strong No.4 seed that could match up very well against Louisville. On the other side of the bracket, I like No.7 San Diego State to make some noise in the South and Montana to shake things up in the East by taking out both Syracuse and UNLV before colliding with Indiana.

Doc’s Sports: Miami pulled out all the stops on Monday night against Boston to extend its winning streak to 23 games, but over in the West the Denver Nuggets ran their streak to 12 games with a thrilling overtime victory over Chicago. There is a good chance that the Nuggets streak comes to and end on Tuesday night in Oklahoma City, but is this team a legitimate contender for the Western Conference title this season?

VSI: Denver has a couple of things going for it to make it all the way to the conference finals this year. It has taken the team approach to a whole new level in the absence of any true superstars and is next to impossible to beat at the Pepsi Center when the home-town crowd gets rocking. To me, the Nuggets and the Thunder are the two best teams in the West, so look at Tuesday night’s game as just a preview of things to come.

Doc’s Sports: We are exactly one week into this year’s NFL free agency signing period, so which team is your biggest winner and which is the biggest loser so far?

VSI: My two winners so far would be Denver and Miami, as each team went out and filled a couple of major holes in its lineup. While on paper it is easy to call the Ravens the biggest loser in light of some major subtractions from their Super Bowl roster, but the team at the top of this list right now has to be New England. I have never seen so much inner turmoil within this organization over one single player, which goes completely against its whole ‘team’ philosophy. It probably will not last past the first mini-camp, but right now the Wes Welker situation is a mess.

Doc’s Sports: The start of the new MLB season is right around the corner with Opening Day less than two weeks away. Heading into a new year, which team in the American League has the best overall pitching staff on its Opening-Day roster?

VSI: The easy answer to this question would be the Los Angeles Angels, who have the best starting rotation in the AL and a capable bullpen to back it up. The right answer could very well be the Toronto Blue Jays. They made the commitment this offseason to bring in the right personnel to not only compete for the AL East title but for the AL Pennant. This is especially true when it came to improving the overall quality of their pitching.

To keep up on all the inside information from Las Vegas be sure to follow VSI on Twitter @vsidocsports. Also, if you have any questions for The Informer that you would like us to cover in future articles please email them to askvsi@docsports.com and we will do our best to add them into the mix.