Expert March Madness Bracket Predictions: Midwest Region
by Robert Ferringo - 3/13/2018

Heading into the 2017-18 college basketball season the top three teams in the USA Today's Coaches Poll were, in order, Duke, Michigan State and Kansas. Those three schools were also in the top four of the preseason Associated Press Top 25, with Arizona sneaking in ahead of Kansas and pushing the Jayhawks to fourth.

2018 March Madness Bracket Predictions: West Region
by Robert Ferringo - 3/13/2018

Every year there is one region that is so brutally loaded with potential Final Four participants that it is dubbed "The Region of Death". Well, this year the West Region is whatever the opposite of "The Region of Death" is. This section of the bracket is kind of a mess, with a host of flawed contenders all attempting to avoid enough upsets to back their way into the Final Four.

Free 2018 March Madness Picks: Best Value Bets
by Trevor Whenham - 3/13/2018

The brackets get all the focus when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. Remember, though, that this is always a great time for bettors. Teams are going to play as hard as they can - there is no reason to hold anything back - so we are going to see as close to best on best as we get during a season. There are a lot of games to choose from but few enough that things are reasonably manageable for handicappers. As I have looked over the 32 first-round games there are six - three on each day - that stand out as having some interesting potential value for bettors. (Odds are from BetOnline):

Help Filling Out NCAA Tournament Brackets: Sweet 16 Surprises
by Trevor Whenham - 3/13/2018

If everything went as it should with the NCAA Tournament then there wouldn't be a team higher than a No. 4 seed in the Sweet 16. Things, of course, don't turn out that way. Last year only one of the four regions turned out as expected, and four teams that weren't expected made the final 16. One, No. 7 South Carolina, went all the way to the Final Four. Another, No. 11 Xavier, catapulted themselves from the Elite Eight last year to a No. 1 seed this year. In 2016 it was six outsiders, including No. 10 Syracuse, who invaded the Final Four.

NCAA Basketball Championship Futures Betting Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 3/13/2018

We always look at the brackets when it comes to the NCAA Tournament, so we are focused on which teams are going to reach the Final Four or beyond. But too often we ignore another way to leverage the opinions we have when filling out our brackets - futures odds. We have been paying attention to those futures odds all year, checking in for teams that are attractive, so why stop now? We can bet on which teams will win their region or which teams will win it all. And there can be value in both if they fit your opinion of how things are going to turn out in the tournament. Here are five futures from BetOnline that have some interest as I see it:

2018 March Madness Bracket Picks: Vulnerable High Seeds
by Trevor Whenham - 3/13/2018

Any team that is seeded in the top four in their bracket should, logically, be expected to make the Sweet 16. And the top two should make the Elite Eight, with the No. 1 going to the Final Four. So, when a team with one of those seedings doesn't make it at least that far then it qualifies as an upset - and frustrates many bettors and bracket pool players. What we are on the lookout for here, then, are simply teams that have a decent chance of being a frustrating disappointment. Here are six that have that potential:

NCAA Tournament Bracket Strategy and Advice: Dangerous Low Seeds
by Chris Vasile - 3/13/2018

With Selection Sunday in the rear-view mirror and the field of 68 set for the 2017 NCAA Tournament , the public is now in a race against time to handicap all four play-in games and 32 first-round games that will be contested over the next five days. Most bettors have a routine when handicapping games, but not even that stops them from debating (complaining) about the teams that got terrible draws. Whether it was seeding or the region they got sent to, there is always some sort of backlash from the public towards the selection committee regarding the bracket.

NIT Brackets Picks and Predictions for 2018
by Trevor Whenham - 3/13/2018

You ever have one of those nights where you are at the bar, it's getting late, and you are hungry. All you can think about is the pizza you are going to order when you get home and how good it is going to taste. You can taste every glorious bite of gooey goodness. But when you make the call to order you discover that you are too late - the pizza pace is closed for the night. You're stuck warming up the frozen pizza you had in the freezer. It's still kinda good - even frozen pizza is better than most foods. But it isn't at all what you were dreaming about, and you wind up going to bed disappointed.

2018 March Madness Bracket Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 3/13/2018

This is the second year in a row I have had the same feeling about the NCAA Tournament - it simultaneously feels wide open and chalky. There are a significant number of teams that could come out on top and none that seem unbeatable by any means. But going strictly by seeding it doesn't feel like we are headed to one of those crazy first weekends where underdogs come from nowhere to storm into the Sweet 16 and beyond. It feels very much like the better teams are most often the higher seed - more often than most years.

2018 March Madness Brackets Help: Advice on No. 5 vs. No. 12 Matchup
by Trevor Whenham - 3/12/2018

When it comes to hunting for upsets, there isn't a first-round matchup that gets more attention than the 5 v. 12 line in the first round. There is good reason for that, too - the seeds have met 132 times in the tournament, and the lower seed has come out on top 47 times. That's almost a 36 percent win rate. Impressive - especially considering the gap in talent these seeds should indicate.

2018 March Madness Betting and Handicapping: Cheat Sheet for NCAA Tournament Wagering
by Chris Vasile - 3/12/2018

After five long months of regular-season and conference tournament action, the college basketball season has finally reached its apex. The "first round" of the 2018 NCAA Tournament gets underway tomorrow with the first pair of play-in games set to tip off at 6:40 p.m. EST. In the first matchup, we will see No. 16 Radford take on fellow No. 16 LIU-Brooklyn. As of writing this, Radford is a four-point favorite. That game will be followed up by a battle of No. 11 seeds - St. Bonaventure versus UCLA (-3.5). If that's not enough to whet the appetite, two more play in games will happen on Wednesday - No. 16 NC Central versus No. 16 Texas Southern and No. 11 Arizona State versus No. 11 Syracuse.

2018 March Madness Bracket Trends for Seeds
by Chris Vasile - 3/12/2018

The unofficial start of the 2018 NCAA Tournament begins tomorrow, which means the deadline for completing your bracket is on the horizon. Most NCAA Tournament brackets do not require you to pick the winners of the first four "play in" games, so you still have a few days to get your research in and finalize your bracket.

NCAA Basketball Expert Betting Advice: Three Interesting Opening Lines 3/13/2018
by Alan Matthews - 3/12/2018

Enjoy college basketball's postseason tournaments this year because it might be the last time we see the sport as we know it in the wake of that wide-ranging FBI investigation into corruption in the sport. Some big-name coaches/programs are going to take major hits: Will this be Arizona's last season being relevant for a while, for example? Plus, there's talk that the NCAA might start allowing transfers to play immediately instead of sitting out a year, which could be huge. If coaches can come and go as they see fit, then why shouldn't players? If you or I are attending Duke as a student and decide we don't like it, we can leave and go somewhere else. Players should be allowed to do the same.

2018 NCAA Tournament Advice and Help for a Winning March Madness Bracket
by Trevor Whenham - 3/11/2018

Are you going to fill out a March Madness bracket this year? Of course you are - it's what everyone does. Many of you will fill out several, and you have a year's worth of bragging rights on the line - and maybe a nice cash prize, too. Millions of people fill out brackets every year, but only a small fraction of those people fill out winning brackets. You want to be part of that small fraction, of course, and you can increase your chances of a win by following this list of March Madness bracket advice and tips.

March Madness Betting Trends for 2018
by Trevor Whenham - 3/11/2018

The NCAA Tournament is one of the world's great sporting events, from the craziness of the first two days right down to the cutting down of the nets and One Shining Moment. As much as I love every second of the event, if I had to pick just one part to watch forever it would clearly and obviously be the first two days - the first round of the tournament. It's 32 games packed into two days, and it's stuffed with upsets, intrigue, drama, emotion, and chaos. It's everything that sports can be in one small package. Perfect.

March Madness Money Management Tips and Expert Betting Advice
by Trevor Whenham - 3/11/2018

When you talk about the NCAA Tournament, most people immediately think about brackets and pools. While that is one great aspect of three of the best weeks in sports, it's not the only one - this is a great time for bettors as well. There are many games each day - all televised - and we know that teams will be playing at full throttle because the games mean everything. There is no point in holding back. It's a betting dream, but there are pitfalls, too. It can be easy to get into a really bad situation if your March Madness money management isn't in tournament form like the players are.

Final Four Bracket Picks and 2017 NCAA Tournament Betting Advice
by Trevor Whenham - 3/29/2017

And then there were four. The 68-team field that started the NCAA Tournament has been pared down to just four, and by Monday the nets will have been cut down and only one team will be undefeated. The remaining teams range from the unsurprising (top seeds Gonzaga and North Carolina), to the somewhat surprising but not shocking (Oregon) to the just plain bizarre (that would be you, South Carolina). Those last two squads have wreaked havoc on most brackets, so it only makes sense to get a fresh start for the last weekend of games. Here, then, are my Final Four bracket picks (odds to win the tournament are from BetOnline):

Final Four Betting Trends for NCAA Tournament Wagering Help
by Trevor Whenham - 3/27/2017

The Final Four is almost here. It has been a crazy ride this year, unique as it always is. In this break before the Final Four we have nearly a week to find every edge that we can so that we can make the best possible decisions in the three games remaining and come out on top. Some years the bracket looks as you expected it to. This is probably not one of those years. That means that these may not be the teams you know best - especially in the case of South Carolina. It's time to do what we can to change that by looking at some Final Four betting trends:

NCAA Basketball Final Four Betting: Handicapping the Coaches
by Trevor Whenham - 3/27/2017

The faces are different every year, but the lesson is always the same - the teams that get to the Final Four are driven by very strong, very talented coaches. There are coaches that are more or less experienced - and one of the coaches this year has basically all of the experience - but there isn't a significant coaching mismatch ever to be found in the final weekend of the tournament. You can't get a team this far if you can't coach - it's as simple as that. By looking at the four coaches still standing we can learn about their teams, and help to get an edge on handicapping the last three games remaining.

Elite Eight Bracket Picks and Expert NCAA Tournament Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 3/25/2017

I have had some good years picking the Sweet 16. It has been, at times, as if I had a crystal ball and could see right through the Sweet 16. This was most certainly not one of those years. Wow. Rough couple of days from a prognostication it was. However, I am very confident that my Elite Eight bracket picks will be much better. Without further ado: