In the first game for both teams in the East region and Syracuse is the 4th seed and Montana is the 13th seed. Obviously, in the Big East the Orange played a much tougher schedule and even though Montana only had 1 less wins NCAAB lines have the Orange as the big 12.5-point favorites with a total of 128.5.
The Blue Devils made an early exit from the ACC tournament but it didn’t damage their profile too much as they are still a #2 seed.
The Iona Gaels are in the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year. They are hoping to get rid of the bad taste in their mouths left from last year’s loss to BYU (they led by more than 20 points).
The North Carolina A&T Aggies picked up a nice 73-72 win over Liberty in the Opening Round Game Tuesday in Dayton, but things will get a whole lot tougher for the Aggies on Thursday evening.
In the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament the 14th seed Davidson Wildcats face the3rd seed Marquette Golden Eagles in the East Region.
The #12 seed upset over the fifth seed is one of those things you can count on every year. There will almost definitely be one again this year, but could it be the Mississippi Rebels against the Wisconsin Badgers?
The Rams are riding the Mountain West Conference wave this year. They had another very good season losing just 8 games all season long and finishing second in the MWC.
In the 2nd round match up in the East Region the 11th seed Bucknell Bison facing the 6th seed Butler Bulldogs in the opening Big Dance game for both teams.
All of the advanced metrics say that this Pittsburgh team is really good. They aren’t horrible but I just don’t see it. What I do see is a team that is better than average in the deepest conference in America. They have a few nice wins but this is probably one of the least impressive Pitt teams of the past decade.
While the Madness technically gets started Tuesday night now with the Opening Round (Play-In) games, the true start of the tournament is Thursday afternoon. The first game everyone will tune in to is Valparaiso and Michigan State in the Midwest Region.
The Heat won a highly tense Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead in this series, but it was a costly win since both Udonis Haslem and Dexter Pittman were called for flagrant fouls and both will miss this game.
The Heat took back home court advantage in this series with a monster game from LeBron James in Game 4 and now the Pacers have to find a way to win or they will be going home down 3-2.
The Spurs did it again, winning in impressive, albeit different fashion. This time, like a cat playing with a mouse they let their opponents think they were in the game, getting down by as many as 24 points before turning it on and winning going away.
The Heat have lost the last 2 games of this series and Game 3 was an ugly loss where Dwyane Wade and even had a spat with his head coach.
The Spurs proved again in game two that they are on fire.
I suppose it could be said that the fact that the Los Angeles Clippers made the playoffs and won a round is a fine accomplishment for a franchise without much history of success…but at least go out with your pants on.
