Hot Events: March Madness Picks & Betting Insights!

March Madness is in full swing and here at UBET.io, we’re all in!

We just returned from Dayton, Ohio where we were on location for the ‘First Four’ play-in tournament. The atmosphere was electric, the crowds were through the roof and each of the eight teams vying for a spot in the tournament left it all out on the floor, well, except for San Diego State. Not to say the effort wasn’t there, but the Aztecs were severely mismatched against the Tar Heels.

There’s so much college basketball to take in this weekend, and UBET is here to help. In this piece, we’re going to rapid fire break down every Friday evening game, starting with the Florida/Norfolk State and ending with Oregon/Liberty.

6:50pm EST (16) Norfolk State Spartans vs (1) Florida Gators 

Pick: Florida Gators -28.5 (-107)

This one isn’t going to be close. Almost 21% of bracket owners have picked the Florida Gators to win the National Championship and 59% have them making the ‘Final Four.’ Norfolk State should be proud of their season but Florida is going to be too much for them. They don’t shoot a lot of threes and turnovers are going to kill them. Do not bank on history repeating itself when they upset Missouri in 2012.

7:10pm EST (14) Troy Trojans vs (3) Kentucky Wildcats

Pick: Troy Trojans +11.5 (-113)

This one’s tricky. Both of these teams aren’t going to overwhelm each other with talent. Troy forces a lot of turnovers, but they also turn the ball over a fair amount as well. The catch is, Kentucky doesn’t force a lot of turnovers. What does this tell us? Troy will pressure Kentucky, play a lot of zone and be an overall nuisance. Take the tough as nails ‘Troy Boys’ to at least cover and potentially bust some brackets.

7:25pm EST (10) New Mexico Lobos vs (7) Marquette Golden Eagles

Pick: Marquette Golden Eagles 3.5 (-119)

This isn’t an easy pick as both teams are flawed but very exciting to watch. While Marquette has only won 5 of their last 12 games, they’ve been hard fought battles. They also have one of the best point guards in the country in Kam Jones.

7:35pm EST (13) Akron Zips vs (4) Arizona Wildcats

Pick: Akron Zips +14.5 (-112)

Even though I’ve been on record saying to watch out for Arizona as a technical ‘underdog’ in this tournament that could make a deeper run than anticipated, it’s going to be hard to bet on them this tournament. We feel that this spread is just too big against an Akron team that feels somewhat slept on. They’ll play at a high pace and shoot a lot of threes, and even if they shoot about average from beyond the arc, they should cover the points. It’s a matter of whether or not the Wildcats shots fall, which has been wildly inconsistent this season, especially after their 4-5 start.

9:25pm EST (9) Oklahoma Sooners vs Connecticut Huskies

Pick: Connecticut Huskies -5.5 (-114)

As we know, UConn is going for their third championship in a row, a feat that has only ever been done once before, which was the celebrated UCLA dynasty of the 70’s. And yes, UConn does not look like the same team as they were the last two seasons. In fact, this has been a weird season for the Huskies as they’ve been up and down and suffered injuries. Many experts also believe that this line is somewhat inflated as there seems to be more respect put on this Oklahoma team. 

But this is the two-time defending champs and Dan Hurley has his squad battle tested and ready for war. Perhaps a rougher path to the dance will benefit this experienced Huskies team. 

9:45pm EST (11) Xavier Musketeers vs (6) Illinois Fighting Illini

Pick: Xavier Musketeers +4.5 (-119)

I was really impressed with this Xavier squad as we witnessed their ‘First Four’ victory against a talented Texas Longhorns squad. They’re well coached and gritty, which was on full display Wednesday as they came back from a 13 point deficit. 

Illinois has just been too inconsistent and has proven to play down to lesser opponents, which isn’t even fair to call Xavier at this point, thus the spread. The Fighting Illini have the depth and talent, but are heading in the opposite direction of the Musketeers at this point in the season. Plus, Illinois has been a two- bucket favorite 7 times this year, going 4-3 in those games.

All that being said, after seeing Xavier’s fight in person, it’s hard to not back this squad.

10:00pm EST (15) Bryant Bulldogs vs (2) Michigan State Spartans

Pick: Michigan State Spartans -16.5 (-117)

What a season it’s been for Michigan State. When it comes to the spread, they’ve posted a 22-10 record for covering. Many brackets have the Spartans in the ‘Final Four’ which they’ve reached a total of 10 appearances all time. Bryant is a good team, don’t get it wrong, but they’ve had a relatively easy schedule. They took big losses against better teams like St. John’s and Grand Canyon, which they were outscored by 22 and 46 points, respectively. 

10:10pm EST (12) Liberty Flames vs (5) Oregon Ducks

Pick: Liberty Flames +6.5 (-105)

A very tough decision to cap off the round of 64, with a potential upset spot for the last game of the night. Did you know that Liberty is the best all-around shooting team in the tournament? They also rank second in effective field goal percentage at 58.4% which is a full percent more than the next closest team, the Duke Blue Devils.

It’s hard not to take the points on this one especially when Oregon ranks much worse in those metrics. Liberty also has them beat in defensive efficiency as well. The competition has been tough for the Ducks this year, but we like this as a big upset spot, in what could turn out to be a home game for the Oregon Ducks.