The Duke Blue Devils have literally been going through a Murderer’s Row of teams to get here to the Elite Eight on Sunday afternoon in the Midwest Region. Now, they have to take on the top overall seed in the dance, the Louisville Cardinals on the Elite Eight odds. Check out the keys to the Louisville vs. Duke matchup, as well as the March Madness odds for what should be a great game.

March Madness: Duke Blue Devils vs. Louisville Cardinals
Duke vs. Louisville Location: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
Duke vs. Louisville Date/Time: Sunday, March 31st, 2:10 p.m. (ET)
2013 March Madness On TV: CBS

Key #1: Gorgui Dieng has to be a difference maker
Earlier this season, the Blue Devils and the Cardinals met in the Bahamas, and the end result was a victory for the Dookies. However, in that game, Dieng was on the sidelines out injured. This is where a real difference could be made. Though Louisville did win the rebounding battle that day, there wasn’t much in the way of resistance to F Mason Plumlee. The big man scored 16 points and had seven boards, and included in there were three huge offensive rebounds. Dieng has blocked 16 shots in his last seven games, many of which have come against top flight competition. The offensive numbers definitely don’t have to be there for the big man. Defensively though, Dieng has to block some shots and alter some others to flip the tide in favor of the No. 1 overall seed in this tournament.

Elite Eight Odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook
#2 Duke Blue Devils +3.5
#1 Louisville Cardinals -3.5
Over/Under 137
Click Here to Bet Your Elite Eight Picks!

Key #2: The Cardinals have to get back to playing “Louisville Defense”
We heard Head Coach Rick Pitino at halftime of the game against the Oregon Ducks on Friday night mention that his team needed to get back to playing “Louisville defense.” The team really didn’t listen all that well, as it allowed 38 points in the second half of the game against the Ducks and were pushed right down to the wire in the game as a result. It’s clear what Pitino means. He has to get his team playing better ball in half-court sets, and there has to be more trapping and more full-court pressuring of the basketball to force more turnovers. We saw this team set the NCAA Tournament record for steals in a game back in the second round against the North Carolina A&T Aggies, and yet against Oregon, a No. 12 seed, the Cardinals only managed seven steals and really only won the game because they shot 53.8 percent from the floor. It’s clear that “Louisville defense” has to get back in the saddle against the Blue Devils if there is going to be another waltz into the Final Four for one of the proudest programs in the country.

Key #3: Seth Curry has to out-Russ Smith Russ Smith
You’re reading that properly. Curry has to figure out how to do his own impersonation of Smith and do it better than the Louisville guard. At times, Smith literally is off the chain. He scored 31 points in the win against Oregon on Friday night, and he has now averaged 27.0 points per game here in the dance. When Smith gets going, no one is going to be able to stop him. Curry looked a little bit like that on Friday as well against a very good Michigan State Spartans outfit. The senior knocked down six of his first seven three-point field goal attempts and finished the game with 29 points. It’s not necessarily a matter of getting the points that will make the difference in this game. The player that makes the biggest shots in the biggest moments is going to be the one that leads his team to Atlanta for the Final Four.

Purchase Via Credit Card	Purchase By Paypal

Over at SportBet Sportsbook, you’ll find all of the odds to win the South Region and all of the brackets in the 2013 NCAA Tournament. This is one of the most stacked brackets that we have ever seen in the dance, and we know that it is going to be a tough one to handicap, so join us for our South Bracket predictions for March Madness and the NCAA Tournament, complete with each team’s odds to make it to the Final Four.

#3 Florida Gators (-150) – Florida truly has played no one on the road to the Elite Eight, but that hasn’t stopped it from being the overwhelming favorite for this entire tournament to make it to the Final Four. Now, it’s just down to a matter of one game for the right to go to Atlanta, where the team would surely have a huge following if it were to get that far. The Gators have dominated on the glass, and they have had two very strong shooting games from long range out of three. There really have been no tremendous standout players, though that’s the way that Head Coach Billy Donovan plans it. This is a veteran squad, led by the likes of G Scottie Wilbekin and F Erik Murphy, though this is a solid eight-man rotation chock full of players that are going to be capable of doing massive damage. If Florida gets to the Final Four, it is going to be a tremendously dangerous team to watch out for.

#4 Michigan Wolverines (+140) – There is no team of those that are left standing here in the Elite Eight that dodged death better than the Wolverines. They were literally already written off against the top seed in the South, the Kansas Jayhawks, the Gators were already busy ironing their away jerseys for the game. Instead, UF only needs to continue wearing the home whites, as it now has a date with the fourth seeded Wolverines instead. Michigan has gotten tremendous contributions from its starters this entire tournament, and in that win against the Jayhawks, all five of the starters logged at least 10 points. C Mitch McGary is the man that has really had a coming out party here in the NCAA Tournament, as he has had back to back tremendous games to help bring the Big Blue Nation to its first Elite Eight since 1994. It would be fitting for this team to get to the Final Four, as this is a squad that has been drawing comparisons all season long to the Fab Five that brought this team to greatness in the early 1990s.

2013 South Region Odds @ SportBet Sportsbook (as of 3/31/13):
(Get a HUGE 100% Bonus at SportBet.com When Using This Link)
Florida Gators (-2.5) -150
Michigan Wolverines (+2.5) +140

The nets are going to be coming down at Staples Center on Saturday night, as either the Ohio State Buckeyes or the Wichita State Shockers are going to be off to the Final Four in Atlanta. Join us for our Elite Eight predictions, as we analyze the March Madness odds for what should be a remarkable clash between David and Goliath in the West Regional Final.

March Madness: Wichita State Shockers vs. Ohio State Buckeyes
Wichita State vs. Ohio State Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Wichita State vs. Ohio State Date/Time: Friday, March 29th, 7:05 p.m. ET
March Madness Television Coverage: CBS

Key #1: Someone on Wichita State is going to have to put a body on Deshaun Thomas
Can anyone stop this guy? We’ve been talking about Ohio State for weeks now, and the man that is always in the center of the discussion is Thomas. This is a man with great range, is lanky, can score from anywhere on the court, and can play defense as well. He’s legitimately got every tool in the bag that you would ask from a college basketball player, and he hasn’t been stopped here in the dance. Thomas put up 20 against Arizona on Thursday night, and he now has 20, 22, and 24 points in his three NCAA Tournament games. Wichita State has seen a lot of great players along the way, including a potential National Player of the Year in F Kelly Olynyk. However, Olynyk scored 26 points and put up nine boards against the Shockers as well. WSU has to do a better job on Thomas than it did on Olynyk if it realistically wants to have any chance of surviving against a very athletic team.

Wichita State vs. Ohio State Odds at Diamond Sportsbook
#9 Wichita State Shockers +4.5
#2 Ohio State Buckeyes -4.5
Over/Under 130
Click Here to Bet Your Elite 8 Picks!

Key #2: See the three. Be the three.
The three-point line is always crucial in these NCAA Tournament games, and the reason that Ohio State has survived to this point is because of the long range shot. The Buckeyes would have probably been knocked out of the dance in the first weekend by Iowa State had they not knocked down nine three-point shots, including the one by G Aaron Craft that won the game essentially at the gun. Ohio State is now knocking down a whopping 50.0 percent of its three-point shots, and it is averaging over seven threes per game. That’s a far shout from where the team was for most of the season. The Buckeyes were shooting just 35% from long range prior to the dance this season. Wichita State meanwhile, has been all over the place from beyond the arc in the dance. The team went a very respectable 5-of-12 against La Salle on Thursday, and that’s about what we are expecting to see again on Saturday. However, if there is an extreme to be seen from long range, we’ve seen both ends of it with the Missouri Valley reps. Wichita State hit 14-of-28 from downtown against Gonzaga in the Round of 32, but that came on the heels of hitting just 2-of-20 against Pittsburgh in the second round of the dance. As is usually the case, whichever team can stroke the three more successfully is going to be the one to watch out for come Saturday.

Key #3: Ohio State needs to make a renewed effort defensively
Understandably, NCAA Tournament games tend to be a little odd by nature. Teams have to do things that they aren’t used to doing just to advance, games sometimes take a little while to get going, and every now and again, you see just a ton of scores in the final three minutes of the game or so as one team is trying to make a feverish comeback on the other. For Ohio State though, it is extremely odd to see a team scoring 70 points against it. During the regular season, it only happened seven times in 36 games. Now all of a sudden, all three teams here in the NCAA Tournament that it has faced have been able to get to 70. It’s a Catch-22 for sure. While we’re thrilled to see the Buckeyes do a heck of a lot better on the offensive end of the court, we don’t think that they can win a National Championship if they continue to play defense like this. They’ll need to really buckle down on Saturday against the Shockers, as the challenges are getting more and more difficult on the road to the Final Four.

Purchase Via Credit Card	Purchase By Paypal

The Syracuse Orange and the Marquette Golden Eagles were the only two Big East teams that started off in the East Region, yet they are the only two that are still standing as well. These two are going to square off at the Verizon Center on Saturday with a trip to the Final Four on the line, and we’re going to take one last look at both of these clubs and which one has the upper hand on the Final Four odds. SportBet Sportsbook.

#3 Marquette Golden Eagles (+160) – Marquette is going to be wearing the home whites in this one, but it is most certainly a severe underdog at the hands of the Orange on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Eagles have played three very solid defensive games here in the dance, but their offense has been all over the place. They’ve saved their better performances for their most recent games though, as their dominating win over Miami was truly the best game that they have played all season long. In this one, Marquette shot over 50 percent from the floor, including 50.0 percent from long range, and it left just nothing for the Canes to try to pick up when push came to shove on the the other side of the court. You can’t help but be a bit underwhelmed when you look at the numbers that Marquette is averaging this season. It is only good for 68.9 points per game, and it is allowing 62.8 points per game. The defense ranks 60th or worse in every major category, and the offense shoots the ball at just barely 30% from three-point range. That being said, this was a team that was channeling magic right at the outset of the year. It went 14-4 in the Big East, surprisingly won a share of the league title, and now has a shot to claim a second victory against Syracuse on the season, and this one would get it into the Final Four.

#4 Syracuse Orange (-170) – Who would’ve really thought that the Orange would be able to make it all the way here to the Sweet 16? This was a team that really struggled down the stretch of the season, losing games to teams like Louisville and Georgetown with terrible offensive showings. Many thought that the Orange would be bounced out of the Big East Tournament right away when taking on Pitt in what was their second game played at MSG. Instead, Syracuse just continues to get better. Its only loss in this stretch came against a very good Louisville outfit in what proved to be a very tiring game in the second half. Since then, it’s double digit victory after double digit victory and impressive showing after impressive showing. Even the six-point win over Cal in the Round of 32 was a solid looking game for the Orange. When they look in that 2-3 zone, they’re a tough team to score on, and if you take out the Big East Tournament Final, no one has scored more than 61 on this ‘D’ since… you guessed it… the loss at Marquette. And who says that the world doesn’t always cycle back around? Head Coach Jim Boeheim has a legitimate shot to get his team back to the Final Four once again, and if it were to happen, it really would turn out to be what looked like a statistical improbability just eight days ago.

2013 East Region Odds @ SportBet Sportsbook (as of 3/29/13):
(Get a HUGE 100% Bonus at SportBet.com When Using This Link)
Marquette Golden Eagles (+3.5) +160
Syracuse Orange (-3.5) -170

With all of the talk of just how good the Big Ten was all season long, it is the Big East that is going to be showcased on the road to the Final Four on Saturday, when the #3 Marquette Golden Eagles and the #4 Syracuse Orange do battle in what will likely be the last time we ever see a pair of current Big East teams play against each other. Don’t miss our Marquette vs. Syracuse predictions and keys to the game for what should be an exciting encounter to start the weekend.

March Madness: Syracuse Orange vs. Marquette Golden Eagles
Syracuse vs. Marquette Location: Verizon Center, Washington DC
Syracuse vs. Marquette Date/Time: Saturday, March 30th, 4:30 p.m. (ET)
2013 March Madness On TV: CBS

Key #1: The Orange have to stay out of foul trouble this time around
Syracuse hasn’t had any issues here in the dance whatsoever, but it did lose the first time that it faced Marquette earlier this season. The game in Milwaukee basically ensured that the Golden Eagles would have a shot at a share of the Big East title, while it also proved to be a game that kept the Orange on the wrong side of the equation. In that game, G Brandon Triche ultimately fouled out, while F James Southerland ended with four fouls. The end result saw Marquette take a whopping 35 free throws in comparison to just seven for the Orange. Blind aggression has really been what has led Syracuse here to the Elite Eight, and it is going to be that blind aggression that will lead the team in this one when push comes to shove as well if it is given the opportunity to do so. The Orange don’t have the depth to ultimately be in a lot of foul trouble though, and it is key for them to stay out of it against Marquette.

Elite Eight Odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook
#4 Syracuse Orange -3.5
#3 Marquette Golden Eagles +3.5
Over/Under 128
Click Here to Bet Your Elite Eight Picks!

Key #2: The lengthy Golden Eagles have to continue playing defense in the half court
What we love about Big East basketball is that a lot of the teams play very similar styles, and it isn’t all that often that a team wins a game and the casual observer is left to wonder why. For anyone that has watched the three games that Marquette has played here in March Madness, the equation has been particularly simple: The Golden Eagles have to force the game into the half court, and from there, they have to let their athleticism take over. Marquette only allowed 62.8 points per game this season, so perhaps we shouldn’t be all that shocked that it has had three very good defensive games in the dance. However, the three clubs that have faced Marquette have combined to shoot under 40 percent from the floor, and that’s the type of number that can really stun some neutral observers. Syracuse has made a habit of forcing teams into bad shots, but the Golden Eagles have been pulling off that same stunt as well in the second season.

Key #3: Three-Pointers have to fly in for Golden Eagles
Marquette is a team that loves to get inside the paint and try to get things to happen. The first time that these two met this year, they only took 26 shots from inside the arc for the whole game, as opposed to 21 that came from the outside. What nearly cost the Golden Eagles that game is the fact that they shot just 5-of-21, 23.8 percent from three-point land. For the season, they’re only just barely shooting over 30% from long range, but here in the dance, they are knocking down a much more respectable 36.4 percent from downtown. It doesn’t take all that many threes to win a game, but the ones that are taken are going to have to be hit. Syracuse is just too good in the 2-3 zone to ultimately allow gobs of points in the paint. Just look back at the game against Indiana. The Orange literally had a block party against the Hoosiers, swatting away a stunning 11-of-47 shot attempts. Marquette won’t be able to challenge on the inside, so it has to take the game outside and be effective out there as a result.

Purchase Via Credit Card	Purchase By Paypal

SportBet Sportsbook is ready to go with the odds to win the West Bracket. There is just one game left for us to bet on in this bracket, and it is the clash pitting the Ohio State Buckeyes against the Wichita State Shockers. Does Cinderella’s slipper have a chance to stay on all the way to the through to the Final Four? Find out right here as we break down the West Region odds and the odds to make the Final Four this year.

#2 Ohio State Buckeyes (-210) – The Buckeyes haven’t always been at their best thus far in this tournament, but they are winning games, and that’s about all that anyone could really ask for. Ohio State’s defense, after allowing just seven teams to reach 70+ points this season, has allowed at least 70 in three straight games here in the NCAA Tournament. Granted, we know that the pace with which the Buckeyes have been asked to play has been a lot faster than what they are accustomed to, and the truth of the matter is that the team has done well to keep up. However, how much longer can a team like Ohio State that isn’t always the best offensively be asked to keep shooting threes at the rate with which it is knocking them down? Not only does the team have a pair of threes with less than five seconds left to play in games, but it also is knocking down exactly half of its triples for the postseason. That’s absolutely unreal. However, we see teams catch fire all the time from the outside here in the dance. Normally, we’re talking about teams like Wichita State getting on fire. When it’s the great teams that do it though, that’s the stuff that National Championships are made out of.

#9 Wichita State Shockers (+190) – The Shockers are here in the Elite Eight, and they are probably the least deserving team of the eight that are left standing. We hear you. It’s a shock to hear that (no pun intended). Wichita State did knock off arguably the best No. 8 team in the land in Pittsburgh right at the outset of the tournament, and any time you take out a No. 1 seed, you deserve a lot of credit. Just how good were the Zags, though? Beating an upstart No. 13 seed that already had to play three games to reach that point in the season was no great shakes as we saw it either. What we do admit though, is that this is a team that deserves a lot of respect. It has played three very different games against three very different teams, and this is going to add a fourth different type of team to that list. The Shockers have a real chance to do some more damage to the average bracket, as Ohio State was the team most commonly picked to advance out of the West. If Wichita State pulls this one off, we’ll have a heck of a lot more respect for the boys from the Missouri Valley.

2013 West Region Odds @ SportBet Sportsbook (as of 3/29/13):
(Get a HUGE 100% Bonus at SportBet.com When Using This Link)
Ohio State Buckeyes (-4.5) -210
Wichita State Shockers (+4.5) +190

The 2013 NCAA Tournament continues on Friday night in the Midwest Region, where the Duke Blue Devils and the Michigan State Spartans are going to renew what has become a very important rivalry over the course of the last few years. Head Coach Tom Izzo’s Spartans are the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region, and they are lined in what basically is a pick ’em game against the No. 2 seeded Blue Devils, who have to still feel slighted over the fact that they aren’t on the top line in the dance.

March Madness: Michigan State Spartans vs. Duke Blue Devils
Michigan State vs. Duke Location: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
Michigan State vs. Duke Date/Time: Friday, March 29th, 9:45 p.m. ET
March Madness Television Coverage: CBS

Key #1: Ryan Kelly needs to make his first legitimate appearance of the tourney
It’s clear that when the Blue Devils are at their best, Ryan Kelly is at his best as well. This is a man that is going to be a matchup nightmare for the significantly less athletic Spartans to try to handle if he gets going. Kelly is every bit of 6’11”, and he can step back from the outside and knock down some big time shots. However, Kelly has gone four straight games now, scoring a total of just 25 points in those outings, and that’s just not good enough at this level for a team that is expected to challenge for a spot in the Final Four this week. If Kelly is hitting his shots, either F Adreian Payne or F Derrick Nix is going to have to step out and try to guard him on the perimeter, and if that turns out to be the case, the battle on the glass is going to be won by the Dookies in easy form. Kelly really didn’t have to exist against Albany or Creighton because those teams weren’t going to challenge F Mason Plumlee on the glass anyway, but if Kelly can’t step back and draw a defender away from the basket, Plumlee could have some problems.

Michigan State vs. Duke Odds at Diamond Sportsbook
#3 Michigan State Spartans +2
#2 Duke Blue Devils -2
Over/Under 134.5
Click Here to Bet Your Sweet 16 Picks!

Key #2: Keith Appling’s shoulder had better be good to go
The Spartans have put together two very impressive games here in the dance, but there is a big, big difference between playing against Memphis, playing against Valpo, and playing against Duke. The Blue Devils have legitimate NBA-type talent from one to five in this lineup, and there is no doubt that they are going to be in it for the full 40 minutes. That means that the Spartans have to be playing at full strength as well, and that might be a tad difficult. Appling hurt his shoulder in the win over Memphis on Saturday, and he ended that game with just two points, two assists, and a rebound. Granted, others like G Gary Harris were able to pick up the slack at that point for Sparty, but we just don’t know if there is enough talent here on this team to come up with a big time effort against the Blue Devils to carry the load for a player that might be carrying an injury.

Key #3: The Dookies have to be ready to get down and dirty
The one thing about the ACC this season is that there really weren’t a lot of teams that willingly played the knock down, drag out games that the NCAA Tournament is known for. This is where we are going to learn a heck of a lot about Duke and its prospects of not just winning this game, but its chances of winning the whole enchilada as well. When you really look at the games that the Blue Devils played this year, they really weren’t forced into a lot of half-court type of games. The Virginia Cavaliers did it to the Dookies in Charlottesville, and the hosts won that game 73-68. Duke does have a win over the Ohio State Buckeyes to its credit as well from back in November of the same caliber, but that game was a long time ago, and obviously, OSU is a heck of a lot better now than it was before. However, with so many great teams that could play some big time defense left in the dance, the Blue Devils are going to need to prove that they can play this gritty type of game if they are going to win and be successful.

Purchase Via Credit Card	Purchase By Paypal