Two rounds of the NCAA Tournament are now in the books, and here at Bankroll Sports, we’re giving all sorts of heck to the teams and players that were totally missing in action to cost their teams a shot at the National Championship.

Rap Sheet Picture of the Week

Kansas Jayhawks C Markieff Morris in disbelief after the #1 team in the land was bounced by an inferior Missouri Valley Conference foe.

Where else can we start than right at the top? The Kansas Jayhawks are going to be looked at as the biggest disappointment of this entire season. They were the #1 team in the land and the #1 overall seed in this tournament, and they knew that they were going to have to face a pair of mid-majors in this tournament before heading to the Sweet 16. It took a strong second half run for the Jayhawks to finally take out #16 Lehigh on Thursday, and it became increasingly clear that this was a squad that was disinterested with playing these small time inferior squads.

Enter the #9 Northern Iowa Panthers. If you want proof that this was an underachieving team, just look at how well the Jayhawks played when desperation finally set in. C Cole Aldrich looked like a man on a mission, and the defense was stifling down the stretch. But the great equalizer in this tournament, the three point shot, finally gave the Panthers a four point lead that they would never relent. Now, HC Bill Self has to answer a lot of questions about why team looked like garbage, and G Sherron Collins has to deal with criticism for shooting 0/6 from downtown in the team’s final game of the season. This was really, really inexcusable Kansas, and you know it.

However, the Jayhawks were the only disappointing group in the Midwest Region. The Georgetown Hoyas had to be considered a trendy selection to come out of this bracket, as they marched all the way to the Big East final before getting knocked off in the dying seconds by West Virginia. It didn’t take long to be bounced from the tournament that really mattered, though. Sure, we’ll listen to the fatigue factor thing, but let’s be realistic here. This first round debacle against the Ohio Bobcats was against a #14 seed who was a #9 in their own mid-major conference. No excuses. None whatsoever.

In fact, let’s just give a little bit of grief to the rest of the Big East. Remember when this league was supposed to have nine, ten, maybe even 11 teams in this tournament? Five of the eight teams were gone in the first three days of this tournament, and one of those teams that made it to the second round, the #2 Villanova Wildcats, nearly became the fifth #2 seed in the history of this tournament to lose to a #15 seed in the first round of the dance.

Here’s ranting on the Mountain West and the Atlantic 10 as well. Three days into the dance, and all four teams out of the MWC were already eliminated. Save watching Xavier in the A-10, watching this conference play ball in March Madness has been incredibly painful. Both the Temple Owls and the Richmond Spiders were crushed in their first round games by higher seeds.

Someone’s going to have to forgive Big East Commissioner John Marinatto if this is what he looks like after yesterday’s NCAA Tournament games from his conference.

It’s bad enough that that’s Buzz Williams, the head coach of the Marquette Golden Eagles, who crashed out of the dance in their most predictable fashion: losing by two points practically at the buzzer. It was par for the course for a team that only suffered one loss by double digits all year long and lost six games in conference by less than a touchdown.

An 11 seed (as the Washington Huskies were) from a power conference (even though there’s a debate about just how “powerful” the Pac-10 was this year) isn’t the end of the world. Upsets happen all the time like that this time of year, and the Big East knew that it wasn’t going to have an 8-0 first round of this tournament in all likelihood.

Even losing the Notre Dame Fighting Irish wasn’t all that big of a deal to the Big East. After all, the Irish were probably the weakest of tournament teams out of this conference, and they were still adapting to a new system and life where their best player (Luke Harangody) was coming off of the bench and not starting.

Notre Dame was probably an overrated #6 seed playing against an Old Dominion squad that was probably an underrated #11. So it was par for the course for the luck of the Irish to run out late in the game against the Monarchs, and again, it wasn’t that big of a deal or that black of an eye to take.

Now… Villanova…. You’re a significantly, significantly different story.

Once upon a time a threat to take over the #1 spot in the AP Poll, the Villanova Wildcats entered this tournament looking to make amends for a bad showing in the Big East Tournament, which wrapped up after just one game following a loss to the aforementioned Golden Eagles. Surely, there was no way that there was even a remote struggle coming for a team that was going to be on the #1 line of the tourney if not for that late season swoon, right?

Wrong.

Nova was acting like a defeated team before it even stepped anywhere near the court in Providence on Thursday. HC Jay Wright benched both G Corey Fisher and G Scottie Reynolds at the outset of the game for a violation of team rules. His Cats fell behind Robert Morris, the Northeast Conference champions early. No big deal, right?

It is a big deal when you’re still behind by nine points late in the game! However, thanks to officiating that allowed the Wildcats back into the game and some great free throw shooting from Reynolds (who had better have had a great day from the charity stripe after going 2/15 from the floor and 1/8 from downtown), somehow, the Cats clawed their way into overtime. From there, they asserted themselves, and finally downed the scrappy Colonials.

It was all over the news during the 2:30 games as well as in that break between the morning and afternoon sessions. Everyone was talking about how Villanova is done and how St. Mary’s is going to pick it off on Saturday and that that was that for the Big East giants.

That statement might’ve been almost right… But maybe that was that for the Big East period.

Hey Georgetown Hoyas, all you had to do was go out and take care of an Ohio Bobcats team that was probably overrated as a #14, as it was the #9 seed in its own lousy conference during the year and really beat no one of any real note outside of the MAC this year. You could’ve restored order in your own conference.

Instead, you fell behind by double digits in the first half, played a miserable defensive game, and ultimately crashed out of the tourney in the most embarrassing way possible.

It’s not even like the Hoyas can say that they were just a victim of the proverbial “March Madness.” This wasn’t a situation where Vanderbilt was in, where it just got unlucky with a crazy shot at the end of the game. There were no crazy shots. There was just sheer domination.

So now, the Big East enters its second day of basketball, and Syracuse, West Virginia, Louisville, and Pittsburgh will hope to make a better impression on the college basketball world than what their conference brethren did yesterday.

The lesson learned, though, is that the big, bad Big East might not be quite as big and bad as we once thought.

List of Current Odds to Win The West Bracket Can Be Found Below!

(2010 NCAA Tournament Printable Brackets; PDF – GIF) If there’s a team like a George Mason that is going to come out of nowhere to go to the Final Four, the West Bracket is where is most likely to happen. Some of the best mid-major teams in America are all in this at-large heavy region, and they’re all gunning to be the next Cinderella team to come out of nowhere and become a legitimate threat for the National Championships.

It’s possible to think that the #1 team in this bracket, the Syracuse Orange, may have nothing but mid-majors to face en route to the Final Four. Their first serious test after #16 Vermont is going to be either #8 Gonzaga or #9 Florida State. The Seminoles are the only lower seed on the board to be favored over a higher seed in the first round. Still, everyone knows that HC Mark Few’s club is capable of dominant March Madness runs year in and year out, and the Orange have to be worried to tangle with them so early in the tournament.

The #5 Butler Bulldogs, #12 UTEP Miners, and #13 Murray State Racers are also big time mid-majors that feel like they can do a ton of damage this March. Both the Miners and Racers have to feel shafted for their seedings in the dance. Though UTEP only has itself to blame for not winning the Conference USA Tournament, Murray State did its job and won the Ohio Valley with a dominant record. Yet, as a #13 seed, the Racers face the daunting task of taking on the SEC’s #4 Vanderbilt Commodores in Round 1.

On the other half of the draw, two very underrated mid-majors lie waiting to strike. The #7 BYU Cougars were probably good enough to be on the #5 line this year, especially considering that New Mexico was blessed with a three seed on the other side of the tournament table. They’ve got a bad history in the tournament in recent years, but this should be the year that the Cougs get out of the first round of the dance, as they take on a Florida team that many question whether they belong in the field of 65 or not.

List of Current Odds to Win The West Bracket Can Be Found Below!

The other dangerous mid-major comes out of the Atlantic 10, the #6 Xavier Musketeers. The X-Men have a history of screwing up brackets, as they know what it’s like to get to the Elite 8. Neither the #3 Pittsburgh Panthers nor the #2 Kansas State Wildcats have to be thrilled about the prospects of a second round match with a hungry Cinderella story or a Sweet 16 duel with the other one.

Still, the Orange are the team to beat out West, especially if the injury to F Arinze Onuaku isn’t a serious one. HC Jim Boeheim has a dangerous team that is deep enough to take out any team in America. The road to Indianapolis, as they say, will be a long and winding one, though.

Click Here For A Complete List of Odds To Win The Entire 2010 NCAA Tournament

Current March Madness Odds to win the West Bracket @ BetUS (as of 3/17/10):
(Get a HUGE 100% Bonus up to $1000 at BetUS Sportsbook When Using This Link)

Syracuse +160
Kansas State +300
Pittsburgh +800
Butler +1000
BYU +1000
Xavier +1200
Vanderbilt +1400
Florida State +1600
Gonzaga +1800
Minnesota +2000
UTEP +4000
Florida +4000
Murray State +6000
Oakland +15000
North Texas +30000
Vermont +30000

Complete List of Odds to Win The Midwest Bracket Can Be Found Below!

(2010 NCAA Tournament Printable Brackets; PDF – GIF) The Midwest Bracket is where the #1 overall seed in the tournament, the Kansas Jayhawks are playing. However, the Selection Committee probably didn’t do Rock Chalk any real favors, as this is clearly the most difficult bracket to be playing in. Look out for all of the superstars in this region (and we’re not even going to mention any Jayhawks!).

The Jayhawks are going to need every bit of their depth to get through this bracket. It’s going to get very difficult, very quickly for KU. The winner of the #8 UNLV/#9 Northern Iowa game is going to be playing with a chip on its shoulder and will be out to prove that the mid-majors can indeed play with the big boys.

If Kansas does make a deep run into March, both the #2 Ohio State Buckeyes and #3 Georgetown Hoyas are going to be waiting for it. That means that the Jayhawks will most likely have to get through either F Evan Turner, the AP National Player of the Year, or C Greg Monroe, who is largely considered the most versatile big man in the game.

However, don’t think that a Sweet 16 clash of the Big Ten and Big East titans is a certainty. The #7 Oklahoma State Cowboys have the man probably most suited to take over this entire tournament on their roster in the form of G James Anderson. Anderson, who averaged over 22 points per game this season, is largely being overlooked. The Cowboys draw the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets out of the #10 hole, who just have to feel fortunate to be in this tournament after needing to play four games in four nights in the ACC Tournament just to make it here.

Complete List of Odds to Win The Midwest Bracket Can Be Found Below!

A prospective #4/#5 match between the Maryland Terrapins and Michigan State Spartans is intriguing as well. What Sparty did in last year’s tournament was remarkable, and virtually the entire cast of characters is back. G Kalin Lucas dominated the March Madness proceedings last year, but he’s going to have a tough time pulling his team through the field of 65 once again.

For the Terps, G Greivis Vasquez is wrapping up a fine collegiate career. There’s nothing that he can’t do on the floor, as he is a general, a scorer, a distributor, and a rebounder all in one body. Ask any of the teams in the ACC that have been dealing with this guy for years. Vasquez can single-handedly take Maryland from a ten point deficit to a five point lead in a matter of minutes.

If you’re looking for an upset in this bracket, there are plenty of double digit seeds that are unlikely conference winners. #12 New Mexico State stole a bid to the dance by winning the WAC, while #13 Houston did the exact same thing in Conference USA. The #11 San Diego State Aztecs are the winners of the very dangerous Mountain West, while #14 Ohio toppled both of the MAC powers, Kent State and Akron, to go dancing.

Click Here For A Complete List of Odds To Win The Entire 2010 NCAA Tournament

Current March Madness Odds to win the Midwest Bracket @ BetUS (as of 3/17/10):
(Get a HUGE 100% Bonus up to $1000 at BetUS Sportsbook When Using This Link)

Kansas -140
Ohio State +350
Georgetown +550
Michigan State +1000
Maryland +1300
Tennessee +2000
Oklahoma State +2500
Georgia Tech +4500
UNLV +5000
Northern Iowa +5000
San Diego State +7500
New Mexico State +10000
Houston +10000
Ohio +15000
UC Santa Barbara +30000
Lehigh +30000

List of Current Odds to Win The South Bracket Can Be Found Below!

(2010 NCAA Tournament Printable Brackets; PDF – GIF) The South Region is considered arguably the weakest bracket of the four in this year’s tournament. However, that should make for some competitive basketball over the next couple weeks, as there are legitimately a dozen teams that have to feel like they have a chance to go to the Final Four.

We’ll start at the top with #1 Duke Blue Devils, who are arguably the weakest top seed in this field in spite of the fact that they were rated #3 of the four. They’ve got a trio of players that is just as good as any threesome in the country with G Jon Scheyer, G Nolan Smith, and F Kyle Singler. Those three are scoring over 68% of the Dookies’ points this year, and that ratio has done nothing but go up over the course of the season.

Are the Blue Devils vulnerable? Most likely. That could take a toll on the team very early, as the winner of the California/Louisville game in the #8/#9 draw may prove to be a real threat.

There are four very dangerous double digit seeds in this bracket as well. The #10 St. Mary’s Gaels were the WCC winners this season against a Gonzaga team that is always known to cause problems for big schools this time of year. #11 Old Dominion could’ve snagged an at-large bid to the dance without the Colonial’s automatic bid. This is a squad that already has beaten Georgetown in Washington DC this season, so it’s one that can’t be rested upon.

List of Current Odds to Win The South Bracket Can Be Found Below!

Utah State and Siena, the #12 and #13 seeds respectively, were two of the biggest players in the BracketBusters this year. The Aggies knocked off Wichita State, which is probably what put them in the field of 65 as an at-large team. Siena’s loss to Butler most likely is what punished the Saints with this high seeding. However, this is a team with a great history having advanced to the second round of the dance in back-to-back years out of the Metro Atlantic.

#2 Villanova slumped down the stretch, but it was still a great candidate for a #1 seed until the very end of the season. #3 Baylor is accepted as one of the most talented teams in the country that could cause some big hassles for anyone it runs into if it catches fire.

Don’t forget about #5 Texas A&M, who much like the Bears, are going to get the privilege of playing close to home in Houston should either team make it to the Sweet 16.

The #6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish have found a groove playing their “burn” offense, which is designed to slow down the pace of games. The #4 Purdue Boilermakers are going to be the forgotten team in this bracket. HC Matt Painter’s team may not be playing with F Robbie Hummel and was just destroyed by Minnesota in the Big Ten semifinals, but it is still capable of playing like a #1 seed.

Click Here For A Complete List of Odds To Win The Entire 2010 NCAA Tournament

Current March Madness Odds to win the South Bracket @ BetUS (as of 3/16/10):
(Get a HUGE 100% Bonus up to $1000 at BetUS Sportsbook When Using This Link)

Duke -105
Villanova +250
Baylor +400
Purdue +1600
Texas A&M +1800
Notre Dame +2000
Louisville +2500
California +3000
Richmond +3500
Utah State +4000
St. Mary’s +5000
Old Dominion +5000
Siena +7500
Sam Houston St. +7500
Robert Morris +25000
Winthrop +30000
Arkansas Pine Bluff +35000

List of Current Odds to Win The East Bracket Can Be Found Below!

(2010 NCAA Tournament Printable Brackets; PDF – GIF) The East Bracket is largely considered a wide open bracket. HC John Calipari’s club is the top seed in this region, but with the Big East and Atlantic 10 champs roaming in this conference, there are plenty of other squads that can knock off the top seed.

Assuming that the Kentucky Wildcats can get out of the first round against East Tennessee State, they’ll have to face off against two teams that both have the ability to be very, very dangerous for them. The #8 Texas Longhorns were 17-0 once upon a time in this season before falling off the face of the earth, but there’s still no reason to believe that the Horns can’t be frightening to the top seeds. Don’t count out #9 Wake Forest either, as the Demon Deacons played in the rough and tumble ACC.

Two brackets down, there’s a ton of defense. The fight between the #5 Temple Owls and #12 Cornell Big Red should be a fantastic clash between the nation’s top three-point shooting team and one of the best at defending the long ball. Watching F Ryan Wittman try to compete against a squad that is only allowing 56.1 points per game and letting teams shoot 28.1% from downtown should be fantastic.

The winner will get yet another defensive showcase either against the #4 Wisconsin Badgers, who notoriously have one of the best ‘D’s in the nation or the #13 Wofford Terriers, who held teams to just 61.2 points per game.

The other half of the bracket is littered with a lot of marquee at large teams and the #2 West Virginia Mountaineers, who won the Big East for the first time in school history. Their fellow Big East cohorts, the #6 Marquette Golden Eagles are also in this bracket and could be considered very dangerous.

Watch out for the #3 New Mexico Lobos, who were the regular season Mountain West champions. HC Steve Alford thinks he has a team that can win the entire tournament, and even though the Lobos have to travel a long way if they reach the second week of the dance, they’re certainly still going to be a real threat.

The Pac-10 champions, the Washington Huskies, the Big Sky champs, the Montana Grizzlies, and two other at-large teams, the #7 Clemson Tigers and #10 Missouri Tigers round out this bracket.

Click Here For A Complete List of Odds To Win The Entire 2010 NCAA Tournament

Current March Madness Odds to win the East Bracket @ BetUS (as of 3/16/10):
(Get a HUGE 100% Bonus up to $1000 at BetUS Sportsbook When Using This Link)

Kentucky +120
West Virginia +200
Wisconsin +700
New Mexico +1200
Temple +1600
Marquette +1800
Clemson +2000
Texas +2000
Missouri +2000
Washington +3000
Wake Forest +4000
Cornell +10000
Wofford +15000
Montana +20000
Morgan State +30000
East Tennessee State +30000

List of Current Odds to Win The 2010 NCAA Tournament Can Be Found Below!

(2010 NCAA Tournament Printable Brackets; PDF – GIF) On Tuesday night, 65 teams vie for college basketball’s biggest prize in the greatest tournament in all of sports. The NCAA Tournament will kick off with the play-in game between the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions and the Winthrop Eagles, and wrap up on Monday April 5th with the National Championship Game between the two teams that are left standing when the madness of March is complete.

The three leading favorites to win this tournament should come as no surprise to anyone. The Syracuse Orange (+800 at Oddsmaker), Kentucky Wildcats (+400 at Oddsmaker), and Kansas Jayhawks (+200 at Oddsmaker) are the three teams of choice. Some combination of those three teams were all supplanted in the AP’s Top 5 for the better part of the last two months, and even though the Orange bowed out of the Big East Tournament early, they are absolutely still deserving of their spot on the bracket and their status as a favorite to win the whole enchilada.

The fourth #1 seed, the Duke Blue Devils and the four #2 seeds all chime in somewhere between +600 and +800 to round out the overwhelming favorites to win the dance at Oddsmaker.

Looking for some nice prices on underdogs? Try to see if the teams that you’re looking at meet this generic eye test before placing a bet.

#1: Does the team have a true scorer that can take over the game?
#2: Does the team have a relatively favorable draw in the first weekend of the tournament?
#3: Is the team playing anywhere near home?
#4: Is the team going to essentially be playing a road game at any point against a team with home court advantage?
#5: Is there another team that fits this bill in their bracket?

There are a few teams that meet this mold that you’ll be able to get some decent prices on along the way.

Take the #12 Cornell Big Red for example (+75000 at Oddsmaker). The Ivy League champs are proven to be able to stick with anyone in the country (especially after nearly winning in Allen Fieldhouse earlier this year), and they have a big time scoring machine in F Ryan Wittman (17.5 PPG). Their draw isn’t the easiest in the world, but the way that Temple and Wisconsin both play, Wittman can catch some fire and knock out either team. Yes, at that point, #1 Kentucky probably awaits, but by then, you’ve got +75000 on a team that you can just scalp out of every step of the way in the future.

The odds aren’t quite as long on the #5 Texas A&M Aggies (+6000 at Oddsmaker), but this team has a schedule that could arguably leave it in the Final Four. Yes, Utah State is a difficult first game and could go against our rule of thumb about going against teams with home court advantage, but if the Aggies can dispose of USU, there could be some really, really clear sailing to the Elite Eight. Purdue is the weakest #4 seed in the field, and the Boilers may be primed to be upset by #13 Siena. Duke may get a heck of a challenge from the Cal/Louisville winner, and as a #5, if there’s a #1 seed that you want to face in this tournament, Coach K’s club is the one. A&M will also be playing just up the road in Houston, which could provide a major boost to a team which has the ability to catch fire in a hurry.

Lastly, stay away from all of these glitzy odds on teams like the #16 Lehigh Mountain Hawks (+2500000 at Oddsmaker) and the sorts. There are only probably 20 teams that legitimately have a chance of winning the National Championship, and none of the teams with seven digit odds are amongst them. It may be nice to laugh and say that you’ve got a $10 ticket that can turn into 2.5 million bucks, but you seriously have a better chance of buying ten quick picks for your local lottery than you do of one of these teams at these odds winning one game, let alone six of them against the elite teams in the nation.

Current Odds to win the 2010 NCAA Tournament @ Oddsmaker (as of 2/26/10):
(Get a HUGE 100% Bonus up to $1000 at Oddsmaker Sportsbook When Using This Link)

Kansas +200
Kentucky +400
Duke +600
Syracuse +800
Ohio State +600
West Virginia +800
Villanova +800
Kansas State +800
Georgetown +1000
New Mexico +3000
Pittsburgh +4000
Baylor +2000
Maryland +3000
Wisconsin +2000
Vanderbilt +5000
Purdue +5000
Temple +6000
Butler +7500
Texas A&M +6000
Tennessee +7500
Marquette +6000
Xavier +6000
Notre Dame +5000
Oklahoma State +6000
Clemson +10000
BYU +5000
Richmond +20000
UNLV +30000
Texas +4000
Gonzaga +15000
California +15000
Northern Iowa +50000
Wake Forest +10000
Florida State +7500
Louisville +5000
Georgia Tech +25000
Missouri +6000
Florida +15000
St. Mary’s +30000
San Diego State +75000
Washington +15000
Minnesota +10000
Old Dominion +15000
New Mexico State +75000
Cornell +75000
Utah State +30000
UTEP +50000
Houston +75000
Wofford +150000
Siena +75000
Murray State +300000
Ohio +150000
Montana +300000
Oakland +1500000
San Houston State +150000
UC Santa Barbara +300000
Morgan State +2500000
North Texas +1500000
Robert Morris +1500000
Lehigh +2500000
East Tennessee State +2500000
Vermont +1500000
Arkansas Pine-Bluff +2500000
Winthrop +2500000