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):
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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):
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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

March Madness has officially kicked off, as conference tournaments are underway and the first official tickets to the dance will be handed out in the days to come. When it’s all said and done, there are 35 teams that won’t win their conference tournaments that are invited to the grandest dance in the world anyway.

Truth be told, a whole bunch of those spots have already been handed out for certain. Figure that these teams, without any shred of a doubt whatsoever, are already making plans for being in the brackets come Selection Sunday…

Atlantic 10 (3): Temple, Xavier, Rhode Island
ACC (1): Duke
Big XII (4): Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, Texas
Big East (4): Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia, Pittsburgh
Big Ten (4): Ohio State, Purdue, Michigan State, Wisconsin
Mountain West (2): New Mexico, BYU
SEC (3): Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee

Now, we’ll argue that one of these teams from each conference is going to get their respective league’s automatic bid to the tourney. That makes 14 at-large bids that are certainly gone. If you’re team’s not on this list above and you think you’re going to the NCAA Tournament, you’d better pay really good attention to the rest of this article.

Everyone get out your Gonzaga shirt, your Murray State hat, your Northern Iowa socks, your Siena sweater, your Old Dominion shoes, and your Butler underwear.

In a perfect world, all six of these teams are just going to win their conference tournaments and take their automatic slots in the field. That would leave the other, oh, 40 or so of you out there the maximum possible 21 tickets to fight for.

However, this isn’t a perfect world, and this is what makes the madness of March so fantastic. In the event that the Zags, Racers, Panthers, Saints, Monarchs, and/or Bulldogs happens to lose a game in the next week or so in their conference tournaments, they’ll be thrust into the at-large pool with the rest of you suckers that are groveling to the Selection Committee to put you in the field of 65 in spite of the fact that you have obvious flaws on your resumes. In the cases of Gonzaga, Northern Iowa, and Butler, they’re not going to join the 40 of you that are praying to get in. They’re going to join the 14 that already know that they’re in the driver’s seat.

For Murray State, Siena, and Old Dominion, not winning their conference tournaments may leave them in the NIT. Or maybe it won’t. One thing is for certain, though. If you happened to lose to one of these three teams in the regular season (I’m looking at you Georgetown and Charlotte!), you’d better hope that that team gets into the field via the automatic bid, because if they don’t, you’re going to be subjected to having the Dikembe Mutombo finger waved at you for having lost the head-to-head series against a fellow bubble dweller.

The beauty about college basketball though, is that virtually everyone gets a chance. If you want to play in the NCAA Tournament, play your way into the field. Keep winning in your conference tournaments, and you’ll find your way onto the dance floor one way or the other.

If not and your bubble pops, don’t go blaming anyone but yourself.

Let the madness of March begin…

After two weeks worth of great Olympics betting action, the festivities in Vancouver have finally come to a close. There’s plenty left to rant and rave about in the American sports scene, none of which have anything to do with the efforts of the US hockey team, which claimed silver medals after losing in overtime to the Canadians in Sunday’s gold medal game.

Rap Sheet Picture of the Week
Purdue Boilermakers F Robbie Hummel, who suffered a season-ending injury in the same week that his team lost any hope of a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Last week, we took some time to rant about how poorly the Villanova Wildcats played against bubble teams in the Big East. Now, it’s time for the Georgetown Hoyas to step up and face the music. C’mon guys… Losing at home to Notre Dame, playing without its stud F Luke Harangody? That makes two completely inexcusable and embarrassing losses at home on the season, with the other coming at home against South Florida back on February 3rd. Only managing 15 rebounds as a team against the Irish was quite disgusting, and the end result was just as repulsive for a team that once upon a time believed it was good enough to be on the #1 line in the NCAA Tournament.

Don’t think that you’re getting away from this one, Boston Celtics. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I hear you complaining now that you were playing without your best player, F Paul Pierce against the New Jersey Nets on Saturday night. No offense, but if you took your entire regular starting five out of the lineup, you’d still have a squad that was lined at -4 at home against the Nets. Oh, you don’t believe me? Tell me that you’d rather have Devin Harris, Courtney Lee, Yi Jianlian, Trenton Hassell, and Brook Lopez over Marquis Daniels, Nate Robinson, Glen Davis, Rasheed Wallace, and Tony Allen. Get real fellas. If your boy Ray Allen keeps putting up 3/11 shooting nights, you won’t even survive the first round of the playoffs let alone make a run at the NBA title.

The New Mexico Lobos got arguably their biggest win of the season on Saturday when they knocked off BYU in the closing moments of their game 83-81 to clinch up the Mountain West regular season title. However, that’s not what we’re ranting about. We’re ranting about that ridiculous postgame altercation that HC Steve Alford had with one of the Cougars. Hey Coach, you know better than this. You can’t sit there and yell at a player on the opposing team (or your own team for that matter), “I’m going to tell you real clear… You’re an [expletive]!” That marred a big win for your team, Alford, and you owe your guys a heck of a lot better than that.

As an American, it’s really easy to rant on the Russians, but in this case, there were two boneheads that deserve it. Alexander Ovechkin decided that it was a great idea to bust up a camera after his hockey team was bounced from the Olympics. A great display of sportsmanship in an athletic event that is designed to promote the essence of being a good sport in representing your nation.

However, that wasn’t nearly the funniest, yet disgraceful Russian moment of the Olympics. President Dmitry Medvedev demanded that all of the Russian sports officials that were responsible for the debacle that was the country’s dismal 15 medal performance in the Winter Olympics to resign their posts. He claimed, “I think that the individuals responsible, or several of them, who answer for these preparations, should take the courageous decision to hand in their notice. If we don’t see such decisiveness, we will help them.”

So let’s get this straight, el presidente… You’re going to force out all of your Olympic coaching representatives right after the Vancouver games?

Man, are things going to be difficult for the other countries coming onto Russian soil for the 2014 Games in Sochi…

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Rap Sheet Picture of the Week
The crash of two Korean speed skaters on the final turn of Saturday night’s race that allowed American
Apolo Ohno to take the silver medal and prevented South Korea from sweeping the podium.

I could just rant all week about the Big East. We’ll start with you, Notre Dame Fighting Irish. I thought you wanted to really go dancing at some point so that you could say that you didn’t totally waste four years of having C Luke Harangody on your roster. At least you stuck in front of the college basketball betting line against Seton Hall, but what gives about losing at home to the Johnnies? You’re not exempt of this one either, Louisville Cardinals. Yeah, yeah, that win against Syracuse was really nice on Sunday, but truth be told, that only made up for your complete 74-55 dud against St. John’s on Thursday. Speaking of upsets that make no sense whatsoever… Hey Connecticut Huskies, how do you ever expect to make March Madness when you’re only score 48 points at home against Cincinnati? Your four top scorers should be worth more than that every single night! Finally, Georgetown Hoyas, you just stink. Rutgers is awful. Period. A-W-F-U-L, awful! There’s no excuse, even on the road, for you to be losing to a team like that. And you think you’re a #2 seed in the dance? The only thing you’re number two in right now is my doghouse.

Man, Houston Rockets… You were the probably the worst of the worst last week down in South Beach. How do you only score 66 points in an NBA game? I mean seriously, how is that possible? Yeah, fine. So you were without Gs Kyle Lowry and Trevor Ariza. I get it. You were shorthanded. Me and four other boards with angry faces could probably shoot better than 30.2% from the field for a game, and I’m only 5’7″ on a good day. Oh, by the way… Don’t think that I’m not looking at you G Aaron Brooks. You can’t shoot 3/16 from the floor by yourself in a game.

How’s about a little more effort here, Air Force Falcons. Ok, so you were 22.5-point underdogs going into Provo against BYU on Saturday. Fine. At least try to pretend like you can win the game. Instead, you got rolled up, getting outscored 53-20 in the first half and ultimately losing 91-48. Your 22 turnovers made you look like a circus out there on the court. The Bad News Bears may have done better than that.

Nice week, G Antero Niittymaki. There’s a reason that the Lightning just can’t quite seem to get over the hump once and for all and crack back into the Eastern Conference postseason. After putting up a stretch of games that had everyone in Tampa Bay holding up “Getting Niitty With It” signs, he gave up four goals in the first period of Thursday night’s game against the Bruins, and followed that up by conceding five two nights later against the Islanders. Oh by the way, G Mike Smith, you’re not exempt from this one either. Giving up four against the Rangers on the final day of the regular season before the NHL hockey season took a hiatus for the Olympics wasn’t swift either.

On Tuesday night, the Tennessee Volunteers were dismantled by the Vanderbilt Commodores 90-71. No, it wasn’t a loss that is totally going to shake the core of the entire city of Knoxville the same way that HC Lane Kiffin’s departure for USC did, but it could be a sign to come for a team that may be set to freefall through the SEC standings.

Maybe HC Bruce Pearl shouldn’t be smiling so much. After all, he dismissed G Tyler Smith from the basketball team 11 games ago, and since then, the team has only averaged 71.2 points per game, which is a far cry from the 76.7 for the duration of the season.

It’d be hard to picture an NCAA Tournament without the Volunteers, but let’s take a look at their resume right now just for fun, shall we?

Sure, there are some pretty good conference wins over Florida and Ole Miss, but all in all, a 6-3 record with only two road wins isn’t remarkable. Outside of SEC play, a win against Kansas is going to go a long way, but just like a lot of other major conference schools, there really aren’t any legitimate road wins on the slate.

The only really shameful losses as of right now were to Southern California and Georgia.

An SOS of 36, an RPI of 19, and an 18-5 record looks pretty solid, right?

So why am I wasting my time putting down the Vols? Just check out what’s left on this schedule…

Away @ Kentucky, Home vs. Georgia, Away @ South Carolina, Away @ Florida, Home vs. Kentucky, Home vs. Arkansas, Away @ Mississippi State, SEC Tournament

Hmm… A team that was 18-4 coming into yesterday will almost certainly be 18-6 by the time this weekend is over. There are only two games on this schedule that feel like absolute wins (Home vs. Georgia, Home vs. Arkansas), but the Hogs have already proven that they can play anywhere in this conference when they went on the road and took out Ole Miss in Oxford. A slip up in that game and a few road follies, and the Vols could suddenly be a 20-10 team going into the SEC Tournament and possibly needing a victory in that tourney to nail down a ticket to the dance.

For our money though, we’re far more concerned about how badly the Vols have been against the college basketball spreads. Tennessee dropped to just 1-5 ATS in its L/6 games, and it still only has one cover away from Rocky Top in the SEC. UT has also only scored 80+ points once in conference play this year after pulling that feat off five times in ’08-’09. This is also a squad that is struggling from beyond the arc on the season, shooting just 33.1%. That won’t get it done in the SEC, and it certainly won’t accomplish anything in the postseason either.

The oddsmakers haven’t really caught on quite yet, and before they do, it’s time to capitalize. Keep rolling against the boys from Rocky Top!