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Since the tournament began seeding teams in 1979, 21 of 29 champions have been seeded No. 1 or No. 2. UCLA is listed as 7-2 favorites to win it all.
The NCAA men’s basketball tournament has a reputation for big upsets, but the key to March Madness for bettors is to support favorites when it comes to picking the eventual national champion.
Since the tournament began seeding teams in 1979, 21 of 29 champions have been seeded No. 1 or No. 2 and only three teams seeded higher than eighth have even reached the Final Four.
That’s why on most betting boards, future odds for this year’s tournament lean heavily on top-seeded teams UCLA, North Carolina, Kansas and Memphis.
The Bruins are listed as 7-2 favorites to win it all, followed by the Tar Heels at 9-2, Jayhawks at 5-1 and Tigers at 8-1, quality lines when you consider that every other team in the tournament faces double-digit odds or greater.
But there are a couple of “long-shot” teams attracting support to pull off an upset, and they are perennial powers Duke, Georgetown, Louisville and Texas.
According to Sportsbook.com’s most recent tournament line, the Blue Devils — who have reached the Final Four 10 times under Coach Mike Krzyzewski — are at 15-1, with the Hoyas and Cardinals at 12-1 and the Longhorns at 10-1.
Note: Southern California’s three other tournament teams are big-time longshots: USC is 40-1, San Diego is 400-1 and Cal State Fullerton is not listed on most boards.
For first-round games, Georgetown has gained the most support to cover its point-spread line, according to Wagerline.com’s consensus betting list.
The Hoyas, favored by 16 points over Maryland Baltimore County, have been picked by 78.25% to beat the spread against the Retrievers.
USC is another team getting strong money play, according to theSpread.com’s betting chart. The Trojans, who are favored by 2 1/2 points over Kansas State, have gained 77% of the bets against the spread as of Tuesday afternoon.

latimes.com

Column: Indiana has four on the Dance floor, but for how long?
By MIKE BEAS
THE HERALD BULLETIN (ANDERSON, Ind.)
ANDERSON, Ind. — Phantom illnesses will mysteriously invade most parts of the United States this Thursday and Friday. From Los Angeles to Chapel Hill, they’ll keep even the most dependable employees at home.
Interesting how this happens at the outset of every NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and yet the medical profession never benefits.
First-round action long ago established itself as don’t-dare-miss television for it’s where Cinderella made her reputation. What she has in store for us these next few days is unknown, though you can bet your barca-lounger that favorites will tumble.
Much has been made this college basketball season over the state of Indiana’s resurgence having sent four programs to the Big Dance, but I’m not completely convinced there is an Elite Eight or even Sweet 16 ballclub in the bunch.
That’s not to say Butler, Notre Dame, Purdue and Indiana aren’t capable of rattling off two or three victories. Consider, though, that the final three mentioned in the previous sentence are coming off losses to underdog opponents in their respective conference tournaments.
Below are predictions for those programs closest to most of our hearts. Promise you’ll forget my e-mail address when in two weeks my bracket looks as though it’s been victim to a measles outbreak.
Butler: Let’s get this out of the way now. The Bulldogs got hosed. How does a program ranked 10th in the nation get pinned with a No. 7 seed in its region?
What this means is that the people whose opinions truly matter regard coach Brad Stevens’ squad as no better than college basketball’s 25th-best team, a slap in the face if ever there was one.
If the ’Dogs aren’t mad, they should be. The question now is will they bite?
Prediction: Butler will defeat South Alabama on Friday, but it will be difficult in large part to a partisan Jaguars crowd. The Bulldogs then chase No. 2 seed Tennessee to the wire before losing a close one.
Notre Dame: Despite coming up short against Marquette in the Big East Tournament, the Irish are my choice to travel deepest in the tournament among the Indiana programs. That’s not to say Notre Dame is better than the other three. It received a friendlier draw, that’s all.
Prediction: Look for the Irish to defeat George Mason and then edge Washington State in the second round before coming up short against the nation’s No. 1 team, North Carolina, in the Sweet 16.

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Selection Sunday has come and gone, and the Madness is nigh.
For the NCAA tournament selection committee, that madness began early: Sunday’s five conference games had bracket implications, and the 65-team bracket wasn’t done until 20 minutes before CBS began its broadcast. (The biggest drama of the day: Georgia — which otherwise would have gone home — completed its unlikely run through the SEC tournament, beating Arkansas for an automatic bid.)
The bracket was refreshingly free of cries of “Injustice!” Top seed North Carolina is widely regarded as deserving of that honor, and among the other No. 1s — UCLA, Memphis and Kansas — only the Jayhawks came with caveats. (Coulda been Tennessee or Texas.) For the first time since 1980, last year’s finalists will be left out of the tournament. But while Ohio State was a possibility for an at-large spot, defending-champion Florida deserved its trip to the NIT.
The Buckeyes can fuss, at least minimally. So can Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth and Illinois State. The team with the biggest cause for complaint? Arizona State: The Sun Devils beat their archrivals at Arizona twice and then saw the Wildcats grab a No. 10 seed. Still, all in all there were few howls and whines when the bracket was complete.
Maybe that’s because the 2008 field is fairly mediocre, Bob Ryan writes in the Boston Globe, offering sympathy for the selection committee.
• Put down those brackets. If you think you can nail down this year’s Cinderellas and opening-round upsets in the men’s basketball tournament, then take a shot at the Daily Fix NCAA quiz. One entry per person. Entries may be quoted by name. Send your picks to dailyfix@wsj.com by tipoff Thursday, shortly after 12 p.m. ET. (Entries accepted by email only, not in the comments.) The winners get glory, a special Fix prize and a seat in the new annex wing of the Fix Skybox of Champions.
Choose only one answer for each of the first eight questions, as in the case of a tie, any correct answer counts. Correct answers are worth 10 points each unless otherwise noted:
1. Which will be the team with the highest seed number (16 is higher than 1) to win in the first round? (Please respond with a team name, and not a seed number.)
2. Which No. 1 seed will win by the fewest points in the first round?

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By KATE HAIROPOULOS / The Dallas Morning News
A wild final weekend of conference tournaments left the NCAA Tournament selection committee juggling eight contingency plans. The group finished the much-awaited bracket – the one that might dictate much of your life over the next three weeks – just 20 minutes before it was revealed on national television Sunday afternoon.
"This weekend was just a crazy weekend in a lot of ways," said Tom O’Connor, chairman of the 10-person selection committee, during a conference call following the bracket’s unveiling.
But for six Big 12 teams – and even an area team – the bracket held their tickets to the best Madness of the year. It all culminates April 5 and 7 at the Final Four in San Antonio.
UT-Arlington earned its first tournament berth by beating Northwestern State in the Southland Conference tournament final Sunday afternoon. Second-year coach Scott Cross has the Mavericks in just 10 years after he was a player at UTA. But here’s the reality: As a No. 16 seed, the Mavericks face a brutal first-round game against No. 1 seed Memphis.
Texas was in contention for a No. 1 seed, but despite losing it and the Big 12 final to Kansas, the Longhorns are in a desirable position as a No. 2 seed. If Texas, which meets Austin Peay in the first round, advances to the Sweet Sixteen, it will play in front of a sure-to-be-friendly Houston crowd.

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March Madness 2008 Printable Bracket
It’s that time again….March Madness and every office with any semblance of life will be incorporating March Madness 2008 office pools.Needless-to-say, all our readers will require a printable bracket. These can be found at either ESPN.com or CBS Sportsline.
Just how popular are office pools and contests?
The tournament is no longer the exclusive province of the sports-obsessed. Office pools have dramatically expanded the number participating in and obsessing about the tourney. Last year, more than 3 million participated in online tournament contests, and with each year, more and more women enter office pools. Many — men and women alike — are simply ill-equipped to handle the pressure.
"Given the levels of unremitting stress, is it any wonder that thousands of Americans experience degrees of mental dysfunction during and long after the three-week event?" asked Dr. Frederick Geisel, a renowned industrial psychologist. "Effects can range from minor and temporary emotional imbalance to more prolonged periods of melancholy — or, its opposite, bouts of seemingly unprovoked rage — to longer-term effects, such as acute clinical depression."

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Buster Posey believes there is a lot for fans to like about the Florida State baseball team — when he and his teammates finally get to play.
The season had already been pushed back three weeks because of the NCAA’s new compact schedule when bad weather postponed Friday’s game against Duquesne.
Today’s first game of a doubleheader will make for the latest season opener during the 29-year Mike Martin era. Elih Villanueva will be on the mound at noon today for the Seminoles.
The second game will take place about 30-45 minutes following the end of the first game at Dick Howser Stadium. Both games will be nine innings.
“Starting three weeks later and then this was just a tease today,” said Posey, the preseason All-American catcher after the game was finally postponed two hours after it was scheduled to begin. “We’re ready to go. This team has a very good chemistry and we’ve got a bunch of hard workers. We’re very excited to get started.
“A lot of times you hear people say 1 through 9 is solid but I don’t think that is a far stretch at all. And the pitchers are solid and the defense as well.”
FSU was one of five ACC teams to have games postponed Friday. Weather has been a concern for coaches such as Martin who opposed the compact schedule. It means FSU must play eight five-game weeks plus a busy start to the season.
“Now you’re looking at eight games in 10 days,” Martin said of an opening schedule that includes an exhibition game against the Philadelphia Phillies and a four-game series with Auburn next week. “It’s a challenging thing.”

tallahassee.com