2011 March Madness Tournament

It's time for my yearly post on my blogspot website to tell you about the 2011 NCAA March Madness tournament. The format for the opening round is different then previous years. The tournament begins tomorrow (March 15) at 6:30PM ET with the inaugural First Four. The First Four are the opening round prelims that are for the right to play in the field of 64.

That means if you are just getting into college basketball because its March Madness, you might not have known that there are now 68 teams that get into the NCAA tournament. The First Four games consist of pair of games that involve teams playing for a 16 seed and the last four at-large bids play for a 12th and 11th seed respectively.

This brings up something interesting that I didn't really know about the selection process before that kind of seems obvious now. I wondered why the 12 seed always seemed to be able to beat the 5 seed in most years. It's because they put one of three types of teams as a 12 seed: the awesome small conference team, the good to great Mid Major conference team, or the last teams in from one of the power conferences. 13 seeds and lower are reserved for the smaller division 1 conferences.

You can watch the First Four on truTV. The ESPN family of networks will be showing the first round matchups of the NIT Tournament. Besides the NIT tournament, there are also two other college basketball tournaments taking place: The College Basketball Invitational and the College Insider Tournament.

The Tuesday matchups are North Carolina-Asheville (19-13) vs. Arkansas-Little Rock (19-16) and UAB (22-8) vs. Clemson (9-7). The 16 seeds are playing at 6:30PM ET and UAB and Clemson are playing for a 12 seed and the right to play 5 seed West Virginia. Many people were critical of these two picks, which were the last two at-large teams in the tournament. UAB was the Conference USA regular season champ and the 2nd C-USA team in the tournament. The analysts said that Clemson did not belong in the tournament, especially since they did not have a win against a top 50 opponent all year.

The second set of First Four games on Wednesday are between the (16) Texas-San Antonio (19-13) vs. Alabama State (17-17) and USC (19-14) vs. VCU (23-11). USC and VCU are fighting for an 11 seed and the right to play the 6 seed Georgetown. Both of these at-large selections were heavily criticized after the brackets were revealed on Selection Sunday as well, but especially VCU out of the Colonial League.

Bubbles Busted

You would think with 68 teams coming into the tournament, there would be less controversy then normal. But of course, teams 69 - 74 are all going to be upset that they didn't make it. There were quite a few schools that were heart-broken on Sunday.

Top of the list is Colorado, who had 3 wins against top 25 Kansas State including one in the Big 12 tournament. They should have been in ahead of all four of the First Four contestants.

Other teams that were upset include Virginia Tech, who struggled down the stretch after beating #1 Duke and played their way out of the tournament. Alabama beat Georgia twice, but Georgia took one of the last at-large bids instead of Alabama. Boston College had an argument, but less of one then the other teams ahead of them.

You would have thought that more tournament bids would have meant more at-large bids from smaller conferences. If Cleveland State would have beaten Butler, both teams would have been in the tournament. They had a better record then Butler, but there is no way that the Bulldogs would have been denied after going to the finals last year. Saint Mary's also got the short straw after losing to Gonzaga in the WCC finals. This is another case of a smaller conference only getting 1 bid because the right team won.

NCAA Tournament Schedule

1st Round Games - Day 1
#12 Clemson vs #5 West Virginia 12:15 PM - East Region - CBS
#9 Old Dominion vs #8 Butler 12:40 PM - Southeast Region - truTV
#13 Morehead State vs #4 Louisville 1:40 PM - Southwest Region - TBS
#10 Penn State vs #7 Temple 2:10 PM - West Region - TNT

#13 Princeton vs #4 Kentucky 2:45 PM - East Region - CBS
#16 UNC-Ash/Ark-LR vs #1 Pittsburgh 3:10 PM - Southeast Region - truTV
#12 Richmond vs #5 Vanderbilt 4:10 PM - Southwest Region - TBS
#15 No. Colorado vs #2 San Diego State - West Region - TNT

#15 UC Santa Barbara vs #2 Florida 6:50 PM - Southeast Region - TBS
#14 Wofford vs #3 BYU 7:15 PM - Southeast Region - CBS
#14 Bucknell vs #3 Connecticut 7:20 PM - West Region - TNT
#13 Belmont vs #4 Wisconsin 7:27 PM - Southeast Region - truTV

#10 Michigan State vs #7 UCLA 9:20 PM - Southeast Region - TBS
#11 Gonzaga vs #6 St. John's 9:45 PM - Southeast Region - CBS
#11 Missouri vs #6 Cincinnati 9:50 PM - West Region - TNT
#12 Utah State vs #5 Kansas State 9:57 PM - Southeast Region - truTV

1st Round Games - Day 2
#13 Oakland vs #4 Texas 12:15 PM - West Region - CBS
#9 Tennessee vs #8 Michigan 12:40 PM - West Region - truTV
#15 Akron vs #2 Notre Dame 1:40 PM - Southwest Region - TBS
#9 Villanova vs #8 George Mason 2:10 PM - East Region - TNT

#12 Memphis vs #5 Arizona 2:45 PM - West Region - CBS
#16 Hampton vs #1 Duke 3:10 PM - West Region - truTV
#10 Florida St vs #7 Texas A&M - Southwest Region - TBS
#16 UT-San Antonio/Alabama St vs #1 Ohio State 4:40 PM - East Region - TNT

#16 Boston U vs #1 Kansas 6:50 PM - Southwest Region - TBS
#15 Long Island vs #2 North Carolina 7:15 PM - East Region - CBS
#14 St Peter's vs #3 Purdue 7:20 PM - Southwest Region - TNT
#11 Marquette vs #6 Xavier 7:27 PM - East Region - truTV

#9 Illois vs #8 UNLV 9:20 PM - Southwest Region - TBS
#10 Georgia vs #7 Washington 9:45 PM - East Region - CBS
#11 USC/VCU vs #6 Georgetown 9:50 PM - Southwest Region - TNT
#14 Indiana State vs #3 Syracuse 9:57 PM - East Region - truTV

For more NCAA tournament information, check out my NCAA tournament contests and March Madness Sportsbook Promotions pages on my website. You can also find news and updates on the NCAA tournament at BestSportsGambling.com

2010 College Football Bowl Season

The NCAA Division 1 Bowl season is about to get started with three separate bowl games scheduled for tomorrow. The first game is the New Mexico Bowl and kickoff for this game will be 2:00PM Eastern Time.

This means that anyone who is looking for a college bowl pickem contest needs to sign up and get at least get these three games picked before tomorrow afternoon. Otherwise, you will be at a disadvantage in any contest that involves picking all 35 bowl games.

Can you win any prizes? Sure you can, if you're extremely lucky. A lot of the free contests have more than 100,000 player entries and there are only prizes for the top 3 or 5 places. If you are really looking for more of an office pool type game where you don't have to pay much to enter and have a chance at winning a big pool, then you should check out these pay for contests.

Fortunetaly, all is not lost if you're reading this and this is Sunday December 19 or later. In the confidence pickem leagues, you will only be losing your confidence number 1, 2 and 3 picks and I will pretty much guarantee you that this won't be the reason you lost.

There are also tournaments, like the Fox Sports College Football Pickem that do not start until Christmas Day. In this tournament, the first bowl game that you have to pick is the Little Caesars Bowl. Let's face it, not all of you would know that the bowl season starts this early.

BetUS College Football New Year's Day Promo

I've found this special promotion for college bowl betting on New Year's Day that I, myself, am going to try. This special bet is only going to be offered at BetUS Sportsbook. Get ready to try you luck as well because for just $100 you can make a six-team parlay and get a chance to win $4000!

All you will have to do is register with BetUS if you haven't already done so and bet on one team or another for six of the New Year's Day bowl games. If you win all six, the $4000 is yours!

Projections for the First Three Bowl Games of 2010

Update 12-20: Well, two out of three isn't bad. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to post predictions for every bowl game. However, I found a good sports blog called bestsportsgambling.com that has predicted the first three NCAA bowl games correctly. They just posted their pick for the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl St Petersburg today. This game features the Louisville Cardinals (6-6) vs the Southern Miss Golden Eagles (8-4).

New Mexico Bowl

Let's start with the New Mexico Bowl. The BYU Cougars are currently 11 1/2 point favorites against the spread over the UTEP Miners, although both teams a 6-6. The reason for this large margin is that UTEP has been going down the second half of the season being losers of 5 of their last 6 and a majority of their wins are over some of the worst teams in college football.

Meanwhile, BYU isn't a whole lot better overall; but they have won 4 of their last 5 and almost won at #20 Utah. This looks one sided all the way.

Pick: BYU - Spread Winner: BYU - Projected Score: 38 - 24

Humanitarian Bowl

The second bowl game to be played is going to be the Humanitarian Bowl. This bowl game starts at 5:30PM ET and features the Northern Illinois Huskies against the Fresno State Bulldogs. Whether may be a big factor in this game will be played outdoors at Boise State's blue field.

The Huskies are currently 2 point favorites over the Bulldogs. I believe that this because Northern Illinois has the better overall record of 10-3 compared to Fresno State at 8-4. The Huskies were undefeated in the MAC conference until the championship game, which they lost to Miami of Ohio (9-4).

The Huskies have a high powered offense that has scored at least 20 points in every game except the first game of the season. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs have been a little suspect when it comes to playing the good teams in their conference. They were blown out of all but one of the top teams that they played.

But the two teams do have a common opponent, the Illinois Fighting Illini, which Fresno State recently beat and Northern Illinois lost to at the start of the season.
With that win over Illinois, the added travel for the Huskies and the conditions in Idaho in mid-December in mind, here are my picks for this game:

Pick: Fresno State - Spread Winner: Fresno State - Projected Score: 21 - 17

New Orleans Bowl

The final bowl game for tomorrow will be the New Orleans Bowl. This game features the Ohio Bobcats against the Troy Trojans. The Bobcats are 8-4 out of the MAC and Troy is 7-5 out of the Sunbelt conference. At the surface, this game looks about as even as it can get.

That was before I saw the spread move at BetUS from being a pickem to Troy getting a 3 point advantage. What is it that has moved the spread a field goal in two days? This is either because of an unannounced injury or suspension or more likely it could be a sign that people are starting to bet on Troy more which and it's moving to correct this.

When you look at Troy, their defense tends to give up a lot of points which means if they win this game it will probably be a shootout. The majority of their wins have been relatively close. The big advantage that I see with Troy is that the university is located in Alabama. I'm not sure if Troy travels well, but this could be a factor in this game.

Meanwhile, Ohio has a better defense allowing 10 less points a game. The Bobcats were on a 7 game winning streak before they lost badly inexplicably to Kent State (5-7) when they had a chance to go to the MAC Championship game. This is a tough one, but here are my suggestions:

Pick: Troy - Spread Winner: Ohio - Projected Score: 28-27

NCAA Basketball Men's Championship Game Tonight

March Madness is almost over now. My brackets got destroyed after the second round games. In the first round, I had correctly predicted 25 of the 32 games right and didn't lose any an team past the sweet 16.

The second round saw three of my final four and my champion go down, as well as a little more than half of my sweet 16 picks. My loan bright spot was picking Tennessee to go as far as they did. This seems to happen to me every year. As much as I prepare for the tournament brackets, the games beyond the first round are an elusive mystery because so many of these games are very close at the end.

Just take a look at the Michigan State vs Butler game in the final four. The game being played almost looked like two of the same all-Defense no-offense teams that the Detroit Pistons used to have. That 5 point lead for Butler almost looked like a 15 point lead if you didn't know any better. Variables like that are always going to be that winning that bracket tournament a tough one.

However, over this past year's games, I have found it necessary to change the way I prepare for the brackets. The most important thing you need is to get the final 4 and elite 8 teams right, as well as the champion of course. The first couple of rounds don't matter that much.

That being said, how many of us could have filled out 100 brackets and not put Michigan State or Butler in the Final Four. Well, there was one person in a pool of 150 that I played in. That person is going to win easily. Goes to show you it's better to be lucky than good.

NCAA Championship Game - Butler vs Duke

Now the obvious story has been and will continue to be the emergence of Butler from the Horizon league into the Championship game. This would be truly memorable if the small college can win it all on their home soil. I would like to believe that Butler can pull off the shocker, but it just doesn't look like it is going to happen.

The two teams that I saw on Saturday night looked like they were on opposite ends of the spectrum. Duke knew they had to play a great game in order to beat West Virginia and they played about the best game of the tournament so far. Butler and Michigan State got so tight that it didn't look like either team wanted to win.

One thing is for certain, if Butler goes on a scoring drought like they did against MSU, they will be looking at a large deficit. Duke will be ready and they know that this opportunity doesn't always present themselves.

I imagine that this will look a lot like last year's championship game. Butler fans better be ready very early in this game because that is the most likely time for Duke to try to get the fans out of the game early. This is exactly what North Carolina did last year to Michigan State in front of what essentially was the Spartan's home court in Detroit.

The most important thing that I think will be too much for Butler to handle will be the size of Duke's players. Duke has three players that are 6 foot 8 or taller. These large bodies may make offensive rebounding too much for Butler to handle on the box outs.

The only way that Butler can win tonight is if they keep the pace of the game super slow like they have done all tournament long. They completely shut down MSU in the closing 10 minutes. They will have to find a way to do something similar tonight to win.

2010 March Madness Tournament

Update - March 16, 2010 - Thursday game schedule sorted by start time

2010 March Madness - College Basketball Tournament

It's almost time for March Madness to begin. The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament begins every year in March; usually it will begin on the 3rd Thursday of March. There are a ton of NCAA bracket contests out there that you can sign up for free. They all have prizes that you can win. But you need to sign up for most of these by Noon Eastern Time on Thursday, March 18.

I do have one question for the locations of these games in regards to what region they are supposed to be in. How can you have East Regional games in San Jose, CA? That's just bizarre. I've also seen South Regional games that will take place in Providence, RI. Yeah, when I think of the South, I think of Rhode Island. Add that to games in the West Region being played in Milwaukee, WI. Okay, wait a minute. Then, I see that Syracuse is playing in the West region and they are playing about as far west as you can get - in Buffalo, NY.

Is the logistics of having a city prepare for a few basketball games that hard that they can't find sites in the geographic region? People may be trying to pick upsets based on the how far a team had to travel. If you didn't already know this then you would already know that the likely setup between New Mexico and Marquette will take place in San Jose and Marquette, not New Mexico will be the team that has to travel further for the game.

The tournament opens on Thursday, March 18, 2010. Tip off is usually between 12:15-12:20PM EST. According to the schedule, Florida and BYU are going to kick things off at 12:20. The rest of the first round schedule is below.

NCAA Tournament schedule -

Play-in game - Winthrop vs Arkansas-Pine Bluff - 7:30PM

1st Round Games - Day 1
#10 Florida vs #7 BYU 12:20 PM - West Region
#11 Old Dominion vs #6 Notre Dame 12:25 PM - South Region
#15 Robert Morris vs #2 Villanova 12:30 PM - South Region

#13 Murray State vs #4 Vanderbilt 2:30 PM - West Region
#15 North Texas vs #2 Kansas State 2:40 PM - West Region
#14 Sam Houston State vs #3 Baylor 2:45 PM - South Region
#10 Saint Mary's vs #7 Richmond 2:50 PM - South Region

#12 UTEP vs #5 Butler - 4:45 PM - West Region

#9 Northern Iowa vs # 8 UNLV 7:10 PM - Midwest Region
#16 East Tennessee State vs #1 Kentucky 7:15PM - East Region
#11 Washington vs #6 Marquette 7:20 PM - East Region
#14 Ohio vs #3 Georgetown 7:25 PM - Midwest Region

#16 Lehigh vs #1 Kansas 9:30 PM - Midwest Region
#9 Wake Forest vs #8 Texas 9:35 PM - East Region
#14 Montana vs #3 New Mexico 9:40 PM - East Region
#11 San Diego State vs #6 Tennessee 9:55 PM - Midwest Region

1st Round Game - Day 2
#15 Morgan State vs #2 West Virginia 12:15 PM - East Region
#11 Minnesota vs #6 Xavier 12:25 PM - West Region
#12 Cornell vs #5 Temple 12:30 PM - East Region

#13 Siena vs #4 Purdue 2:30 PM - South Region
#10 Missouri vs #7 Clemson 2:35 PM - East Region
#14 Oakland vs #3 Pittsburgh 2:45 PM - West Region
#13 Wofford vs #4 Wisconsin 2:50 PM - East Region

#12 Utah State vs #5 Texas A&M - 4:45 PM - South Region

#9 Florida State vs # 8 Gonzaga 7:10 PM - West Region
#10 Georgia Tech vs #7 Oklahoma State 7:15PM - Midwest Region
#12 New Mexico State vs #5 Michigan State 7:20 PM - Midwest Region
#16 Play-in Winner vs #1 Duke 7:25 PM - South Region

#16 Vermont vs #1 Syracuse 9:30 PM - West Region
#15 UC Santa Barbara vs #2 Ohio State 9:35 PM - Midwest Region
#13 Houston vs #4 Maryland 9:40 PM - Midwest Region
#9 Louisville vs #8 California 9:45 PM - South Region

More schedules to come as the games are played.

Below are a list of resources on the 2010 NCAA Basketball Tournament. If you can't find what your looking for or think something should be added, please comment below.

Watch the Tournament Live on your computer

Last year CBS streamed a majority of the 2009 College Basketball tournament on CBSSports.com. At times there were waiting lists, and all games that were on local TV were blocked out from watching online. This year CBSSports is teaming up with NCAA.com, and CSTV to stream all 63 games of the March Madness Tournament without any blackouts to all internet users.

• Watch the tournament games on CSTV.com
• Watch the tournament games on NCAA.com

You can also download an application from iTunes to watch all 63 games from your iPhone or iPod Touch.

• Download NCAA March Madness On Demand from iTunes
  
  

Tournament Brackets

• Download and print a blank tournament bracket
  
  
  • Printable Blank Tournament Bracket from Sportbet (PDF)
  • Printable Blank Tournament Bracket from BetUS (PDF)
    
    
• Download and print the March Madness Tournament Bracket with Teams filled in
  

  • Printable March Madness bracket from CBS. Looks pretty sharp.
    

• Simple instructions on how to make your own tournament bracket
  
  
  • How to Make Free Blank Tournament Brackets
    
    
• Bracket Manager at CBSSports.com - Manage your own Tournament Pool for free
  
  This year CBSSports offers their Bracket Manager, which allows people to create and manage their March Madness Pools very easily. It is free to use, and has many cool features including customized scoring options, inviting friends via email, access to your group from a private URL, automatic updating of standings, and more.
  
  
  • Click here to find out more about Bracket Manager or to create your own group
    
    

March Madness Brackets on Facebook

• CBSSports March Madness Facebook Application
• Watercoolers 2009 Bracket Challenge on Facebook
• SportsIllustrated / Citizen Sports / Finish Lines $5000 Facebook Tournament Contest

March Madness Lines - Will update soon

• March Madness Round 1 Lines
  Update - Current March Madness Game Lines March 15 9:15PM
  
  
• Thursday lines on the left, Friday's lines on the right.
  
  
  • No line on Louisville game because they play the winner of the play in game on Tuesday.
    
    
  • No Money Line or Over/Under lines set.
    
  
  Images above taken from this page - Live point spread lines for every tournament game

• Current list of March Madness sportsbook sign up bonuses

Printable March Madness bracket from CBSsports.com

Many Faces of the Casino

For most of us casino – both in virtual and real world - means card game tables and a characteristic cling of slot machine reels. But visiting some casinos may be quite disappointing for gambling fans.

From Las Vegas and Monte Carlo to hotel resorts and cruise ships all over the world, the word casino always catches the eye of those looking for a game of blackjack or a spin on a slot machine. But in fact it was not until 19th century that the term started to be used to describe a gaming venue.

Traditionally casinos used to be places of all sorts of entertainment, where the visitors could find enjoy sports, music or various shows. As the first ones were usually small buildings placed within the grounds of large Italian residences, hence their Italian name means a small house. Oddly enough, when looking for a casino in Italy, you should remember about proper pronunciation. While the roulette and poker fans will be happy entering a casinò(with an accent in the end), those asking for a way to a casino may find themselves directed to a place of more bodily pleasures, also known as bordello.

Surprises may also await a gambling fan wanting to enjoy his or her favorite pastime in Paris, as perhaps the most logical destination, Casino de Paris, in fact hosts concerts and music shows. Similarly some of the “casinos” in other parts of Europe were known as spa resorts or theatres rather than gambling venues.

It is then a good idea for all travelling casino fans to look through a guide book before they go out looking for their favorite entertainment. And even if a surprise happens, you can always go online, and enjoy a game in your well known Internet casino.

Monday Night Poker and the November 9

Monday night is poker night for me, as I am in a friendly poker league with a normal turnout of a dozen or so other guys. Many of us have been watching the 2009 World Series of Poker on TV like I am sure most of you have been. One guy in our group actually won a seat from an online poker room and made it to day 2, so you can be sure that the topic is normally discussed on Monday night.

In following a tradition they started last year, the 2009 WSOP will take a break until November to determine the winner of the final table. The final table has been determined, with the remaining players being referred to as "The November 9."

Here's a picture of the November 9:



The November 9 (and their chip count from largest to smallest):

Darvin Moon (58,930,000)
Eric Buchman (34,800,000)
Steven Begleiter (29,885,000)
Jeff Shulman (19,580,000)
Joe Cada (13,215,000)
Kevin Schaffel (12,390,000)
Phil Ivey (9,765,000)
Antoine Saout (9,500,000)
James Akenhead (6,800,000)

More on the November 9 can be seen at the World Series of Poker site, including this article Gone till November.