Sweet 16 & Elite 8 Angles
By Marc Lawrence
VegasInsider.com
There is nothing sweeter this time of the year than being alive in the NCAA Tournament. For those teams that survived the opening two rounds of this main event it's on to the Sweet 16 and, hopefully, the Eilte 8 this weekend.
ELITE 8 ROUND NOTES
#1 Seed favs > 7 pts are 1-6-1 ATS vs foe off BB ATS wins
#2 Seeds are 2-10-1 ATS off a DD ATS win
#3 Seeds are 1-6 ATS
#4 Seeds are 8-1 ATS
#5 Seeds are 7-0 ATS
#6 Seeds are 0-7 SU and 2-5 ATS
#7 Seeds are 0-5 SU
#8 Seeds are 4-1 ATS
Teams that score 67 pts are 27-7 SU and 24-8-2 ATS
Teams off BB ATS losses are 4-1 ATS
Teams with Revenge are 14-4-1 ATS
Dogs off 3 straight DD wins are 1-4-1 ATS
Best Conference ATS record in this round
Big East: 5-0-1 as dogs
Big 10: 7-1 as dogs 6 < pts
SEC: 4-1 as favs off DD ATS win.
Worst Conference ATS record in this round
Big 12: 0-10
Big East: 1-6-1 off SU dog win
COACH ME IF YOU CAN
Florida's Billy Donovan is 12-3 SU and 11-4 ATS in the NCAA tournament from the Sweet 16 out.
I'll be back next week with a final look at FINAL FOUR and Championship game action.
Elite Eight Action Report
By Covers.com
Don’t confuse lower-seeded Florida or Ohio State with Cinderellas and definitely don’t confuse them with underdogs. In fact, bother lower-seeded squads are actually favored in their matchups with a trip to the Final Four in New Orleans on the line.
“When Friday night happened last week, that kind of threw things out of whack,” Bert Osborne, sportsbook director at South Point, said. “Since Lehigh knocked off Duke, there isn't the same faith in the favorites.”
Florida Gators vs. Louisville Cardinals Open: +1 Move: +1.5
The Big East Tournament champion Cardinals used their ugly, grinding style to cruise to a 57-44 win over top-seeded Michigan State but there are few sharps biting on a half-court affair occurring on Saturday as the total has stayed around 132 with most books.
Louisville, meantime, is garnering most of the action despite the line moving a half-point in their favor with most services.
“There is an easy correlation for someone who casually follows this type of thing,” Jimmy Vaccaro, an oddsmaker with Lucky's Sportsbook, said. “A Big East team, Connecticut, won the conference tournament and then made an unlikely tournament run last year and here we are, same conference, same situation.”
Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Syracuse Orange Open: +2.5 Move: +3
The Orange, however, are being squeezed by the public. Syracuse is just 2-8 ATS its past 10 games and the top-seeded Big East squad has looked terrible in three straight tournament wins. Still, wins are wins.
“There will be money showing on up on Syracuse,” Vaccaro said. “It’s still a very good team, it’s still very well coached and more important you are getting points. It will be a battle of who is more strong willed.”
The Buckeyes, meantime, looked sharp through three rounds and most people were in bed on Thursday night by the time Ohio State pulled away for an 81-66 win over Cincinnati.
“The betting public only sees one game ahead,” Osborne said. “Thursday night, when the popular dog goes down they are going to switch to the favorite that knocked their team out.”