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The NCAA Tournament has been whittled down to eight teams left standing, and many of the pre-tournament favorites are still in the hunt. While much of the elite eight focus will be on which teams advance to the Final Four, the savvy bettors won’t be exclusively worried about the outcome of the games.... 

The second day of Sweet 16 games will complete the Elite 8 field for the weekend. But which squads will keep playing? There has been a trend during NCAA Tournament play that’s seen the favored team win a bunch of games. All the favorites won in the second round setting the stage for the second weekend of play. It’s called March Madness and we haven’t seen much of it so far. I guess the favorites might be quivering before tipoff. That means you Michigan State, North Carolina, Duke and Kentucky.... 

The second batch of Elite 8 competitors will be decided on Friday when the last of the Sweet 16 games are completed in the NCAA Tournament. Five teams from the ACC reached the Sweet 16 round and two of them will square off when the No. 1 seed Duke Blue Devils and No. 4 Virginia Tech Hokies decide one East Region finalist. The teams met during the regular season with Tech handing the Zion-less Dookies one of their five losses on the year. Three of those defeats came when the future No. 1 NBA draf... 

The last four matchups of the Sweet Sixteen round will take place on Friday, as four teams will be eliminated and the others will move on to the Elite Eight. A lot of the favorites have done a nice job advancing to this point, but the competition gets tougher moving forward.... 

For the first time since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, all the favorites won their second-round games leaving little to the imagination for the Sweet 16. Will the trend continue in the next round? Or do we get a few upsets to finally call this madness? The clean sweep put the top three seeds from each region into the Sweet 16 and the matchups are worth salivating over. The best college basketball teams in the country will be on display and four of them will advance to the Elite 8 following Thursday’s contests. ... 

All eyes will be focused on Anaheim and Louisville for the NCAA Sweet 16 matchups. But just in case you’ve been living in a cave, there are other games being played on Thursday. OK, a cave might to a little much, and folks outside the cities of CBI and CIT combatants probably don’t realize those tournaments exist. But they do, and the squads in them are excited about the chance of hoisting a postseason trophy. South Florida gets a home game against Loyola Marymount for the right to play DePaul in the best-of-three CBI championship series. The Bulls are a 4.5-point favorite on the opening college basketball betting line. ... 

The NCAA Tournament has been kind to the betting the favorites, as it has been close to chalk through the first two rounds. For those bettors who have been burned thus far, perhaps it’s time to take a different route for the second week of March Madness.... 

Is your bracket already busted? Never fear, you can enter the BookMaker Second Chance Bracket Contest for a shot at a $5,000 First Place prize and pick games starting with the Sweet Sixteen. Take a second chance at picking the winners in this year’s NCAA Basketball Tournament beginning with the first game of the Sweet Sixteen on Thursday, March 28. Points are awarded for each correct pick and the person who gets the highest score will win the $5,000 First Place prize and 500,000 BetPoints. ... 

There are only three games on the college basketball slate for Wednesday, and while they may not have the intensity and glamour of the NCAA Tournament, they all carry their own postseason implications. The NIT will award the final two spots for its version of the final four with a trip to New York and Madison Square Garden on the line. Texas and North Carolina State complete the round of games held on campus sites, and not surprisingly both are favored on the opening college basketball betting l... 

A lull before the madness begins again. That’s what we have on the Wednesday college basketball schedule. Only three games are on tap, but don’t tell the teams involved that they are meaningless. Two NIT quarterfinal round games have the green light with a trip to New York City and Madison Square Garden at stake.... 

There weren’t many surprises from the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament with the top three seeds from each region advancing to the Sweet 16. The Duke Blue Devils had the closest call with a narrow victory over Central Florida on Sunday, but that near-miss didn’t sway oddsmakers, who still have the Dookies pegged as the favorite to cut down the nets in Minneapolis on April 8.... 

With a thrilling weekend of NCAA Tournament basketball put to rest, our attention turns to the other postseason events that take over during the week to fill the void. The battle to see what team is the 69th best in college basketball resumes with a pair of quarterfinal games in the NIT. We also have three games as part of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. Unlike the NCAA Tournament, these events put the better seeded teams on their home floor, and thus all five games have the home team playing... 

Just because the NCAA Tournament is done until Thursday, it doesn’t mean college basketball is on hiatus. Two NIT quarterfinal matchups are part of Tuesday’s slate of games that also include a trio of contests as part of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. Two No. 1 seeds in the NIT hit the hardwood with a trip to Madison Square Garden on the line. Unlike the NCAA Tournament, the NIT hosts games on campus sites until its version of the final four is complete. The Hoosiers host Wichita State while... 

A trip to Madison Square Garden and the final four, well the NIT version of the final four, is at stake starting Tuesday when the quarterfinal round of the postseason tournament gets underway. Until the semifinal round all games are played at the home of the better seed, that means Indiana, TCU, Texas and North Carolina State all have the advantage of hosting and all are favored on the opening college basketball betting line. That guarantees nothing other than the home team wearing light colored... 

Saturday was an incredible day for chalk. There weren’t many upsets in the first round games that took place on Thursday, and there were even fewer when those teams played again on Saturday. Although teams like LSU and Kentucky had some close calls, the favorites overwhelmingly prevailed with seven of the eight lower-seeded teams in advancing. The only exception was Auburn in their big win over Kansas, and the Tigers were actually favored over the Jayhawks. Let’s see if there are some upsets on ... 

If you have been betting underdog moneylines at the NCAA Tournament, you have been getting killed. There have been no surprising upsets in the tournament thus far, and every team that was favored yesterday advanced into the Sweet 16. Even the double-digit seeds that won in the first round of the tournament were all favored by 4 points or less when the line closed, so we really haven’t had much madness in March. I don’t expect that to really change on Sunday.... 

There have been only a few upsets in the NCAA Tournament thus far, which has not resulted in lucrative payouts for those backing the underdogs. There is a good way to switch gears on Sunday, as gamblers may want to take a look at some of the scoring totals in order to pad the bankroll.... 

Trips to the Sweet 16 will be on the line on Saturday, in the first slate of Second Round games. Some of the lower-seeded teams survived scares from small-conference schools on Thursday but withstood the test and will now look to earn their spot in the second weekend of March Madness. There will be just three double-digit seeds (Florida, Murray State, and Minnesota) playing today, as there were no shocking upsets two days ago. ... 

There is money to be made this weekend as teams look to punch their tickets to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. The schools that go on to make the Sweet 16 will make a nice chunk of change and get plenty of attention for staying alive until late March, but the money I’m talking about is for you, the gambler. There are some nice opportunities floating around there, so let’s get it. ... 

The NCAA Tournament field has been whittled down to 32 teams, and the winners from Thursday will take the court again on Saturday for second round action. There were clearly some jitters to begin March Madness, but now that the teams have one game under their belt and have a comfort level with their surroundings, the crispness should increase. ... 

Much like Thursday’s games there aren’t a lot of surprises on the opening line for Friday’s 16-game first-round NCAA Tournament slate. The only lower seed listed as a favorite in the entire 32-game first-round is No. 9 Central Florida, which is giving a single point to No. 8. VCU. Three No. 1 seeds hit the hardwood, and just like Gonzaga they are all laying more than 20-points. And they would prefer similar results to the Zags, who covered in a win over FDU. The top overall seed and favorite to ... 

The first set of first-round games was pretty tame with only four upsets among the 16-game slate, the lowest being the No. 12 Murray State Racers over Marquette. And we can’t have a first-round without some chaotic moments, leaving Friday’s 16-game schedule as the table-setter. The rest of the field takes to the hardwood, including the Virginia Cavaliers, who look to erase the memory of last year’s monumental upset loss. The Cavs are back again as a No. 1 seed, this time taking on Gardner-Webb.... 

Sometimes early games and the pressure of the NCAA Tournament can result in some low-scoring affairs to start March Madness, but the teams on Thursday did a nice job of hitting the ground running. It will be interesting to see if the Friday participants can pull the same trick.... 

The real challenge for you college hoops junkies is picking a bracket against the point spread. Get a perfect score and then we’ll talk. There are no surprises with the opening lines for Thursday’s NCAA Tournament 16-game slate. All the higher-seeded teams are favorites for the simple reason that they are considered by the committee to be better. And the higher the seed, the bigger the spread. Only one No. 1 seed is in action with Gonzaga laying 27 points to Fairleigh Dickinson. I have the Zags ... 

Let the Madness begin! The term was created in reference to what happens on the hardwood, but it very easily could describe the office pools or any viewing party with a group of people gathering to watch their favorite, or least favorite, team. Either way, it hits mark. The wackiest three weeks in sports gets going with a 16-game slate of first-round NCAA Tournament games on Thursday....