Getting the jump on the March Madness betting scene

News, notes, and the end of an interesting (and lucrative) streak involving the Flyers.

So what if it’s a play-in game in the Northeast Conference? March Madness begins a day early, and that’s reason enough to celebrate.

Central Connecticut State plays at Fairleigh Dickinson on Monday in the opening round of the NEC’s postseason tournament. CCSU was tied for 347th out of 358 in scoring at 61.7 points per game and the under has come out in 69% of their games (20-9-1). That said, their last meeting against FDU was a 91-82 win in overtime. Might want to leave this one for the professionals.

Here are some other things we’re looking forward to with college basketball’s best month nearly at hand.

Thirteen conference tournaments will begin between now and Saturday. They’re mostly leagues that figure to send just one team to the NCAA Tournament.

Bryant University’s Peter Kiss leads the nation in scoring at 25.1 points per game. A grad student, Kiss is playing for his third college team; began at Quinnipiac, played 32 games for Rutgers. He also attended three high schools. Bryant is the No. 1 seed in the NEC for the first time in school history, and it has covered 11 of its last 13 games.

South Dakota State opens its Summit League playoffs on Friday. They are one of two teams that have won 18 in a row, all against conference opponents. The Jackrabbits (27-4) play Omaha (5-24), which they beat by 21 on Feb. 12. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi says SDSU, despite its gaudy record, needs to win this tournament to get into the Big Dance.

Murray State, which also has won 18 in a row and was ranked 19th in last week’s AP Top 25, plays its first Ohio Valley Conference tournament game on Wednesday. Every team on the NCAA Tournament bubble – such as Michigan, North Carolina, and Indiana – needs the Racers to win their conference tournament.

If Murray State loses, another OVC team will have stolen an NCAA bid that could have gone to one of these more recognizable programs. The Ohio Valley is the first championship game scheduled (Saturday, 8:30 p.m., EST, ESPN2).

There are 32 postseason conference tournaments, 15 championship games will be played on Saturday, March 12. Bring it on.

It was an historic Saturday as the AP poll’s top six teams all lost on the same day, but from a wagering standpoint it wasn’t nearly that impressive. Three of those six teams were road underdogs. Here’s the wagering angle in order of largest surprises:

Upsets

No. 1 Gonzaga – lost at No. 23 St. Mary’s as consensus 10.5-point underdogs and -640 on the money line. The Zags beat St. Mary’s by 16 two weeks ago.

No. 2 Arizona – lost at Colorado as 9.5-point favorites and -510 on the ML. Arizona beat Colorado by 21 in January.

No. 4 Purdue – lost at Michigan State as 5-point favorites and -220 ML. The Spartans were +180

Road underdogs

No. 3 Auburn – lost at Tennessee as 3.5-point underdog and +135 ML. Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said winning at Tennessee was going to be harder than winning a Final Four game.

No. 5 Kansas – lost at No. 10 Baylor as 3-point underdog and +130 ML. Kansas beat Baylor by 24 on Feb. 5 and led by 13 in the first half on Saturday.

No. 6 Kentucky – lost at Arkansas as 2.5-point underdog and +120 ML.

BetMGM said that a $10 parlay on the six winning teams, whose odds ranged from St. Mary’s +475 to Baylor and Tennessee’s -155, would have paid $3,737.12.

PGA: Daniel Berger entered the final round of the Honda Classic leading by five strokes and was a prohibitive -400 at the SuperBook to win the tournament. They even had a market in some jurisdictions where Berger to NOT win the tournament was +330. He collapsed with a 74 and finished fourth. Sepp Straka, 20-1 entering Sunday, shot a 66 and became the first Austrian to win a PGA event.

NBA: Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan has gone over his point-total prop in 11 consecutive games. He’s averaging 36.1 per game during the run. The Bulls begin a hefty four-game run on Monday at Miami followed by games at Atlanta, home with Milwaukee and at the Sixers on March 7.

NHL: The Flyers’ 15-game streak of multiple goals in the third period ended on Saturday when they beat the Capitals, 2-1. No goals were scored in the third.

Caesars recently opened a market with odds on the first player selected in the NFL draft. The original favorite, Michigan defensive end Aiden Hutchinson, already has been displaced. Now Alabama offensive tackle Evan Neal is the top choice at +115, a number that keeps dropping. Hutchinson’s odds went from +160 to +205. Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux is the third choice at +500.

File this away. We’ll revisit it next month. Odds to make the Final Four/win the championship at FanDuel as of Sunday night.

Gonzaga (-115 to reach the Final Four/+400 to win the championship)

Kentucky (+155/+700)

Arizona (+165/+750)

Auburn (+240/+1300)

Duke (+240/+1200)

Purdue (+240/+1300)

Kansas (+260/+1400)

Baylor (+350/+1400)

Villanova (+400/+2400)

Texas Tech (+500/+2500)

UCLA (+550/+2800)

Houston (+750/+4000)

Illinois (+750/+4000)

Tennessee (+950/+4000)