It was another epic weekend for college basketball fans as we witnessed some incredible tournament action followed up by a thrilling Selection Sunday. As a result, we know have our 68 teams set and can start filling out our brackets.
While there were a number of teams that felt they were snubbed – teams like USC and Notre Dame – eight other teams will have to work hard just to make the cut of the final 64. Eight teams will be in action in the First Four and the winners will move on to the NCAA Tournament. BetDSI Sportsbook has posted the opening lines on the First Four, which can be seen below:
March Madness Betting Odds: First Four Betting Lines
LIU Brooklyn vs Radford (-4)
St. Bonaventure vs UCLA (-3.5)
NC Central vs Texas Southern (-5)
Arizona State vs Syracuse (-1.5)
There were a number of surprises on Sunday but one of the biggest was the addition of Arizona State. They collected a number of impressive wins along the way, including beating No. 15 Xavier and No. 2 Kansas, but the Sun Devils have been a fading commodity since they entered conference play. The Sun Devils started the year 12-0 but finished just 8-11 in their final 19 contests. They also lost five of six to end the year. But their year hasn’t ended just yet as they got the call from the Selection Committee, making it the first time since 2014 that they’ll be dancing. They’ll take on fellow No. 11 seed Syracuse in a play-in game on Tuesday.
UCLA is also dancing but they’re not used to play-in games. This will be their first time in the First Four when they take on St. Bonaventure. UCLA has had an interesting season, which got underway amid plenty of scrutiny following a troubling trip to China. They ended up suspending LiAngelo Ball and a couple of other key players and as a result, had to fight their way just to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. UCLA finished third in the Pac-12 but have mostly been a .500 team over the last couple of months. They started out their season 13-4 but they are just 8-7 in their last 15 games. We’ll see how they do as they are a 3.5-point favorite over the Bonnies.
