For the first time in the history of March madness betting the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament committee revealed its top 16 seeds during the course of the season. As many experts who bet on March madness expected the Villanova Wildcats are the top-rated team in the country and were selected as the overall No. 1 seed should the tournament start today. Here is the overall seeding:
- Villanova
- Kansas
- Baylor
- Gonzaga
- North Carolina
- Florida State
- Louisville
- Oregon
- Arizona
- Virginia
- Florida
- Kentucky
- Butler
- West Virginia
- UCLA
- Duke
The committee asked Champagne Villanova for their a regional location of their choosing, and they selected the East regional in New York City The other No. 1 seeds were assigned to regional sites based on geographic proximity from their respective campuses. Kansas was assigned to the Midwest regional in Kansas City, Baylor is the top seed in the South regional in Memphis, and Gonzaga was sent to the West regional in San Jose.
East
- Villanova
- Louisville
- Kentucky
- UCLA
West
- Gonzaga
- Oregon
- Virginia
- West Virginia
Midwest
- Kansas
- Florida State
- Arizona
- Duke
South
- Baylor
- North Carolina
- Florida
- Butler
As they say in Spain anybody who is somebody is here, but not everybody who is somebody is. For example the Purdue Boilermakers are ranked 16 in the AP poll but was not enough to grant them entrance in the committee’s list. Or the Wisconsin Badgers who were 21-3 and 7th in the AP poll at the time the committee made its selections. The Badgers remain march madness betting favorites, but as seasoned fans who bet on march madness know, it’s not all about win-loss record; if it were, the Gonzaga Bulldogs would have been the tippy-top seed instead of Nova.
It’s not just who you beat but how you beat them. Wisconsin mowed down lesser foes like Cosmo Kramer in kids’ karate dojo, but lost to all three AP-ranked teams they met – Creighton, North Carolina and Purdue (and have since lost to unranked Northwestern and Michigan). In the meanwhile, “Villanova played a challenging non-conference schedule and has achieved considerable success against several quality opponents on the road and on neutral-courts,” director of athletics at Michigan State University and committee chair Mark Hollis said. “Their consistency throughout the season gave them slight separation from other candidates for the overall top seed.”
On the other hand there is nothing written in stone either. “There are more than 1,300 games left before Selection Sunday so how these teams are seeded and where they will ultimately be sent to play in the tournament remains a mystery,” Hollis added. The for-realsies bracket will be unveiled on Sunday, March 12. The NCAA tournament – and along with it march madness betting – tips off March 14-15 with the First Four in Dayton. First- and second-round games will be held Thursday and Saturday, March 16 and 18 in Buffalo, Milwaukee, Orlando and Salt Lake City, and Friday and Sunday, March 17 and 19 in Greenville, Indianapolis, Tulsa and Sacramento. The time is drawing nearer for fans who can’t wait to bet on March madness.