March Madness feels a little different this year. No kidding, right? So does everything else. But, pandemic-aside, there’s an element of waiting that has led to this moment.
Part of this feeling has to be driven by the fact that the sports world shut down in March just prior to the NCAA Tournament. It was the event whose cancelling sent shockwaves of how serious the situation was.
There’s good news behind this. Last March, there were teams preparing for the tournament with legitimate Championship aspirations. Some of those teams will be playing again in the next day or two.
Elsewhere, we have the usual questions that will help determine how to fill out our bracket. Will this one-seed actually win the tournament? How many Cinderella teams will make it to the Elite Eight?
Really, it starts with one set of games.
The first round is critical to all bracket-building not just because it helps establish the 32-team field, but because it eliminates threats that could win a second game.
Taking this thought one step further, I focus my attention on the odds for the First Round. It’s clearly the only starting point with defined matchups, but it also can help justify if a team is favored to win, despite its seeding.
With that, let’s dive right in.
Below are my picks and thoughts about this year’s March Madness bracket. As always, use your own discretion and do your research before risking anything.
7 Florida vs. 10 Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech and Florida is about as straight-forward as it gets in terms of odds and seeds. Simply put, Florida is a 7-seed, yet is only favored by a single point over the 10-seed Virginia Tech. That’s valuable to me, and I’ll buy the Hokies in that situation.
6 Texas Tech vs. 11 Utah State
Similarly to the first matchup I highlighted, I struggled to advance Texas Tech past Utah State, and it’s mainly due to the odds. Despite a 6-11 matchup where the seeding favors Texas Tech, Utah State is only a four-point underdog. Unless you have Texas Tech making a deep run, this feels like a clever spot to target the underdog in case the ‘upset’ comes to fruition.
8 Loyola Chicago vs. 9 Georgia Tech
Arguably the most interesting matchup of the first round also carries tremendous name value. The amazing part? It’s from both sides of the game. If simply placing the words