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Nothing like the first weekend of the tournament. Not that the rest of it isn't great but something about the upsets and last second victories of first 2 rounds is awesome. Wish college football would get on board with this.

From a betting standpoint, it's nice to have the matchups and lines with a few days to dig into them. College b-ball has been very streaky for me this year. After taking some bad beats in conference tournament play its time to get on a roll. Here is where I'll be on Thursday.

Butler ML +115 $100 to win $115

No points, no juice. LSU had nice run through subpar conference but ran out of gas at end. Butler can jack 3's with the best of them and play some serious D. Don't be fooled by LSU's record. Their schedule was an joke.

BYU -2 $120 to win $100

Surprised the line went up on this. Had to buy it back down to 2. Last year these teams met in 8-9 game and A+M was the better team and had to shoot 54% to squeak out a victory. This year BYU is the superior defensive team and can shoot better. Outside of a couple nice home victories, A+M has done nothing impressive this year.

Northern Iowa +8.5 $110 to win $100

Both teams play tough D. This is too many points in a game that should be low scoring and tight. Purdue probably wins but should have difficult time trying to extend lead. Nice run through big 10 tourney but didn't beat anybody that good. Gives nice line value. Michigan St. is the only real good team in conference anyway and Purdue got to avoid them.

Michigan +6 $240 to win $200
Michigan ML +200 $100 to win $200

This is my play of the day. Clemson is always overrated in basketball, and football. They can't win in a playoff situation. Lost to 12 seed in opening round last year. Got pounded by worst team in ACC in opening round of that tournament. Same old story for Clemson. Michigan has beaten some heavyweights on nuetral floors this year. Won't even have to play at that level to win this one. Clemson should not be a favorite over any solid team this time of year.

VCU +8 $110 to win $100

This is the play I like the least. UCLA tough to figure out and can run away with this but I like VCU's defense and Maynors ability to take over a game. Should be a tight one. Hope 8 is enough to keep me in it.

Western Kentucky +5 $110 to win $100

This will be a popular pick but if experience counts for anything in these tournaments, WK has a big advantage. Illinois is young and had a really nice and surprising season but W Kentucky has been here before and have to take advantage of getting points with them. This game should be a 7-10 matchup. Good draw for WK and tough draw for Illinois in first round.

Enjoy the games and best of luck on your wagers. And yes, I will be one of the millions of people being unproductive at work the next couple of days costing my company hundreds and thousands of $$$$.

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Rocky start with Butler and BYU losing. Butler was tight and just couldn't stop 1 player. But can't figure BYU game. Went back over it to see where I went wrong but have to say if they played again today, I would make the same bet on BYU.

I've 6 more for today but still trying to decide whether to take money line on another big dog. Don't like it as much as Michigan but it would pay better.