{"id":3927,"date":"2009-03-20T06:47:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-20T11:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2009\/03\/fridays-march-madness-and-sports-betting-rundown\/"},"modified":"2009-03-20T06:47:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-20T11:47:00","slug":"fridays-march-madness-and-sports-betting-rundown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2009\/03\/fridays-march-madness-and-sports-betting-rundown\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday&#8217;s March Madness and Sports Betting Rundown"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=Section1>\n<p><font size=2 color=\"#333333\" face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>It&#8217;s the first day of spring. <span class=SpellE>VCU<\/span> basketball nearly pulls the upset of UCLA. Stevie Vincent goes 3-1 with <span class=SpellE>NCAAB<\/span> Level 5 plays. <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font size=2 color=\"#333333\" face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: <\/span><\/font><st1:City><st1:place>Louisville<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> and <st1:City><st1:place>Pittsburgh<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> hit the floor as the NCAA Tournament finishes up its first-round <span class=SpellE>matchups<\/span> with 16 games on Friday.<\/p>\n<p><strong><b><font size=2 color=\"#333333\" face=Arial><span style='font-size: 9.5pt;font-family:Arial'>The search for Cinderella . . .<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><font size=2 color=\"#333333\" face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>The second half of the Round of 64 gets underway in the NCAA Tournament on Friday, with top-overall seed <\/span><\/font><st1:City><st1:place>Louisville<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> getting its first taste of the action. The Cardinals will tip off against <st1:place><st1:PlaceName>Morehead<\/st1:PlaceName>  <st1:PlaceType>State<\/st1:PlaceType><\/st1:place>, which came out on top in the Play-In Game against <st1:place><st1:PlaceName>Alabama<\/st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType>State<\/st1:PlaceType><\/st1:place> on Tuesday. The oddsmakers don&#8217;t see <st1:City><st1:place>Louisville<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> having much trouble in this contest, as they&#8217;re listed as 21-point <span class=SpellE>faves<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><font size=2 color=\"#333333\" face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>The other 14 teams in the Midwest quarter of the bracket also begin their tournament on Friday, with No. 14 North Dakota State vs. No. 3 Kansas (-10), No. 11 Dayton vs. No. 6 West Virginia (-9), No. 12 Arizona vs. No. 5 Utah (-1), No. 10 USC (-2.5) vs. No. 7 Boston College, No. 13 Cleveland State vs. No. 4 Wake Forest (-8), No. 9 Siena vs. No. 8 Ohio State (-3), and No. 15 Robert Morris vs. No. 2 Michigan State (-17). The Spartans earned the No. 2 seed despite stumbling in the Big Ten tournament, where they lost 82-70 to <\/span><\/font><st1:place><st1:PlaceName>Ohio<\/st1:PlaceName>  <st1:PlaceType>State<\/st1:PlaceType><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n<p><font size=2 color=\"#333333\" face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>The top seed in the East Region, <\/span><\/font><st1:City><st1:place>Pittsburgh<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>, hits the floor on Friday in a game against No. 16 East Tennessee State. The Panthers are pegged as 20-point favorites. The other three East games: No. 9 Tennessee (-2) vs. No. 8 Oklahoma State, No. 13 Portland State vs. No. 4 Xavier (-10.5), and No. 12 Wisconsin vs. No. 5 Florida State (-2.5). The Seminoles fell to Duke in the ACC championship.<\/p>\n<p><font size=2 color=\"#333333\" face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>Finally, the West and South offer up just two games apiece on Friday. In the West it&#8217;ll be No. 11 Utah State vs. No. 6 Marquette (-4.5) and No. 14 Cornell vs. No. 3 Missouri (-12.5). Down in the South it&#8217;ll be No. 14 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 3 Syracuse (-11.5) and No. 11 Temple vs. No. 6 Arizona State. <span class=GramE>(-5.5).<\/span> The Sun Devils were upset by <\/span><\/font><st1:place>Southern Cal<\/st1:place> in the Pac-10 title game on the weekend.<\/p>\n<p><b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><font size=2 color=\"#333333\" face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-weight:bold;mso-bidi-font-weight: normal'>Best sports picks\u2026<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n<p><font size=2 color=\"#333333\" face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>The power of <span style='mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><a href=\"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2007\/08\/masterlocklinecom.html\">620 sports services<\/a><\/span> behind every selection has a service out of <\/span><\/font><st1:City><st1:place>Las   Vegas<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> is easily the No. 1 in the world in March. Their &#8220;Absolute Picks&#8221; are now 19-2 excluding pushes since Feb. 25. The last play was Wednesday on <st1:City><st1:place>Richmond<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>. We&#8217;ve been riding them hard on the MasterLockLine and with enormous success as clients can see.<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span style='font-weight:bold; mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> <\/span><\/b><span class=GramE>Their first two of the NCAA Tournament East Tennessee State\/Pittsburgh side, USC\/Boston College side.<\/span><b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span style='font-weight: bold;mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> <\/span><\/b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.offshoreinsiders.com\/index.php?Page=Packages\">Click now to purchase<\/a> sports betting picks from the top sports services or you can get <a href=\"http:\/\/www.offshoreinsiders.com\/index.php?PageID=53\">more information<\/a> and <span class=GramE>a free sports<\/span> pick<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight: normal'><span style='font-weight:bold;mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong><b><font size=2 color=\"#333333\" face=Arial><span style='font-size: 9.5pt;font-family:Arial'>Tipping off on the hardwood&nbsp; . . .<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><font size=2 color=\"#333333\" face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>The NBA offers up 11 games on Friday night, including <\/span><\/font><st1:City><st1:place>Boston<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> on the road in <st1:City><st1:place>San Antonio<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>. The Celtics and Spurs last met back on February 8, when <st1:City><st1:place>San   Antonio<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> came away with a 105-99 road victory as a 6.5-point underdog. The injury-ravaged Celtics knocked off <st1:City><st1:place>Miami<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> 112-108 on Wednesday, and hope to have Kevin Garnett back in the lineup on Friday. The Spurs are also coming off a victory &#8211; they got past <st1:State><st1:place>Minnesota<\/st1:place><\/st1:State> 93-86 Tuesday with 24 points from Tony Parker.<\/p>\n<p><font size=2 color=\"#333333\" face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>Also on the busy NBA slate for Friday: Charlotte at Toronto, Dallas at Indiana, Miami at New Jersey, Sacramento at New York, the Clippers at Detroit, Utah at Oklahoma City, Memphis at New Orleans, Minnesota at Houston, Philadelphia at Golden State, and Washington at Denver. The Nuggets got 35 points and five boards from <span class=SpellE>Carmelo<\/span> Anthony on Wednesday in a 111-109 win over <\/span><\/font><st1:City><st1:place>Memphis<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><b><font size=2 color=\"#333333\" face=Arial><span style='font-size: 9.5pt;font-family:Arial'>Taking a trip around the rink . . .<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span class=SpellE><font size=2 color=\"#333333\" face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>Evgeni<\/span><\/font><\/span> <span class=SpellE>Malkin<\/span> will be trying to add to his Hart Trophy resume on Friday night when his Penguins play host to the Kings. <span class=SpellE>Malkin<\/span> had two goals and three assists in Pittsburgh&#8217;s 6-2 win over the Thrashers on Tuesday night, which pushed him past the 100-point mark on the year. The Kings lost 4-3 to <st1:City><st1:place>Nashville<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> on Monday.<\/p>\n<p><font size=2 color=\"#333333\" face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>There are six other games on the NHL&#8217;s schedule for Friday night, including the Islanders at <\/span><\/font><st1:City><st1:place>Carolina<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>, <st1:City><st1:place>Philadelphia<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> at <st1:place><st1:City>Buffalo<\/st1:City>,  <st1:State>Minnesota<\/st1:State><\/st1:place> at <st1:State><st1:place>New   Jersey<\/st1:place><\/st1:State>, <st1:City><st1:place>Detroit<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> at <st1:City><st1:place>Atlanta<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>, <st1:City><st1:place>Edmonton<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> at <st1:City><st1:place>Chicago<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>, and <st1:City><st1:place>St.   Louis<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> at <st1:City><st1:place>Calgary<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>. The Flames edged <st1:City><st1:place>Dallas<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> 2-1 in their meeting on Thursday, with <span class=SpellE>Miikka<\/span> <span class=SpellE>Kiprusoff<\/span> stopping 19 shots.<\/p>\n<p><strong><b><font size=2 color=\"#333333\" face=Arial><span style='font-size: 9.5pt;font-family:Arial'>Rounding out the Roundup . . .<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><font size=2 color=\"#333333\" face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>The World Baseball Classic gets the day off on Friday before returning with semi-final <span class=SpellE>matchups<\/span> on the weekend at Dodger Stadium in <\/span><\/font><st1:City><st1:place>Los Angeles<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>. Saturday&#8217;s contest will have <st1:country-region><st1:place>Venezuela<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> taking on the loser of Thursday night&#8217;s late game between <st1:country-region><st1:place>Japan<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Korea<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>, while Sunday&#8217;s contest will match Thursday&#8217;s winner up against the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United   States<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>. The <span class=SpellE>WBC<\/span> championship game will be on Monday.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"blogger-post-footer\"><a\nhref=\"http:\/\/www.offshoreinsiders.com\/\"><b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>OffshoreInsiders.com<\/b><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s the first day of spring. VCU basketball nearly pulls the upset of UCLA. Stevie Vincent goes 3-1 with NCAAB Level 5 plays. Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: Louisville and Pittsburgh hit the floor as the NCAA Tournament finishes up its first-round matchups with 16 games on Friday. The search for Cinderella . . &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2009\/03\/fridays-march-madness-and-sports-betting-rundown\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Friday&#8217;s March Madness and Sports Betting Rundown<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3927\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}