Let's Dance (Watch Basketball)

The most wonderful time of the year is here, and I miss A) rambling about what you should bet on and B) DJ Burns (in no particular order)

Author

Tyler Everett
March 20, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Whether you watch any college hoops outside of late March and early April every year or not, you’re missing out if you don’t dabble in March Madness — or spend every waking minute glued to the TV as many TVs as possible (whichever you prefer!)

Personally, I prefer the latter approach, and I’m v fortunate to once again be calling it “work” this year.

#blessed

For many professionals, a long, hard week at the office entails a lot of … tbh, I really have no idea.

But I’m pretty sure it’s not watching the NEC Conference Championship, the play-in games start to finish, etc. in prepartion for the Big Dance.

The point I’m taking my sweet time getting to is that I’ve recently written a ton of sports betting stuff for Newsweek1 that I hope you and/or the degenerates in your life will check out as college hoops overwhelms us all for the next couple days.

You’re welcome, in advance for A) a mountain of links I hope you’ll click, but also B) summaries/shortcuts in case you’re too pressed for time to peruse (God forbid read) everything I wrote this week.

Let’s get to it!

Actually, we’re almost there, but first, a quick publishing note:

1) I’ll be back with more for everyone soon. Maybe not tomorrow, but later in the first round of the tournament — and definitely not after another five-week hiatus (sorry about that!)

2) In the meantime, one more plug for the sweet new sports betting landing page we have set up at Newsweek, which will be worth a daily visit or two throughout March Madness (and beyond).

Jump To

3 First-Round Upsets (You heard it here first)

  • I like 9-seed Creighton over 8-seed Louisville. Weak AF to call this an upset, I know, but Creighton is around +120 on the ML, and the good news is I’m like 51 percent sure I won’t regret doubting miracle worker Pat Kelsey and the Cards.

  • Hey look! A real upset! — 11-seed Drake over 6-seed Missouri. If I’m the one who brings Bennett Stirtz into your life, then you can’t say I never did anything for you.

  • Another legit upset: 12-seed Liberty over 5-seed Oregon. The Flames shoot 3’s really well and they also defend the 3-point line really well. Good combo!

Best Bets for Thursday (Part I: Afternoon Games)

Here’s what I’ve got picks-wise (hope you like chalk, and you’ll have to open that link for the bets):

  • Creighton

  • Purdue (I wanted to take High Point, but chickened out)

  • Wisconsin

  • Houston

  • Auburn

  • Clemson

  • BYU (Am I the only one who’s not on the VCU hype train?)

  • Gonzaga (Have you heard how underseeded they are?)

National Title Pick

Self-explanatory HL, but worth checking out, I swear.

I’m not the first to give out Florida to cut down the nets. I haven’t, however, seen anyone else compare them to 2024 UConn (if that team didn’t have Donovan Clingan).

Florida, however, has like four bigs who collectively ensure that there’s always an absolute savage or two in the paint for the Gators. Their guards are nasty, too, as SEC fans are well aware.

Re: Duke: Also filthy, but can they really win it all while leaning on freshmen Cooper Flagg, Khaman Maluach and Kon Knueppel??

Final Four Prediction

Did I have the cojones to go with anything other than a Final Four full of 1-seeds??

Only one way to find out!2

Sweet 16 Picks

Based on the fact that one my Sweet 16 teams has already been eliminated — BEFORE the actual first round3 — I probably should keep the attention on this masterpiece to a minimum, but here goes (literally?) nothing:

Ps: odds below are how each team was priced to make the Sweet 16 at DraftKings when I wrote this Tuesday (they should still be around the same, if you find any of these tempting):

South Region Semifinalists

  • 1-seed Auburn (-425)

  • 4-seed Texas A&M (+120)

  • 3-seed Iowa State (-140)

  • 7-seed Marquette (+260)

East Region Semifinalists

  • 1-seed Duke (-900)

  • 4-seed Arizona (-180)

  • 6-seed BYU (+180)

  • 2-seed Alabama (-200)

West Region Semifinalists

  • 1-seed Florida (-800)

  • 4-seed Maryland (-180)

  • 11-seed Drake (+700)

  • 2-seed St. John's (-170)

Midwest Region Semifinalists

  • 1-seed Houston (-350)

  • 5-seed Clemson (+140)

  • 11-seed Texas (+900) (OOF)4

  • 2-seed Tennessee (-270)

1  We’re back!

2  what I’m trying to say is, click that link por favor!

3  do I get bonus points for that?

4  in my defense, did this look like a stroke of genius for about 20 minutes last night or what??

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