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The college basketball betting season has reached its midway point, and now talk of March Madness can finally start up. After the first 20 games of the season, things are seemingly the way they should be, as the strongest teams of the Power Six Conferences are atop the AP 25 standings. The biggest shock thus far in the year, is top ranked Syracuse sitting at 20 wins and no losses. We’ve always known that Syracuse has been a good price per head wager, but to go undefeated through the first 20 games is a bit surprising. Today, we’ll look at which team has the best shot at a March Madness title.

March Madness, like the playoffs in the big four major sports, is a time of year, in which literally anything can happen. As we saw in the wild card round of the NFL playoffs, the Denver Broncos and New York Giants were just as deserving of their playoff spots as the Atlanta Falcons and Pittsburgh Steelers. While it could be suggested that the Broncos dream season was destined to come to an abrupt halt, the New York Giants appear to be the real deal. As it relates to the March Madness tournament, usually one team pulls a Broncos and squeaks into the tournament then overachieves, while another hits their stride right as the bookie software tournament gets under way.

With that in mind, two teams of particular interest to us in the March Madness Tournament will be the Michigan Wolverines and the Michigan State Spartans. For all intents and purposes, we’ll call the Spartans our Denver Broncos, and the Wolverines our New York Giants. That is to say, the Spartans who currently sit 23^rd in the NCAA rankings, are a team that appears to be overachieving. They don’t have one specific star, but their program has been good enough to maintain a high ranking. On the other side of things, Tim Hardaway Jr. who like Eli Manning, has carried his team this season leads the Wolverines.

When looking at both teams, it really depends which of our colleagues you want to agree with, for who should fair better. Firstly, colleagues from Sports Illustrated have the Spartans as a final four pick, with the Wolverines coming in as a dark horse pick if the Spartans should flop. Conversely, at a couple other colleagues early projections, they have the Wolverines and Spartans swapping positions.

In our opinion, the final four will be Ohio State, Kansas, Syracuse and Michigan. Michigan will go head to head with the nation’s best team in Syracuse, while Ohio State will take on Kansas. For Michigan, facing Syracuse in the final four will be eerily similar to facing Duke a season ago, in that many will expect them to be destroyed, but they will take the Orange to the limit. As we noted earlier, Tim Hardaway Jr. who is a freshman and a game changer for the club leads Michigan. For that reason, we really believe Hardaway Jr. can be the difference between losing to Syracuse and pulling off a mammoth of an upset, before beating Kansas for the National Title.

It has to be one of the most ridiculous contradictions in sports betting, yet it happens every year when it comes to college basketbal. Perhaps it is the fact that in college football a team has to go undefeated or close to it just to have a chance at a national title, but it seems somewhat absurd that the same standard is applied to college basketball teams early on in the year. The No. 3 North Carolina Tar Heels are the perfect example of this college basketball betting contradiction, as the consensus preseason No. 1 has faded in the shadow of the undefeated and top-ranked Syracuse Orange. There is no denying that Syracuse has been the best team in the country early on and deserves the accolades that it receives, but to consider the Tar Heels to be an inferior team in terms of matching the two against one another based solely on their records seems to be a ridiculous proposition.

There is no denying that at the time the stumble was a notable one, as the Tar Heels dropped a decision at UNLV by 10 points, and then lost at then-No. 1 Kentucky two games later. But losing two of three early on is no reason to doubt the long-term capabilities of a team, especially considering that North Carolina nearly came out with a win on the road against a talented team in Kentucky. The Tar Heels have followed that loss up with nine straight wins to remain at No. 3, and with two wins to open up their ACC schedule it will still be a little while before they get the chance to entertain the No. 6 Duke Blue Devils in their first meeting of the season. The pay head odds say that the North Carolina and Duke are the top two teams in the conference, and with no other team ranked higher than 17 at this point, the Blue Devils could be the only obstacle in the way of Harrison Barnes and company on their way to an ACC Championship.

Barnes and the other veterans on the team are the biggest reason to believe in the Tar Heels, as the experience and talent they have is unrivalled heading in to this year not Justin the ACC, but in the entire country. The sophomore Barnes is joined by junior John Henson and senior Tyler Zeller as three scorers averaging double-digit point totals, and as the season continues the chemistry that they continue to build will become a crucial advantage they hold over opponents. North Carolina ranks first in scoring, first in rebounding, and third in assists per game in the entire country, and to be so strong in so many areas is testament to how talented they truly are. The Tar Heels don’t just want to bring home an ACC Championship, they want to bring home a national title, and there is no doubt that they have the weapons to reach their goals. The sportsbook review sites should have North Carolina as a team that can really make some noise this year, so pay attention to their nightly lines.

Online Betting Overview

Those simultaneous hissing noises you hear coming from Washington, DCand Pittsburgh, PAare the air being let out of the Capitals’ and Penguins’ seasons. The Penguins used to be resilient. It used to be that Pittsburghcould at least be competitive without its captain Sidney Crosby. But the price per head bookie experts have watched the Penguins fall from the top of the Atlantic Division to fourth place. One of the more distressing thing for Penguins’ fans is thatPittsburgh is holding on to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference by only one point. A little more stumbling and the Penguins could find itself on the outside looking in.

It has become extremely obvious by now that firing Bruce Boudreau as head coach of the Washington Capitals was not the answer to improving the team. The price per head sports experts would also like to point out that replacing Boudreau with rookieNHL head coach Dale Hunter was an even worse move. Hunter never had any leadership qualities when he was a player and that lack of leadership is spilling over into his head coaching style. The Capitals are afloat in a sea of mediocrity and it is hard to tell what can bring the team out of it. Even winning a couple of games last week did not seem to help. When things like this happen, fans look first at the coach and then the captain. The coach has been replaced, and team captain Alex Ovechkin is getting more and more disinterested by the day.

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins are still playing hard every night and it could just be going through a stretch where nothing is going right. A 5 dimes review of the Penguins’ last 10 games shows a record of4-6-0. But that stretch includes a four-game losing streak where the Penguins cannot seem to do anything right. The fans inPittsburgh need to be patient asPittsburgh is only 10 points out of first place in the division. If there is a team in the NHL that has the capability to suddenly go on an extended winning streak, then that team would be the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Washington Capitals

For the first time in a very long time, the Washington Capitals have allowed more goals than it has scored. The other very noticeable attribute of the Capitals’ 2011-2012 record is that the NHL scores the Capitals are logging on the road are terrible. The Capitals are7-12-1 on the road, but the team is14-5-1 at home. The Capitals come into this game on a two-game losing streak and it is just one of many losing streaks the Caps have been on since Dale Hunter took over.

The Bottom Line

The Pittsburgh Penguins have shown an ability to fight back all season long despite long odds against them. The Washington Capitals have displayed signs of giving up at several points in the season. The goaltending with Tomas Vokoun has not panned out as it was supposed to and the Caps are not scoring. There is much more wrong with the Caps than just questionable coaching.

Pick: Pittsburgh Penguins

Sports Betting Overview

Any team that uses injuries as an excuse for poor play needs to look at the Pittsburgh Penguins over the last two seasons. Last season, the Penguins lost superstar Sidney Crosby in January for the rest of the season. But the team plodded forward and was still one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. Then the Penguins lost superstar Evgeni Malkin a month before the playoffs last season and still wound up competing well in the first round of the playoffs before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Now the Penguins face the very real possibility that it will have to move forward withoutCrosbypermanently. But yet the Penguins keep winning and keep playing great hockey.

The changes that the New York Rangers made in the off-season, especially the addition of Brad Richards, look like they are paying off. The pay per head sportsbook experts were not sure what to expect from the Rangers when the season started because it can sometimes take new players time to gel with existing players. But the chemistry on this Rangers’ team is so deep that the new players fit right in and the existing players kept right on going. It is starting to look like the New York Rangers made the best moves in the off-season free agency market.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Despite its current two-game losing streak, the Penguins remain one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. The bookie software shows that the Penguins have 46 points and trail the conference leading Rangers by only six points. Every game the Penguins play against the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers this season is extremely important to the Penguins’ chances of making the playoffs. The Penguins are a solid balance of goal scoring and solid defense, but the most notable part of the Penguins’ game is their tenacity. The Penguins score goals by never giving up on a play and grinding until the puck is in the net. That is what will make this a great hockey game.

New York Rangers

Rangers’ goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is having another banner season as the Rangers have only given up 79 goals in 37 games played. A 5 dimes review of the Rangers’ season last year compared to this year is that the team is scoring goals this season. The games that the Rangers were losing 1-0 and 2-1 last year have turned into wins because of the additional scoring punch the team has. The Rangers’ consistency and goal-scoring ability will make them very dangerous in the playoffs. In this game, it will be the Rangers’ ability to play in both ends of the ice that will grab the victory.

The Bottom Line

NHL fans inPittsburgh can only wonder how much better the Penguins would be if Sidney Crosby could play. But it looks like the Penguins will have to go at it without the team captain once again this season. In this game, the lack ofCrosby’s scoring threat will be the difference in the game.

Pick: New York Rangers

The beginning of January brings the close of the cupcake season for college basketball betting lines and the beginning of inter-conference play. It is during the start of January, that sharp handicappers, begin to place their wagers, as we find out which teams are actually good and which were the beneficiaries of the first half of their schedules. Today we’ll look at the best teams entering inter-conference month and which teams provide the best value for tonight’s NCAAB price per head action.

Depending on which site you use, you will either see the Syracuse Orange on top and Kentucky Wildcats in second overall, or vice versa. For all intents and purposes, Kentucky is the top seed despite a lower win loss record then Syracuse. The reason for Kentucky’s surge to the top is two fold, as they have the best roster in the country, and they recently destroyed the Louisville Cardinals, to jump ahead in the standings. However, with that in mind, it is important that bookie software agents, do not completely bank on Kentucky, while writing off Syracuse.

From a betting stand point, the Orange provide better value then the Wildcats, as the Orange are 10 – four – one against the spread, while the Wildcats are a miserable three – nine and one overall against the spread, but zero – eight – one in their last nine. Both Kentucky and Syracuse should remain one and two in the AP polls over the next couple weeks, as they face the cellar dwellers of their respective conference.

Looking ahead to tonight’s college basketball games, fans should keep an eye on the sixth ranked Missouri Tigers. Although they have an outstanding overall ranking, the Tigers similar to the Louisville Cardinals, are a bit overrated. In essence, the Tigers are undefeated through 13 games, but actually are five and three against the spread. Last game against Old Dominion, the Tigers big stars struggled against a stingy Old Dominion defense.

Tonight when they face the Oklahoma Sooners, if the Tigers struggle early, they could be looking at their first loss of the season. Oklahoma was projected to be at the bottom of the Big 12 this year, but has shocked many NBA handicapping sites, with their early success, only losing two of their first 15 contests. We believe that the Sooners will pull out their 14^th win tonight against the Tigers.

The 11^th ranked Michigan State Spartans will be looking to build off the momentum of their football contemporaries, as they travel to Wisconsin, to take on the 19^th ranked Badgers tonight. Michigan State kicked off the Big 10 league play last week, by destroying both Indiana and Nebraska. Meanwhile, the Badgers will be looking to rebound after an underwhelming performance against Iowa last week. With the Spartans playing on a whole different level than Wisconsin, we feel the Spartans will win this game as handily as they did against Indiana and Nebraska.

While they aren’t the only undefeated team remaining in the country, 14 straight wins including a nine-point victory over the Texas A&M Aggies in their Big 12 opener has the Baylor Bears stealing the spotlight as we welcome the new sports betting year. Coming off of a big win overMississippiState inDallas, the Bears had little trouble with an Aggies’ team that had won nine of their 13 games this season, with Perry Jones III once again stepping up to contribute 14 points and 12 rebounds in their first game since climbing two spots to no. 4 in the national rankings. Looking ahead to the next couple of weeks on the Baylor schedule, and it won’t get any easier for Jones and company with four of their next five against nationally ranked opponents, including No. 7 Missouri and No. 14 Kansas. That stretch will be a real test of just where this team belongs early on, and if the Bears’ early season play is any indication, the answer to that is right near the top.

A lot of the attention has been on Baylor and their improbable rise the past couple of weeks, college basketball betting fans that have stayed with the Syracuse Orange in spite of everything that they have gone through have been rewarded with some incredible results. TheOrange are still at the top of the national rankings with a perfect record, even though just one of their 15 wins has come against a ranked opponent.Syracuse improved to 2-0 in the Big East with victories against Seton Hall and DePaul, and while they faceMarquette coming up this weekend, they still have some time before they take on the true heavyweights in the conference, including one-lossConnecticut andGeorgetown. Both of those teams are in the top-10, and should provide a better test of where head coach Jim Boeheim’s team is.

The pay head bookies will take note that the Orange weren’t the only team that received a first place vote this past week, as the No. 2 Kentucky Wildcats received one, and moved up to the second spot in the national rankings following a seven-point win over the fourth-ranked Louisville Cardinals. ShouldSyracuse follow with their tough schedule ahead, the Wildcats should be right there to pounce on the top spot given that they don’t play another game against a ranked opponent until February. The Cardinals slipped down to No. 11 with the loss, allowing the North Carolina Tar Heels to climb all the way up to three, with the Duke Blue Devils rounding out the top-five at No. 5.

There is still a long way to go before anything is determined for this year’s conferences, but for the most part the strong play from teams such as Syracuseand Baylor are strong indications for future success. Playing either team on betonline right now should be a good play, but don’t get too carried away once they get to the toughest parts of their schedules.

Sports Betting Overview

The Washington Capitals are in trouble. As most people expected, firing head coach Bruce Boudreau and replacing him with rookie NHLhead coach Dale Hunter was not the answer to the Capitals’ woes. The pay per head sportsbook experts do not seem phased by the recent challenges facing the Capitals asWashington is still a 6 ½ to 1 favorite to win the Stanley Cup this season. But anyone that has been watching the Capitals play lately has seen signs that this team is far from being a Stanley Cup contender. Team captain Alex Ovechkin is taking dumb penalties out of frustration and the Caps’ goaltending situation is not as stable as the team once thought. Tomas Vokoun is doing just fine, but Michal Neuvirth is not playing well at all. Vokoun cannot play every game this season, so Neuvirth is going to need to step up his game or get replaced.

By contrast, everyone has been able to see the Rangers play as of late thanks to the HBO series “24/7” that has been following the Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers as each team gets ready to compete in the 2012 Winter Classic. The thing that has been impressing the price per head sports experts about the Rangers is the consistency with which the Rangers play. The Rangers are tied for the lead in the Eastern Conference with those same Philadelphia Flyers mostly because the Rangers are a very well-balanced hockey team. The defense is steady and able to join in the offensive rush once in a while, and the offense is spreading the scoring around. When you back all of that up with goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, then you have a very potent hockey team.

Washington Capitals

A betonline.com review of the Capitals’ last 10 games shows a record of5-4-1. But it is the Caps’ overall road record that is raising eyebrows throughout the league. The Caps are6-10-1 on the road and it looks like a completely different team when it is away fromWashington,DC. At home, the Caps are11-5-1 and play a completely different brand of hockey. The Caps score a lot of goals but it also gives up a lot of goals as well. IfWashington wants to maintain its status as a Stanley Cup contender, then it will need to start playing better defense. This game against the Rangers is a chance forWashington to show that it can play the defense it needs to play to compete.

New York Rangers

The Rangers are riding a five-game winning streak and look like a John Tortorella coached team. They are aggressive but smart and always able to cover their mistakes in their own end. The Rangers have that level of discipline that the Capitals need. But the Rangers get their discipline from their coach. Henrik Lundqvist is having an all-star season and has to be considered an early candidate for the Vezina Trophy. But the Rangers are also getting some good play from backup Martin Biron as well. This is a very balanced hockey team that is able to lift itself up when it is having a bad night. It is up to the challenge of going intoWashingtonand facing a good home team.

The Bottom Line

NHL fans inWashington really thought that they had a Cup contender on their hands the past few years. But now the frustration is starting to show on the players and the fans inWashington. This game is not going to help the demeanor of the hockey fans and players inWashington,DC.

Pick: New York Rangers

Sports Betting Overview

On the last day before the two-day Christmas break, hockey fans get a quick preview of the 2012 Winter Classic as the New York Rangers host the Philadelphia Flyers. It is still strange to think that the Rangers are playing in the Winter Classic and the game is not in the New Yankee Stadium. But this game will be held atMadisonSquareGarden, and it is a game that both teams need. The Rangers trail the Flyers by four points in the Atlantic Division standings. It is a situation the Rangers have not been in for some time as the team is battling for the division lead heading into the new year. The addition of players such as Brad Richards have significantly helped the Rangers’ cause. This could be a very good year to be a Rangers’ fan.

The Philadelphia Flyers got their leading scorer Claude Giroux back from a concussion and Giroux got right back to lighting up the lamp with a four-point performance against the Dallas Stars. According to the price per head bookie experts, Giroux is definitely an early MVP candidate and a potential Rocket Richard award winner for top scorer in the league as well. The Flyers is still rotating goaltenders Sergei Bobrovsky and Ilya Bryzgalov without one goalie really showing that he wants to take the top spot. The price per head bookmaking experts point to Bryzgalov as the number one goalie due to the volume of work he has done so far this season. But the Flyers are not afraid to put in Bobrovsky when Bryzgalov is having a bad night.

New York Rangers

The one thing that has been in consistent in New York, and does not get enough credit for his work, is goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. With the acquisition of Richards in the offseason, the Rangers’ offense was given a tremendous boost. But New Yorkhas never worried about its defense because Lundqvist has been back there. A sportsbook.com review of Lunqvist’s stats this season show him at the top of the league in save percentage and goals against average again. The difference is that his efforts are helping to push the Rangers to the top of the Eastern Conference this season. The Rangers are scoring goals and playing good defense on their way to the Winter Classic.

Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers are a very fragile hockey team. Philadelphiahas already lost defenseman Chris Pronger for an extended period of time this season due to injury. Pronger is the team’s captain and he is gone for the season. When the Flyers lost Claude Giroux to a concussion for a couple of weeks, the team kind of buckled a little bit. The NHL fans inPhiladelphia are always wondering if their team has what it takes to win the Stanley Cup. For the last few years, the Flyers have been the victim of inconsistent goaltending. It is tough to get a read on where thePhiladelphia goaltending situation is headed this season, but it does look a lot more stable than it has in previous years. The Flyers finally have a real starting goaltender in Ilyz Bryzgalov and a quality backup in Sergei Bobrovsky. With thePhiladelphia offense back intact, that goaltending could be backstopping one of the best offenses in the league.

The Bottom Line

This will be a physical game and it will show why these two teams were selected to play in the Winter Classic this year. But the Philly offense may prove to be a little too much for the Rangers’ defense.

Pick: Philadelphia Flyers

In less than two weeks, the unofficial BCS National Title Game will take place during the college football betting bowl game, the Fiesta Bowl. This season’s Fiesta Bowl features two of the strongest football programs in the nation, as the Stanford Cardinals take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Depending on whom you talk too, the 11 and one overall records shared by both Stanford and Oklahoma State, should have technically allowed both to battle for the price per head National Title. Here is a preview of the game.

The 2012 Fiesta Bowl takes place at the University of Phoenix in Glendale, Arizona on Monday January 2, 2012. Entering the game, the Oklahoma State Cowboys will be playing with a chip on their shoulder, as they look to show the NCAA, that they made a mistake, by over looking them for a rematch between SEC programs LSU and Alabama. Despite not even playing in their own Conference Title Game, the Alabama Crimson Tide was awarded a National Title berth. This bookie software anomaly has many people angry, as this year’s title match will not feature the two best programs.

For that, you have to go to the Fiesta Bowl, where the Big 12 Champion Oklahoma State Cowboys look to demolish the Pac 12 Stanford Cardinals. Looking further into the game, fans and media alike, will witness two NFL caliber stars lead their team’s offenses, as Brandon Weeden and Andrew Luck are the overall stars of the game. The latter of who is expected to be the first overall pick in the NFL draft later in 2012, even though he isn’t in the National Title game.

If you are unfamiliar with Andrew Luck and the Stanford Cardinals, we will bring you up to speed. Luck along with former Head Coach Jim Harbaugh were able to convert an abysmal football program at Stanford, into one of the best in the nation. The Cardinals have finished 11 and one in back to back years, and have proven they can play with anyone.  In each of the last two seasons, Luck has finished second in Heisman voting as the nation’s top player. This season, he was supposed to win the award, before Baylor’s Robert Griffin III came out of nowhere and seemingly won the award for having one more touchdown and a more diverse style then Luck.

On the other hand, Brandon Weeden wasn’t even apart of the Heisman nominations, but he should have been. The junior play caller at Oklahoma State led the Cowboys to their best season in school history. However, you could make the argument, they only got snubbed from a National Title bid, because their only loss of the season came against a bad Iowa State Cyclones team. While, Alabama’s only loss came to LSU. In a football league that takes its programs losses seriously, it doesn’t seem fair that the Oklahoma State Cowboys were unable to move towards the National Title even though they won the Big 12 Championship.

Considering that the college basketball betting season gets underway at the end of the NCAA Football season, it is easy to understand why players looking to get in on the action on the hard court are so quick to jump on the top-ranked teams across the nation. But while the LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma State, and Stanford will combine for just three losses all year, it is unlikely that Syracuse, Ohio State, Kentucky, and Louisville will all remain in the top-four in college goops through the entire season. Even though it is still early, upsets should be expected at the college level, especially for teams with a lot of incoming talent in situations where coaches haven’t yet gotten the time to really work in their game plans and teach their squads the way that they would like to see them perform night in and night out. So while the favorite from a given matchup could be more talented, factors such as experience, chemistry, and environment all have to be taken in to consideration.

All three of those factors were present over the weekend when the former No. 1 Kentucky Wildcats suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of the unranked Indiana Hoosiers. Despite a combined 37 points between Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Doron Lamb, the Wildcats couldn’t keep pace with the Hoosiers on the road inside of Assembly Hall. A young Kentucky team that has a ton of talent but hasn’t spent a lot of time together was not able to rely on their talent alone as Indiana was able to hit a ton of wide open looks, especially after Terrence Jones got in to some early foul trouble and spent too much time on the bench. Considering that loss, combined with Ohio State also losing their first game of the year with Jared Sullinger out marked the first time since February of 2012 that the top two teams both lost on the same day, it really isn’t that rare of an occurrence on the Betonline basketball listings after all.

That said, it makes sense to take the success of the Syracuse Orange with a grain of salt after they moved to the top of the national rankings with their unblemished record, but their anointment is as much about the teams ahead of them losing as it is about the numbers that they have put up. Just because the Buckeyes and Wildcats both lost last week, that doesn’t mean they are not as good or even better than Syracuse, with the only difference at this point being timing. Playing within the confines of the Carrier Dome has been a boost for the Orange early on, one that they definitely needed in a close win over the Florida Gators, their lone contest to this point against a nationally ranked opponent. With the controversy surrounding the program in the wake of the latest scandal, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the team stumbles over their next couple of games, regardless of where they are ranked. Unlike in college football, college basketball teams will stumble multiple times throughout the course of the season, as even the best teams lose. That means taking every game with a grain of salt regardless of the labels that the pay head bookies put on them, because every game can be different.