First Round Action for Thursday, March 16, 2023

I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. Sure, we have stuff to bet on every single day, but today... today is different. Today we get the round one kick-off for college basketball. A full day of action where you get to see the drama unfold in real-time. I couldn't be more excited. I had considered writing short snippets for the multiple games I'm looking at, but why switch it up now? We're doing rather well with our bets and hit both main and one of the smaller plays. Let's get to it!

College of Charleston vs. San Diego State, 3:10 ET

This is a matchup between at 12 seed and a 5 seed. There are a lot of bracket selectors out there that will tell you this is a matchup that you will see an upset happen in. Maybe that's likely, but I don't think game will be the one where you see #12 College of Charleston take down #5 San Diego State. Charleston does play very well and had a nice conference tournament but they were not easy wins by any means. On the year they were very good with a 31-3 record overall. The only two teams on their schedule that were recognizable though were North Carolina (one of their losses) and Virginia Tech (they won that game by two). San Diego State is led by their backcourt and I'm not sure that Charleston's backcourt has the ability to guard them. Both are decent shooting teams, but I think that this is one where San Diego State will put more pressure on Charleston and force them into mistakes. I'll play this game up at -5.5 but I don't think I'd play it too much further than 6.5.

Auburn vs. Iowa, 6:50 ET

The #8 seeded Iowa Hawkeyes would probably be the lean upon first glance, but I'm not sure this is a great situation for them. They are playing in Birmingham, Alabama and that's more of a home game for their opponent #9 Auburn. Both teams are talented, but neither is great, and probably won't make a deep run in this tournament. Auburn didn't advance in their own conference tournament as they were defeated by Arkansas. On the other side, Ohio State took down Iowa in a surprising upset. I personally was shocked about that with how poorly Ohio State had played. The game prior to the conference tournament for Iowa was also not very good, having dropped a home game to Nebraska. In order to win this game, Iowa will need to rely on their stud forward Kris Murray. He could be the best player in this game, but Auburn is likely to put all of their attention on him, so the question is can their role players make shots? I'm doubting it, and part of that is because I do expect this to not be a neutral crowd. I think Auburn has the edge in this and am happy to take them at -1.5.

Some of the other plays I like today that I want to share: West Virginia -2.5 is a good bet in my opinion. I have no faith in Penn State so I like Texas A&M to win that game. Arkansas should also beat Illinois today, at -2 that seems to have some value there. I think you're asking for too much to go correctly for Princeton and Arizona and I don't think we get over the 153.5 total in that one, so play the under.

Good luck, and if you happen to be in Vegas today and see me, say hello!

For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on Twitter: @futureprez2024