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Tips For Making Your Second Round Betting Picks On Sunday & Monday

by Matt Schmitto (schmitto) Last Updated 2021-03-31 20:04:32

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And just like that only 32 teams remain. The first round of the NCAA tournament delivered its fair share of upsets and buzzer-beaters. Brackets have busted, and dogs have barked — enough to guarantee at least one double-digit seed will make the Sweet 16. But what kind of madness are college basketball fans in store for on Sunday and Monday? Here are five things to know before making your second-round picks at online sportsbooks.

Round 2 CBB Odds For Monday

The Pac 12 is undefeated

Heading into the NCAA tournament, college basketball fans and pundits widely believed that the Big 10 was the best conference in the nation, but lackluster performances on behalf of Ohio State and Purdue combined with stellar showings from both the Pac 12 and Big 12 have put that into question. Before Saturday night’s upset over the Longhorns, the Big 12 was a perfect 6-0 straight up and against the spread. The Pac 12 stayed perfect throughout the first round on both counts. Here are the second-round matchups for the three conferences, headlined by a Big 12/Big 10 clash between Baylor and Wisconsin.

Big 10

Rutgers +7.5 vs. Houston -7.5 (131.5)
Illinois -7.5 vs. Loyola Chicago (134)
Villanova -5 vs. North Texas (126.5)
Baylor vs. Wisconsin +6.5 (137.5)
Oregon vs. Iowa -4 (147)
Michigan -5 vs. LSU (149)
Maryland +6 vs. Alabama (137.5)

Big 12

Baylor vs. Wisconsin +6.5 (137.5)
Syracuse vs. West Virginia -4 (147)
Texas Tech vs. Arkansas +2 (141)
Oregon State vs. Oklahoma State -6 (140.5)
Oklahoma +14.5 vs. Gonzaga (154)
USC vs. Kansas +1.5 (134.5)

Pac 12

Oregon State +6 vs. Oklahoma State (140.5)
Oregon +4 vs. Iowa (147)
Abilene Christian vs. UCLA -5 (132.5)
Colorado +1 vs. Florida State -1 (139)
USC -1.5 vs. Kansas (134.5)

Texas Tech has never been outscored in the 2H of a tourney game under Beard

Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard continues to use halftime adjustments to outsmart his opponents. The 6-seeded Red Raiders trailed Utah State by three points after the first 20 minutes but dominated the second half en route to a 12-point first-round victory. Texas Tech is now the last team remaining from the 2019 Final Four, and with Ohio State’s surprising departure, the road to another Final Four for Beard has gotten significantly easier. But first they’ll have to get past a gritty Arkansas team on Sunday.

Oddsmakers give the edge to Beard, favoring Texas Tech -1.5. College basketball bettors should keep an eye on that second half spread, though. Texas Tech’s offense isn’t always fast out of the gate, but their hard-nosed “no-middle” defense coupled with depth on the bench makes them a difficult squad to tassel with for a full 40 minutes. Dating back to Beard’s first D1 head coaching job at Arkansas Little Rock, he’s 10-3 straight up in the NCAA tournament. As he says, “I’m really good at what I do in March.” Oddsmakers have taken notice, as the Red Raiders futures odds to win the NCAA title have shortened from +5000 to +2500.

Oral Roberts’ Kevin Obanor third player since 2000 w/ 30-point, 10-rebound performance vs a top-2 seed

Oral Roberts knocked off No. 2 Ohio State, and there’s reason to believe it wasn’t a fluke: it was ORU’s worst shooting performance in a win all year. Oral Roberts has two dynamic scorers in Kevin Obanor and Max Abmas.

Abmas and Obanor combined for 59 points while Abmas played all 45 minutes in ORU’s first NCAA tournament win since 1974. . Obanor’s performance was even more impressive. Oral Roberts played teams like Wichita State and Oklahoma State during the regular season, so this stage isn’t too big for them. They do have their work cut out for them playing as 9-point underdogs against Florida.

Four 13-Seeds or lower advanced to the second round

No. 14 Abilene Christian (+330), No. 13 North Texas (+270), and No. 13 Ohio (+260) join No. 15 Oral Roberts (+740) as first-round bracket busters. As Daily Wager pointed out Sunday morning, a $100 4-team parlay would’ve paid out $60,040. Do not underestimate these teams in the second round. All of these teams are playing as underdogs again, but don’t expect them to get swept. The largest spread is in the Oral Roberts game. The other three schools are merely 5-point underdogs.

No more perfect brackets

We hope our bracket tips helped you pick an upset like Ohio, but no more perfect brackets remain in ESPN’s Tournament Challenge.

Good luck throughout the rest of the NCAA tournament! Make sure to take advantage of these free bets and odds boosts when placing your second-round bets.

Image Credit: Imagn

About the Author

schmitto
Matt Schmitto (schmitto)

Matt Schmitto is an Organic Strategy Lead for Better Collective. He was introduced to daily fantasy sports in 2012 and soon became a member at RotoGrinders. Seven years later, Schmitto joined RotoGrinders Network full time as a staff writer shortly after the Supreme Court overturned PASPA. He has since covered important stories in the sports betting and fantasy sports industries for sites like SportsHandle and USBets and has had roles as a sports betting editor and commercial content manager. He continues to play DFS and loves placing Futures bets at sportsbooks. His favorite DFS sites are DraftKings, Underdog Fantasy, and PrizePicks. Follow Schmitto on Twitter – @Matt_Schmitto