Posted on 3/18/2008 4:11:00 PM

Endzone March Madness Basketball Betting 2008 – The East

By Tim Furious

The road to the Final Four goes through Charlotte, and the heavy favorite to dominate March Madness. The No.1 UNC Tar Heels headline a busy bracket in the East. Tyler Hansbrough and the Tar Heels are the highly touted number-one seed for a damn good reason. With a 32-2 SU record and an ACC Championship in their back pocket, there’s no doubt in many betting minds that the baby-blue will be in the national championship game. With the second best offense in the league (88.7 points per game) and Hansbrough leading the best rebounding unit in the country, there’s little reason to believe that UNC won’t put themselves in a position to come out as champs once the madness is over.

Of course, getting Ty Lawson back to full health – and keeping him there – is a major concern for those lumping big dollars in to our NCAA Basketball futures. Team defense has also been a concern for UNC. They give up 72.7 points per game, and have shown the ability to amply shut down their opponents when they’ve needed to. Now all that’s left is to live up to the hype, and escape the East Region bracket.

But that won’t be easy.

The biggest underdog favorite is No.11 Saint Joseph, who lost to Temple in the Atlantic 10 final. Some who are unfamiliar with the Hawks may be worried about a record that pins them at 21-12, but a bevy of bettor’s have them escaping their first round matchup because of Ahmad Nevins and Tasheed Carr. Nevins is a banger who averages 14.4 points per game, and 5.9 rebounds. At 6-foot-9, the versatile swingman is the pivot of a dynamic offense that is run by Carr who displays excellent court vision. The NCAA tournament always comes down to point-guard play, and if that’ the case, Saint Joseph’s Hawks are going to a tough fight for anyone in the East. If all that doesn’t convince you, then the two victories they hold over Xavier this season should be more than enough.

Tennessee was a heavy favorite to win it all after they crushed Memphis in a magnificent display. Too bad they couldn’t keep it up. With a 29-4 SU record, they have gone 15-13-1 ATS this season, and are just 11-13-1 ATS as favorites. They lifted the hearts of their betting faithful by toppling the Tigers, but lost to the Razorbacks in the SEC semifinals and are barely inching out of games that many are considering to be too close for comfort.

Butler enters the scene as a No.7 seed with a 29-3 SU record. But they have been anything but a betting man’s best friend with just a 16-15-1 ATS record. They won the Horizon league, and boast perhaps the best point-guard in the bracket with Mike Green. The steady point-man has 14.9 points, 6.6 boards and 5.1 helpers on average this year, and has steadied an amazing offense that is geared around A.J. Graves, who averages 13.3 points per game.

Of course, UNC isn’t the only one stealing the eye of those savvy betting faithful out there because your favorite Cinderella team enters the East bracket at No.12. That’s right - George Mason is once again the “it” team. The Patriots cruise in to the bracket as heavy underdogs to make the Final Four, but man are they hot. Currently on a three-game winning streak, Mason returns with the same deft shooting and moxy that made it a Final Four team in 2006. No.5 Notre Dame will have its hands full trying to edge these Patriots. And while they’re 4-1 SU in their past 5 games, Mason is still 2-5-1 ATS in its last 8 games so consider your betting self warned.

However, with all that being said, the road out of the East leads right through Charlotte and the UNC Tar Heels. The dream is for No.3 Louisville, or Bill Pearl and the second-seed Volunteers, to clash with the Heels. It has the making of a great story, but that doesn’t mean that the upstart underdogs, like Butler and George Mason, won’t have anything to say about it.

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Good luck and stay tuned to the locker room for all the betting analysis you’ll need to make the most profitable decisions in our BetUS.com sportsbook!

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