1st NCAA bid Is in
With Selection Sunday now one week away, the NCAA Tournament field starts taking shape today.
Four automatic bids will be decided as conference tournaments crown their champions.
Actually, the first ticket to the Big Dance has already been punched.
Long Island University officially secured a spot Saturday in unusual fashion. The Sharks advanced to the Northeast Conference championship game, but their opponent — Mercyhurst — is ineligible for the NCAA Tournament during its transition to Division I.
That means LIU will represent the NEC in March Madness regardless of the championship result on Tuesday.
The four championship games today:
Missouri Valley
UIC (-4.5) vs. Northern Iowa
Noon ET — CBS
Big South
High Point (-6.5) vs. Winthrop
Noon ET — ESPN2
ASUN
Queens (+3.5) vs. Central Arkansas
2 p.m. ET — ESPN2
Summit League
North Dakota State (TBD) vs. North Dakota
8 p.m. ET — CBS Sports Network
👉 Check Steve Makinen’s conference tournament betting trends.
Meanwhile, the regular season closes in the Big Ten with an intrastate rivalry worth watching. Michigan, already locked in as the top seed for the Big Ten Tournament, finishes the regular season today against Michigan State (+10.5).
Greg “Hoops” Peterson breaks down that matchup in his Best Bets for the day.
👉 Check the Conference Tournament Hub for everything we publish during Champ Week.
👉 Check here for Luke DiVasta‘s “Angle” picks. They went 2-3 Saturday and the system is now 43-19.
FYI: Running Makinen’s Analytics Report through AI went 3-1 (only losing the robot’s “bonus” wager, NU-Minnesota Total, by half a point).
👉 The Circa College Hoops Challenge standings.
Zach Cohen’s NBA Report
“Braindead Parlay”
Fading the tanking teams hasn’t been as straightforward over the last couple of days, but you’ll have some options today. The Raptors are hosting the Mavericks, the Pelicans are hosting the Wizards, and the Blazers are hosting the Pacers. That’s three tanking teams playing on the road, though backing New Orleans is definitely a little scary.
Actual basketball?
The Tank-a-palooza stuff is all good and fun, but this is a good slate for true NBA fans. At 1 p.m. ET, the Celtics, with Jayson Tatum back in the fold, will face the Cavaliers on ABC. This could be a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals. Then, the second part of that doubleheader features the Lakers hosting a red-hot Knicks team. At 8 p.m. ET, the Rockets and Spurs will battle in San Antonio. Then, at 10 ET, the Hornets will be hoping to avoid back-to-back losses when they take on the Suns.
👉 Zach’s Best Bets and Steve Makinen‘s Analytics Report will hit around mid-morning on our NBA page.
NASCAR Best Bets
Steve Makinen‘s race simulation is on an early hot streak heading into today’s NASCAR race in Phoenix:
Looking for a third simulation win in a row, we turn to Ryan Blaney as the projected winner. He moves up a couple spots from the initial projections on Tuesday after a strong practice and qualifying session. He wasn’t the fastest in either, but he was good in both and has a great recent history of strong runs at Phoenix. Blaney’s Penske racing teammate Joey Logano will start on the pole and checks in #2 on the final simulation run.
Phoenix has a handicap-ability grade of B+, making it the highest graded track of the young season. Of course, with Tyler Reddick winning the first three races, including the last two as projected, the simulations are off to a very strong start. Reddick is picked 10th for this race.
Steve’s personal picks:
Top 5: Blaney, Larson, Bell, Logano, Hamlin
Top underdogs to consider: Chastain, Briscoe, Hocevar, Suarez
Favorites to striggle: Elliott, Wallace, Busch, Keselowski
