✅ Today’s Checklist
👉 Download the VSiN March Mania Betting Guide
👉 Enter the free March Mania Betting Challenge
👉 Take your shot at $1M Survivor (starts with $1,000, but still a big overlay!)
We’re down to 66 teams
Two more punch their tickets tonight — and the betting edges are sharper than they look.
Using Steve Makinen’s First Four betting trends, Wednesday’s card splits cleanly: one strong side . . . and one even stronger Total.
👉 See Makinen’s full trend breakdown
Tuesday recap:
👉 Howard (-1.5) advanced with a MDBC 86-83 (Over 143.5) and Texas (+1.5) moved on, beating NC State 68-66 (Under 157.5).
Wednesday’s games:
🏀 Prairie View (+3.5) vs. Lehigh — 6:40 ET, truTV
The edge: Fade Lehigh in this profile.
Patriot League vs mid-majors: 2-7 ATS
#16-seed dogs: 64% ATS
👉 Preview: Prairie View vs. Lehigh
🏀 Miami of Ohio (+6.5) vs. SMU
The edge: The Total of 163.5 is the play.
MAC teams: 7 straight NCAA UNDERS
High totals (139+): 60% UNDER
FYI: Side trends conflict
🧠 How to Spot a Bracket Buster
Upsets aren’t random — they’re predictable.
Steve Makinen’s data shows most March surprises follow the same profiles.
👉 Upset teams, Cinderellas & champions — Steve’s full breakdown
⚠️ Teams to fade
Public favorites with flaws:
Kentucky — elite offense, shaky defense
Alabama — inflated by pace, volatile D
Iowa State — efficiency dips vs top teams
🧨 Cinderella targets
Under-seeded, efficient teams:
Drake — half-court efficiency + experience
McNeese — defensive profile travels
James Madison — veteran guards + balance
🏆 Title blueprint
Teams that check every box:
Houston — elite defense
UConn — no statistical holes
Purdue — interior dominance + improved guards
💡 Bottom line
Fade: flawed blue bloods
Back: efficient mid-majors
Build around: complete teams
👉 Bracket strategy: Save your chaos for teams that *fit the profile* — not just the seed line.
🏀 Your NCAA Tournament Toolkit
Everything you need before filling out a bracket or placing a bet.
👉 NCAA Tournament Hub (all first-round previews)
🔍 Today’s picks
👉 Greg Peterson‘s Best Bets are in
👉 Top plays from Adam Burke & Tyler Shoemaker, plus Josh Appelbaum’s Sharp Report (coming later this morning)
👉 Browse all college basketball articles
👉 The Circa College Hoops Challenge: 15 plays apiece from 15 contestants for the first-round games will be announced on VSiN PrimeTime tonight after ET and posted on VSiN.com.
🎧 Podcast picks
👉 Beating The Book: Picks from Gill Alexander, Todd Wishnev, Will Hill and Jeff Parles. ➡️ Watch / Listen
👉 Pod to the Futures: Picks from Mitch Moss and Jonathan Von Tobel. ➡️ Watch / Listen
📊 Betting tools
👉 Matchup Page (stats, trends, projections)
👉 Makinen’s Daily Power Ratings
👉 Peterson’s Handicapped Lines
👉 DraftKings & Circa Betting Splits
👉 College Basketball Picks Page
⚡ Real-time edge
👉 Track market steam with the DonBest Screen
👉 Start a 7-day free trial (use code VSIN10 for 10% off)
Zach Cohen’s NBA Report
Parlay Options Galore
If you’ve been sitting out the “brain dead parlay” the last couple of nights, I get it. We haven’t had as many can’t-miss legs as usual. That changes on Wednesday. The following six games fit what we’re looking for:
Thunder at Nets – 7:30 PM ET
Trail Blazers at Pacers – 7:30 PM ET
Raptors at Bulls – 8:00 PM ET
Jazz at Timberwolves – 8:00 PM ET
Hawks at Mavericks – 8:30 PM ET
Nuggets at Grizzlies – 8:30 PM ET
I can’t say with certainty that I’ll be jumping on a six-team parlay, but it’s definitely under consideration. On Tuesday, we saw the NBA’s tanking teams get completely stomped.
Zach posts his Best Bets every morning.
👉 Find Zach’s picks on our NBA page.
He also does a fresh episode of the Hardwood Handicappers podcast Monday-Friday.
⛳ Valspar: Bet the Ball-Strikers
Copperhead isn’t a birdie fest — it’s a survival test.
And that makes this one of the easiest boards to handicap.
👉 Valspar Championship picks, bets & full analysis from Wes Reynolds
🎯 The edge
- Nearly one-third of approach shots come from 200+ yards
- Fairways hit just ~56% → positional course
- Winners separate with elite irons + bogey avoidance
👉 Think grinders, not birdie-makers
👀 Targets (with odds)
- Brooks Koepka (20-1) — elite long-iron proximity fits perfectly
- Matt Fitzpatrick (22-1) — accuracy + scrambling combo
- Corey Conners (25-1) — one of the steadiest iron players on Tour
👉 More analysis from Wes and Kelley Bydlon on the Long Shots podcast. ➡️ Watch / Listen
