The NCAA March Madness bracket was announced at 6 PM EST, and only three hours later, betting lines started to trickle out in Las Vegas and at offshore sports books across the world.
Lines began to appear most notably at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas after the clock crossed the 9 o’clock hour.
Right now the futures market offers to most value, but there have been significant shifts in point spreads in the overnight hours that you should know about — whether you are headed to Vegas for the tourney or are merely playing a bracket.
Speaking of brackets, we recommend the one in the banner at the top of this post.
Here are some of the early line movements and openers for the First Round of the tournament:
Thursday
14 Valparaiso vs 3 Michigan State (-9.5) to (-10.5)
13 New Mexico State vs 4 St Louis (-10.5) to (-9)
12 Oregon vs 5 Oklahoma State (-3.5) to (-2.5)
13 Montana vs 4 Syracuse (-14.5) to (-12.5)…now back to (-13.5)
12 Akron vs 5 VCU (-6) to (-7.5)
Friday
12 Mississippi vs 5 Wisconsin (-4) to (-5.5)
15 Pacific vs 2 Miami (-13.5) to (-11.5)
7 Notre Dame vs 10 Iowa State (-1) to (+1)
7 San Diego State vs 10 Oklahoma (+1.5) to (+3)
10 Minnesota vs UCLA (+2) to (+3.5)
If you take a look at all of the opening lines, only Minnesota, Missouri and Iowa State started out as the favorite as the lower seed, with the Golden Gophers at around (-3.5) right now leading the pack as the Vegas favorite to pull a “bracket upset.” The one game I did not put on the board above was Duke. The Blue Devils open the first round of the tournament versus Albany, but right now the line movement is moving the line from (-19.5) to (-17.5) in favor of the Great Danes.
If you take a look at some of the future odds, which opened just an hour or so before the lines did, some of the numbers become real glaring. When lines opened, here were the eight favorites:
Louisville: 5/1
Indiana: 6/1
Kansas: 8/1
Gonzaga: 8/1
Duke: 8/1
Miami: 10/1
Georgetown: 10/1
Florida: 10/1
The only top two-seeded team that was left out of the top eight was Ohio State, who opened at 15/1 and was with three other teams for 10th best odds to win it all.