Muller will replace Tim Jankovich. The latter left to become the coach-in-waiting at SMU under Larry Brown. Last week, Muller interviewed for the Illinois State job and he a candidate for several other positions this offseason. Redbirds assistant Rob Judson and Gonzaga assistant Ray Giacoletti were the others who interviewed for the Illinois State job. Muller interviewed with ISU athletic director Gary Friedman. On the same day, Friedman interviewed Muller and Gonzaga. Judson was interviewed the next day. Until the news conference to announce Jankovich’s replacement, Friedman had said he would not comment on the coaching search.

At Vanderbilt under Kevin Stallings, who was Muller’s coach at Illinois State from 1995-98, Muller recently completed his 12th season. He has been part of his staff in Nashville since 2000. Muller as a player had led the Redbirds to two Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament championships, which produced NCAA Tournament appearances during his junior and senior years. Muller won two MVC Defensive Player of the Year awards. He has not been a head coach although he helped ISU to a 91-36 record during his stay.

In the Missouri Valley Conference, Illinois State currently holds the longest NCAA tournament drought. In 1998, the last time the Redbirds reached the Big Dance; Vanderbilt assistant coach Dan Muller was wearing a red and white uniform. Now, as the school’s new coach, the former Illinois State player will look to lead a senior-laden team back to the NCAAs. This past season, the Redbirds finished with a 21-14 record. When they could contend for the MVC title and their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1998, they are expected to return all their key players for the 2012-13 season.

Christian returned to the Mid-American Conference. He was Kent State’s coach and had six 20-win seasons before going to Fort Worth. Christian was 56-73 at TCU. Last season, the Horned Frogs were 18-15, their first winning season since 2004-05. In the College Basketball Invitational tournament, they finished the season with a second-round loss at Oregon State.

The Horned Frogs are moving from the Mountain West Conference to the Big 12. They last went to the NCAA tournament 14 years ago when Billy Tubbs was their coach. TCU assistant Bill Wuczynski is leaving to join Christian in Ohio. Assistants Rob Evans and Reggie Brown and director of operations Cody Hopkins met Johnson and their TCU futures are unknown.

The next three years at LSU were not as successful for Johnson. The Tigers lost in the first round to Oregon and they had back-to-back 11-20 seasons before going 18-15 this past season. Receiving a bid to the NIT, they lost in the first round to Oregon. Johnson spent four seasons at both Stanford and Nevada before joining LSU.

Reports suggest that Johnson will make $1.5 million base and other incentives that could push things toward $2 million. The departed Jim Christian made around $600,000, so it shows much more of a commitment than TCU has made in the past.

Johnson’s teams struggled the next two seasons before going to the NIT last year with the same number of wins as TCU had under Christian, after going to the NCAA tournament his first season. He inherited some good teams at Stanford and LSU, and in Baton Rouge. Before going to Nevada as head coach, Johnson was an assistant coach at Stanford.

In 2008, when Johnson got to LSU, he had a team filled with seniors. The Tigers went 22-41 combined with only five SEC wins the next two years before going 18-15 last season with an NIT appearance, although he went 27-8 and won the SEC regular season championship his first season.

by sending the Dragons to a loss at John A. Daskalakis Center, UMass is hoping to extend its run on the NIT betting menu. The 90-88 loss was a game that got away, a game UMass could have won. Since then, in the Atlantic 10 tournament they have won tough games against Temple, and at Mississippi State and Seton Hall in the NIT.

So far, UMass has pulled off several upsets but the No. 3 seed in Drexel, who have been a moneymaker for bettors this season. On the season, the Dragons sit at 29-6 (20-12-1 ATS). Massachusetts is 18-13-1 OU and Drexel is 15-18 OU. According to the latest pro hoops power rankings here at Odds Shark, it is a betting matchup between the No. 58-ranked Minutemen and the No. 79-rated Dragons.

Massachusetts was a 77-67 winner on the road against Seton Hall in their last action. They covered the 7.5-point spread as underdogs. On Saturday, Massachusetts earned a 77-67 victory over Seton Hall and got 20 points from Chaz Williams at Prudential Center.

Last time out for Drexel, they battled Northern Iowa at home and were a 65-63 winner, although they failed as a 7.5-point favorite in the match. leading Drexel over Northern Iowa, Samme Givens went off for 28 points and added 5 rebounds, 65-63, on Sunday at John A. Daskalakis Center.

The point spread for Massachusetts Minutemen +6.5, while for Drexel Dragons it is -6.5.

Look out for a surprise Florida State Seminoles team and don’t ever count out Gary Williams replacement, Mark Turgeon and the Maryland Terrapins. This year could be wide open in the ACC but the top half of this conference will dominate the bottom feeders. The following are the five teams who will come out of ACC and play in the NCAA Tournament.

1. North Carolina Tar Heels
   North Carolina is the No. 1 team in the country and with good reason. Harrison Barnes and Tyler Zeller have another year of experience under their belts and they will dominant teams all by themselves this season.
2. Duke Blue Devils
   The Duke Blue Devils can pound the ball inside or beat a team by shooting from downtown. They will be exciting to watch this season.
3. Miami Hurricanes
   Jim Larranaga experienced unexpected success with James Mason but now the pressure is on as a coach of a basketball program in a football town.
4. Maryland Terrapins
   Mark Turgeon replaces the legend Gary Williams and although it will be tough he will do better than many expect. Look for Turgeon to shock the ACC and get the Maryland Terrapins in the Big Dance in hi first try out of the box.
5. Florida State Seminoles
   Look for the Florida State Seminoles to win 22-24 games and make the tournament one more time.

In fact, if you’re looking for good bets ATS, good small college teams are much easier to predict. Creighton, for example, was just 23-16 overall, but against the spread they were 22-14. That’s a pretty nice percentage even for solid handicappers. Akron at 23-13 was 19-12-1 ATS.

On the other side you have teams that had terrible records but found a way to come out over .500 against the spread. Cal State Sacramento is one of those teams, finishing 7-21 overall but 13-9 ATS. UC Riverside had a similar situation, stumbling to a 12-19 record with a 16-11 mark ATS.

My question is, how did the sportsbooks do when the best teams in college basketball played? We already saw Duke, but how about Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Kansas, Syracuse, Wisconsin, and North Carolina?

The Buckeyes were 34-3, often regarded as the best team in college basketball yet they finished just 17-15 ATS.

Pittsburgh was 28-6 in a very tough Big East conference, but at the end of the year, Panther betting loyalists weren’t too happy, they were just 15-14 ATS.

Kansas had a pair of talented brothers and a loaded group of youngsters. They were 35-3 overall, but again, not a moneymaking machine at just 16-16-2 ATS.

Syracuse was 27-8, but even after turning it on mid-season, the Orange were 15-18 ATS.

Wisconsin was a little better, turning their 25-9 record into a 17-13 ATS mark, but that’s hardly dominant.

North Carolina really turned their season around after struggling early, but their tale of two seasons couldn’t help them get over .500 ATS, they were just 16-17-1 with a 29-8 record.

Massachusetts Minutemen – For Massachusetts Minutemen, it has been a series of little steps and little victories. Even head Coach Derek Kellogg, who was assigned for the program in 2008 looks to be in distress.

When the season commences, without doubt lot of questions will certainly turn up. One question that will not be left out for sure is where the points are going to come from. There is the prospective for this team in the conference to make another run at a near .500 records but the matter of concern with Minutemen is that they can with ease go down to the bottom third of the Atlantic-10.

Dayton Flyers – The Flyers were NIT champions in 2010, won an NCAA Tournament game and have claimed wins in at least 22 games each season. However, unfortunately for the Flyers, their immediate future looks to be bothersome and they need to get themselves protected against the same, before disaster strikes.

In 2012, the Flyers look like they are in a position to take somewhat of a step back. Dayton will not be contending for a spot in the upper tier of the standings, although they are not likely to slip to the bottom reaches of the A-10 either.

Baylor Bears – Record 18-13 is what the Baylor Bears had finished with. Yes, it is very disappointing. They faced an early season suspension, which did not do them any justice. They had entered the season with sky-high expectation. The complicated task for them seems to be the replacement of Tweedy Carter. The Bears never made it to the tourney in the season and this was a big dampener on a poor season.

Aspirations on the Bears run high, so high that one might think that expectation have been over-inflated. Sweet Sixteen is more pragmatic for the Bears, however there is a feeling that they will in all probability make it to Final four and can assert a Big 12 championship.

According to sports betting blog, Hewitt, who was fired by the Yellow Jackets last month, will replace Jim Larranaga, who left to coach the Miami Hurricanes.

“It’s a great job and a great location and that sold me on the location,” Hewitt said of George Mason. “The plan was to stay out for a year and then get back into coaching. I never thought in a million years this would happen.”

It’s too early to tell how the move will affect the Patriots College Basketball Odds for next season, but Hewitt had a solid overall record at GTU, going 190-162 SU in his 11 years at the school. His down fall was a 72-104 SU record in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Hewitt’s biggest achievement with the Yellow Jackets was taking them to the 2004 NCAA championship game, where they lost 82-73 to the Connecticut Huskies.

It seems money was on issue for either side, as Hewitt is receiving a $7.2 million buyout over five years from Georgia Tech, which meant a mid-major school like George Mason, which plays in the Colonial Athletic Association, didn’t have to come up with big bucks.

Hewitt said he’s excited to be in a league that had produced two Final Four teams in the last six years – George Mason in 2006 and this season’s Cinderella team, the Virginia Commonwealth Rams.

George Mason athletic director Tom O’Connor told ESPN.com that Hewitt agreed to a five-year contract. The amount of the deal is estimated at about $1 million per year.

The Huskies are a 3-point favorite in NCAAB Odds.

The Huskies have played excellent basketball in tournament settings all season and they have not disappointed in the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies are led by Kemba Walker. Walker has been clutch all through the tournament and has led his team with his quickness and excellent jumpshot.

The Huskies also have a good amount of size underneath the hoop that allows them to shut down the offensive advances of their opponents. Their defense will be key in this game and could be the thing that carries them to victory against the Bulldogs.

Butler is in the finals of the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year. Last year they played well throughout the tournament and surprised the world before a last second shot attempt that barely missed, leaving the Bulldogs short of victory. They will have a chance to redeem their team this year.

The Bulldogs will have to find a way to slow down Walker. Walker is one of the few players in the nation that can singlehandedly carry a team through stretches or even for an entire game. Look for Walker to try to leave his mark on the game starting from the opening tip.

Basketball Picks and March Madness betting Odds have Kentucky as a 2-point favorite.

These teams played earlier in the season in a preseason tournament. The Huskies were unranked and nobody expected them to make the showing that they did. They beat 2nd ranked Michigan State to grab the opportunity to play against Kentucky for the tournament championship. The Wildcats simply could not contain Kemba Walker and the Huskies won the game by 17 points.

The Huskies have been excellent in tournament settings this season. They won their preseason tournament and beat ranked teams in a row en route to winning the conference tournament. They have proven that they can step up in big moments to win big games all season.

The Wildcats have had one of the hardest roads to the Final Four of any teams in the tournament. After winning their conference tournament over Florida, the team managed to beat Princeton, West Virginia, Ohio State and the University of North Carolina to get where they are. Kentucky has certainly proven that they belong in this game.

The Wildcats have changed their offense to accommodate their players and they look much better than they did at the beginning of the season. This should be a very different game than the last matchup between these two teams. Look for this game to go to the wire as these teams leave everything on the court.

These teams have survived the NCAA Tournament to this point, and they are now in the Sweet 16. This will likely be the toughest matchup of the tournament for each team and it should be an exciting game.

March Madness Odds have the Buckeyes as a 6-point favorite.

The Ohio State Buckeyes will definitely have the advantage underneath the hoop as they are led by Jared Sullinger. Sullinger has averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds per game this year while shooting 54 percent from the field. He is a big guy, weighing in at 280 pounds. He also is a solid free throw shooter and makes teams pay when they decide to foul him.

The Wildcats will need a big game from their freshman forward Terrence Jones in this game. Jones is having a solid season, averaging 16.1 points per game and 8.7 rebounds. He has also made a big contribution on the defensive end of the floor, averaging 1.9 blocks per game this year. They will need him to make a big contribution on both sides of the floor as Ohio State may be the toughest team in the nation.

The Wildcats have proven they can stick with the top teams in the league as they have won several games against ranked teams this season. They will need to be at their best if they hope to take out the Buckeyes this Friday. The winner of this game will advance to the Elite 8 and will be one step closer to the championship.