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.

Both Oklahoma State and Oklahoma are playing in the Classic this year, in front of their home crowd. First, Oklahoma State will battle Alabama. Last year, Oklahoma State finished with a 22-11 record, which placed them right in the middle of the Big 12. Alabama, on the other hand, finished 17-15 overall. While both teams were far from great last year, they will hope to bounce back, and a win in the Classic is a great way to do just that.

After the conclusion of the Oklahoma State/Alabama game, the Oklahoma Sooners will take the floor to face the basketball betting favorites, Cincinnati Bearcats. Oklahoma had a very bad season last year, going 13-18. One thing Oklahoma is not used to is losing and they should bounce back this year. Cincinnati finished 19-16.

The All-College Basketball Classic always delivers thrills, and this year will be no exception. All four teams that are playing are hungry and need to bounce back in a big way. Come December 18th, we will see who starts off with a roar, and who starts off with a whimper.

Both coaches, be it Brad Stevens or Coach K are expected to be back at their respective schools for this matchup. The fact that Kyle Siegler will be back for the Duke Blue Devils in his senior season is a great thing for the boys from Durham. You have to wonder what kind of impact the defection of Gordon Hayward to the National Basketball Association will have one the overall impact and fluidity of the Butler Bulldogs roster.

You have to wonder whether the Duke club will still have some of the team oriented goals or whether some of their roster will begin to worry too much about the development of their NBA stock. Coach K is able to give his players a good idea on exactly how they will stand in the NBA Draft so players like Zubek should merely be focused on the fact that so ESPN will be playing the rematch. I am sure that Dick Vitale will be siked for the game and he certainly will be very respectful to Brad Stevens and the Butler Bulldogs.

Stevens has admitted in several circles that he wants another shot at Duke with the nucleus of his roster still in tact. Stevens even turned down a number of offers from several schools such as the University of Oregon.

Next Thursday, the Board of Directors will review the proposal before in goes into effect next March. This will add three teams to the opening round games, one team per region. The NCAA tournament will be televised on four different networks, CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV. The semifinal rounds will be split between CBS and Turner Sports networks, while through 2015, the Final Four games will be televised solely on the CBS network.

The expansion of this tournament will allow approximately 400,000 “student” athletes to compete for the NCAA Championship. However, this has been developed strictly for the men’s division, although another committee for the NCAA is looking into expanding the women’s tournament as well.

Adding more teams to the March Madness brackets has generated much talk from college basketball fans and coaches alike, who fear that the addition of more teams will diminish the popularity of March Madness and create more guesswork to determine a winner.

Duke, the basketball power, famous coach, big name roster proved with a 61-59 victory that it belongs among the greats of college basketball. Butler, the unproven school, young coach, and lack of household name roster proved with its performance that every school has the opportunity to exceed expectations in the tournament.

Duke was led by outstanding junior Kyle Singler while Butler received tremendous contributions from senior forward Avery Jukes, sophomore guard Shelvin Mack, and of course, sophomore Gordon Hayward. Hayward had two opportunities to win the game for Butler, once on a fade away jumper from the baseline and then again a half court shot at the buzzer. Neither shot went down enabling Duke to give it’s hall of fame coach championship number four.

The game went back and forth with multiple lead changes. The heavily favored Blue Devils could never shake Butler. Butler hung tough throughout and had moments when you thought they would pull ahead.

Duke’s overall experience and ACC toughness proved too much for the Horizon league champion Bulldogs, who were undefeated in their conference season. After the game, Duke players suggested that this was their toughest game of the season.

College fans were treated by two programs that play basketball the right way.

Butler may not have All-Americans dotting their roster, but they do have talent. Butler has won 24 games in a row and playing in front of a mostly home crowd should help them. Butler likes a grind it out game where playing tough defense and excelling in the half-court set offensively has been the key for them.

On the other hand, Michigan State is a team that has no one taller than 6 feet 8, but will crash the boards with everyone. Tom Izzo’s team rebound and do the small things you need to win. This is why he is in his eighth final four appearance. Look for Michigan State to run when it presents itself, but they can also run offensive sets well also.

The second game will pit Duke Blue Devils against the West Virginia Mountaineers.

This will be a game that the outcome may be determined by who rebounds better. Duke was able to control the glass against Baylor, but doing that against West Virginia will be a lot tougher. Bob Huggins coached teams always rebound well and West Virginia is no exception. The one achilles heel the Mountaineers do have is they do not have many ball handlers which could play into Duke’s hands.

Look for Duke to put pressure on the ball and try to get some turnovers for some easy points. West Virginia has one of the best defenses around and will ploy zones throughout the game. Duke has to be patient and drive into the paint and get easier shots. Trying to shoot over the West Virginia zone is tough. Penetration for Duke will be a key in this game if they hope to move on to the Finals.

In the Midwest, Kansas is gone, but we have Northern Iowa and Michigan St. Michigan St. has won 2 close games and now will have to win a third to improve their chances for the March Madness. There should be a lot of points in the Tennessee vs. Ohio St. game.

The top two seeds remain in the West. Syracuse takes on a determined Butler and Kansas St. takes on Xavier. Looking ahead, what a game that Syracuse vs. Kansas St. game would be.

The top two seeds also remain in the East. Kentucky and surprising Cornell. Cornell is not your typical Ivy League team. Kentucky has scary talent, but they better be ready. Washington out of the Pac-10 is playing their best ball of the year. They will have to keep that up in playing Bob Huggins and West Virginia.

Looking at the final regional in the South, Duke has buzzed through its first two games. They play a scrappy Purdue team that nobody thought would make it this far. The final game features a legit St. Mary’s squad, and the well-coached Baylor Bears. A Baylor vs. Duke regional final would be quite a game.

The Ohio State Buckeyes won the Big 10 Championship with a convincing win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Sunday. Ohio State comes in this game with an impressive 27-7 overall record and making this trip will be their 22nd trip to the tournaments, that is very impressive for such a young squad that is lead by Junior Evan Turner. Turner was also recently announced as the Basketball Writer’s All American Basketball Player.

The #15 ranked University of California Santa Barbara is a surprise by some individuals to making it to the top to play in the 2010 NCAA Basketball Tournament that they have a great group of guys that work together as a team and should fair well against their opponent.

Be sure to have your channel tuned to this game on Friday March 19, 2010 at 6:30 to see a exciting game.

On Wednesday, the fourth-eighth teams play the winners of Tuesday’s games. Seton Hall’s offense, led by Jeremy Hazell, may be enough to pull of an upset in this round. Notre Dame has arguably the best offense in the Big East, but they will need to rely on their mediocre defense to come through. Georgetown needs to limit their turnovers to advance.

Louisville has beaten Syracuse twice this season, which makes them a legitimate contender.

Marquette has a well-balanced team and an efficient scorer in Jimmy Butler, but they struggled against the top competition this season.

The top four teams enter play on Thursday. The champion will likely come from this batch. Syracuse boasts the best defense in the conference, and they have minimal struggles on offense as well. However, the only two teams to beat Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Louisville, are likely to still be in the tournament at this point.

West Virginia, whose biggest strength is offensive rebounding, split games with Pittsburgh and Villanova this year, but lost to Syracuse. Pittsburgh has beaten three top five teams this season, which places them as a contender yet again.

It should be a really exciting March Madness this year.

KU won the first game in Manhattan (81-79) in overtime; it could have gone either way. Kansas had five players score in double figures, with center Cole Aldrich leading the way with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and three blocks. K-State’s superb guard, Jacob Pullen, scored 22 points for Kansas State.

Kansas has the longest home-court winning streak in the nation with 58-straight wins in Allen Fieldhouse. In addition, the Jayhawks have held the number-one national ranking for most of the season, it will be Senior Day, and KU has a chance to go undefeated in the Big 12.

This sets the stage for K-State; the Wildcats will have everything to gain and nothing to lose when they take the floor against the Jayhawks. The KU-K-State rivalry has been intense over the years and Wednesday will be no exception.

KU center Cole Aldrich (6-11, 245) is the biggest difference between the two teams. Aldrich is the best defensive center in college basketball and he’s a leading candidate to be national Player of the Year.

It’s not inconceivable that Wednesday in Lawrence could be a preview of the national championship game to be played on April 5 in Indianapolis.