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.

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.

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.

Gonzaga is the better shooting team of the two but St John’s has been battle tested in the Big East this season. Lavin has run the gauntlet in the regular season with St John’s and they will be ready for Gonzaga in this early test.

St John’s is a slight favorite in NCCA Basketball Picks by 1 1/2 points over Gonzaga but it is tough to count out a team like the Bulldogs. The key player on the floor for this game will be Dwight Hardy for the Red Storm. Hardy is averaging more than 18 points per game and is hitting three’s at a 35 percent clip. If Hardy gets hot from outside, the Red Storm can cruise.

Gonzaga is the better shooting team from the field as well as the best three point shooting team on the floor. Gonzaga is hitting 36 percent from behind the three point arc and St John’s is hitting 33 percent. The statistical matchups all go to Gonzaga including rebounding and free throw shooting.

Throw the stats out for this game. St John’s has played with character and aggression all season and their tenacity is what will show. Sit back and enjoy one of the best games of the first two days when these two tip off.

Illinois is a 50-1 long shot to win the NCAA Tournament in NCAAB Odds while Michigan has no odds.

These teams finished the regular season with identical records of 19-12 with records of 9-9 in the Big Ten. The game will be played at a neutral site in Indianapolis.

The Wolverines will need to work really hard on the boards if they hope to win this game. The Wolverines have been terrible on the boards this season, ranking 302nd in the nation in rebounds per game. Rebounding is not the only struggle for the Wolverines. They are susceptible to streaks. This can be a good thing if it is a winning streak, but they also have the potential to go on a losing streak.

The Wolverines will need Tim Hardaway Jr. to step up in this game. Hardaway is a streak scorer that has the ability to put the ball in from the 3-pt. line. If Hardaway is able to find his rhythm in this game they should have a decent chance of winning.

The Illini rely heavily upon ball movement. They are the 14th best team in the NCAA in terms of assists per game. Because of their excellent ball movement they have been able to shoot 47 percent on the year, the 34th best percentage in college basketball. Demetri McCamey is one of the best guards in the nation. He is averaging 15 points per game with 6.1 assists per game on the season. He has also been a fantastic shooter, hitting 46 percent of his 3-pt. shots this year.

Both teams are among the top favorites to win the upcoming NCAA Tournament in March Madness Odds.

The Blue Devils are sitting at 26-3 on the season and could be in line to get a top seed in the NCAA tournament if they win the rest of their games this season. The Tar Heels are 22-6 this season. With a few wins to end the season the Tar Heels could position themselves better in the NCAA tournament as well.

These teams played just a few weeks ago and had a great game. The game ended close and the Blue Devils managed to walk away with a 79-73 victory. This game should be even closer as each team is trying to gain some momentum entering the NCAA tournament.

The Tar Heels rely on a number of players to put point on the board, but they will need Zeller to step up in this game. He averages just under 15 points per game to go along with 7 rebounds. They will need him to improve on those numbers for this matchup as the Blue Devils are a very strong team.

Duke will need a big game from Singler in this game. He has received national recognition for his skills and now the Blue Devils need him to show why everyone is talking about him.