UPDATE: The 2018 NCAA Tournament bracket has been revealed. Here's how it looks:
EAST
No. 1 Villanova vs. No. 16 LIU Brooklyn/Radford
No. 8 Virginia Tech vs. No. 9 Alabama
No. 5 West Virginia vs. No. 12 Murray State
No. 4 Wichita State vs. No. 13 Marshall
No. 6 Florida vs. No. 11 St. Bonaventure/UCLA
No. 3 Texas Tech vs. Stephen F. Austin
No. 7 Arkansas vs. No. 10 Butler
No. 2 Purdue vs. No. 15 Cal State Fullerton
MIDWEST
No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 16 Pennsylvania
No. 8 Seton Hall vs. No. 9 North Carolina State
No. 5 Clemson vs. No. 12 New Mexico State
No. 4 Auburn vs. No. 13 College of Charleston
No. 6 TCU vs. No. 11 Arizona State/Syracuse
No. 3 Michigan State vs. No. 14 Bucknell
No. 7 Rhode Island vs. No. 10 Oklahoma
No. 2 Duke vs. No. 15 Iona
SOUTH
No. 1 Virginia vs. No. 16 Maryland Baltimore County
No. 8 Creighton vs. No. 9 Kansas State
No. 5 Kentucky vs. No. 12 Davidson
No. 4 Arizona vs. No. 13 Buffalo
No. 6 Miami (Fla.) vs. No. 11 Loyola (Ill.)
No. 3 Tennessee vs. No. 14 Wright State
No. 7 Nevada vs. No. 10 Texas
No. 2 Cincinnati vs. No. 15 Georgia State
WEST
No. 1 Xavier vs. No. 16 North Carolina Central/Texas Southern
No. 8 Missouri vs. No. 9 Florida State
No. 5 Ohio State vs. No. 12 South Dakota State
No. 4 Gonzaga vs. No. 13 UNC-Greensboro
No. 6 Houston vs. No. 13 San Diego State
No. 3 Michigan vs. No. 14 Montana
No. 7 Texas A&M vs. No. 10 Providence
No. 2 North Carolina vs. No. 15 Lipscomb
The excitement surrounding the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is reaching a fever pitch. Part of the fun during the lead-up to March Madness is trying to identify the 68 teams that will take part in March Madness and which will have to settle for an NIT or CBI appearance. There are still plenty of spots up for grabs via automatic bids from winning conference tournaments, as well as at-large bids from the NCAA selection committee. Nothing is certain until the official bracket is released on Selection Sunday, which means amateur and pro bracketologists alike can only speculate on which bubble teams will get an invite to the Big Dance and how the seeding will shake out.
Sportsbooks have released a slew of prop betting odds regarding seeding over/unders for some of the top schools in the country, giving fans a chance to bet on which bracket line the committee will place their favorite program on come Selection Sunday. As of right now, wagering is available for the Kentucky Wildcats, Kansas Jayhawks, Tennessee Volunteers, North Carolina Tar Heels, Duke Blue Devils and Michigan Wolverines. These are all teams certain to be heading to the Big Dance next week, with Kentucky having the worst projected pod at 4.5.
If you’re looking to get in on the bracketology action and want to raise the stakes a bit with a wager, it’s best to consult with an expert. Jon Price and his team at SportsInformationTraders.com were asked for a lean on the best bet to make on these seeding props and came up with a can’t-miss prediction for readers. Before checking out the Vegas expert’s take, have a look at the latest odds, as well as the full schedule, TV and live stream info, projected bracket and more for the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
2018 NCAA Tournament Important Dates and Viewing Guide
TV: CBS, TBS, TNT, TruTV
Live Stream: March Madness Live
Schedule
| Round | Date | Location |
| Selection Sunday | March 11 | N/A |
| First Four | March 13-14 | Dayton |
| First/Second | March 15 & 17 | Pittsburgh |
| First/Second | March 15 & 17 | Wichita |
| First/Second | March 15 & 17 | Dallas |
| First/Second | March 15 & 17 | Boise |
| First/Second | March 16 & 18 | Charlotte |
| First/Second | March 16 & 18 | Detroit |
| First/Second | March 16 & 18 | Nashville |
| First/Second | March 16 & 18 | San Diego |
| Midwest Regional | March 23 & 25 | Omaha |
| West Regional | March 22 & 24 | Los Angeles |
| South Regional | March 22 & 24 | Atlanta |
| East Regional | March 23 & 25 | Boston |
| Final Four/Championship | March 31, April 2 | San Antonio |
2018 NCAA Tournament Seeding Props
| Team | Projected Seed | Over | Under |
| Kentucky | 4.5 | -130 | +100 |
| Kansas | 1.5 | +650 | -1000 |
| Tennessee | 2.5 | -300 | +240 |
| North Carolina | 2.5 | -200 | +160 |
| Duke | 1.5 | -170 | +140 |
| Michigan | 3.5 | +120 | -150 |
College Basketball Odds via BetDSI.eu Sportsbook (The site is offering a $1 million reward for a perfect bracket this year, you can find more about that by clicking here)
2018 NCAA Tournament Projected Bracket
Top Bet: Michigan Over/Under 3.5 Seed
Michigan came into the Big Ten tournament on a heater, winning the last five regular season games and losing once since the calendar flipped to February, but not many expected the school to dominate at the start of March. The team—seeded No. 5 in the Big Ten—looked shaky out of the gate and was almost bounced in the opening round by an upset-minded Iowa squad, but ultimately outlasted the Hawkeyes in overtime.
Something clearly clicked in the aftermath of that close call, as the Wolverines looked unstoppable for the rest of the tourney. They obliterated their final three opponents, Nebraska, No. 2 Michigan State and No. 8 Purdue—the latter two were thought to be potential No. 1 seeds in the Big Dance at tip-off time—by an average margin of 13 points on their way to the conference title.
Dan Dakich had high praise for the Wolverines after they won the Big Ten tournament:
Incredible effort by @umichbball
to repeat as Big 10 Tournament Champs!!
Great great bunch of guys!
A coach that does everything by the rules and never whines about “the system “! Refreshing— Dan Dakich (@dandakich) March 4, 2018
Give credit to head coach John Beilein, who seems to find a way to get his players to perform their best at this critical time of year. He boasts an 11-2 record in March during the past two seasons and is once again in great position to make a deep run through the NCAA Tournament. Beilein’s teams have made it to the Sweet 16 in three of the last five years—including last year—and it would hardly be a surprise to see Michigan advance through its portion of the region again this year.
Dick Vitale called UM a team to watch during March Madness:
A team to watch in @marchmadness will be @umichbball /advance in @B1GMBBall with W over rival @MSU_Basketball / have 2 W’s over MSU /a legit contender @JohnBeilein is so underrated with the public but NOT with his peers! He can flat out COACH! @leefitting @bobwojnowski
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) March 3, 2018
Getting a favorable seed will be helpful in the Wolverines’ quest to finally win a national title for the first time in almost two decades. The school won it’s first and only championship back in 1989, although it has finished as a runner-up on five occasions, including the 2013 run under Beilein that ended with a loss to Louisville. Despite finishing the regular season ranked No. 7 in the AP poll that year, Michigan was given a No. 4 seed after crashing out of the Big Ten tourney early and losing six of its last 12 games. The Maize and Blue hold the same No. 7 ranking this year, but their late-season surge should help them earn a better pod on the bracket.
Last year, the Wolverines were able to snag a No. 7 seed in the Big Dance after making an improbable run through the conference tourney. UM was seeded No. 8 in the Big Ten and started off with a scary plane incident that helped rally the unranked squad that eventually compiled four wins in four days to take home the title. The 2018 team accomplished the same feat, but is in much better spot to convince the committee to dole out at least a No. 3 seed.
ESPN analyst Jay Bilas gave an in-depth scouting report for the Wolverines and explained why they are equipped to win in March, as per LandOf10.com:
There are a number of teams that are capable of beating Michigan. But there are very few teams, if any, that Michigan is not capable of beating. That’s got to be a good feeling going into the tournament… Michigan is a way better defensive team than they’ve been in a long time, and one reason is they rebound. They don’t offensive rebound, but they defensive rebound. They limit you to one shot. They’re very capable defensively. They’re a little more athletic than they’ve been, they do a good job of staying in front of the ball. They don’t have to help quite as much as they have in the past. They have good size. They make you take a more difficult shot than you’d normally take, and that’s the sign of a good defense.
Bilas was spot on in regards to Michigan’s defense, as the team ranks No. 6 on that side of the ball according to the efficiency adjusted KenPom rankings. Perhaps most impressive is that this group has played elite D against a tough slate. The Wolverines’ faced a number of foes that feature top-tier offenses, resulting in the No. 22 opposing offensive strength of schedule. The most important factor in determining UM’s seeding, however, will be how it stacks up against the selection committee’s new quadrant system.
The NCAA Tournament previously used a wide number of metrics to determine which teams make it to the Big Dance and where they will fall on the bracket, but this year they have implemented a quadrant system in an attempt to simplify things. Quandrant 1 is the top group—which is home games against teams ranked in the top 30 RPI, neutral site games against top 50 RPI and road games against top 75 RPI—and continually segments all the way down to Quandrant 4, which is home against 161+ RPI, neutral against 201+ RPI and road against 241+ RPI. Here’s how Michigan stacks up in this quadrant system:
Michigan 2017-18 Quadrant Record
| RPI | Record | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 |
| 13 | 27-7 | 6-5 | 5-1 | 5-1 | 11-0 |
This is a highly respectable record, especially when considering schools like Tennnessee (5-6) and Clemson (4-8) have worse Quadrant 1 showings despite being ranked above the Wolverines right now. Michigan has an unsightly Quadrant 3 loss on its resume against Northwestern, but programs such as Villanova, North Carolina and Kansas all have a Q3 loss on their books. Unfortunately, it appears that almost all the No. 2 seeds—the absolute best-case scenario for Michigan—are pretty much spoken for by teams with better overall resumes, regardless of how the conference tournaments play out.
Realistically, the top seed that UM could hope for at this point is the No. 3. There’s still a chance that another team close in the rankings can leapfrog the Wolverines by winning their conference tourney, but the odds aren’t in their favor. Michigan is clearly one of the top 12 teams in the field, especially after Clemson's lost last night, at this juncture and barring some truly spectacular underdog performances over the weekend that won’t change. That is why Jon Price recommends UNDER 3.5 for Michigan’s seeding as the best and safest bet to make here, even if the line (-150) isn’t exactly offering huge returns.
Chris Balas noted that coach Beilein isn’t concerned about the large gap between contests noted that Michigan’s body of work has been worthy of at least a No. 3 seed during the past decade:
Beilein isn't worried about the layoff ... and U-M should be a three or four seed. No team with a similar resume the last 10 years has been worse than a three. That and more ... https://t.co/3LHucEPxdy
— Chris Balas (@Balas_Wolverine) March 5, 2018
Unfortunately for UM, the team will have an incredulous 11 day layoff between games due to the Big Ten tourney occurring a week earlier than usual. That dreadful wait could end up cooling off one of the hottest programs in the nation, but at least earning the No. 3 seed will allow the Wolverines to open the NCAA Tournament against a relatively soft opponent and get back into rhythm.
Pick: Under 3.5 (-150)
