20
March
College Basketball Sweet 16 Opening Line Report
03/20/2012
With the weekend over and the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament is the books, the Sweet 16 field is set. We saw plenty of upsets early including bracket busters like Norfolk State over Missouri and Lehigh over Duke. The next slate of games won’t begin until Thursday evening, but in this opening line report we take a look at the movement for this week’s NCAAB games:
| Team | Betting % | Open | Current | Notes |
| Wisconsin | 39% | 4 | 4 | The Sweet 16 tips off with Syracuse opening as a 4-point favorite as early betting was roughly split and went up to -4.5 before dipping to -3.5. The line is now back to the opener at -4. |
| Syracuse | 61% | -4 | -4 | |
| Cincinnati | 59% | 7.5 | 8 | Ohio State opened as a 7.5-point favorite over the upset-minded Bearcats, and although the public is slightly favoring Cincy, some Smart Money caused the line to jump up a half point to OSU -8. |
| Ohio State | 41% | -7.5 | -8 | |
| Florida | 43% | 1 | 1.5 | Florida has better odds to win the title than Marquette but opened up as a 1-point underdog in their Sweet 16 matchup. The slight majority of the public is on the Golden Eagles as the spread jumped to -2 before dropping to the current line of -1.5. |
| Marquette | 57% | -1 | -1.5 | |
| Louisville | 34% | 4.5 | 4.5 | The Spartans opened as a 4.5-point favorite over 4-seeded Louisville and rose to -5.5 late Sunday night before coming back down to the opening line. Michigan State is currently getting about 2/3 of public bets. |
| MSU | 66% | -4.5 | -4.5 | |
| Indiana | 33% | 9 | 9 | Kentucky gets a chance to avenge for its only regular season loss as they opened as a 9-point favorite over Indiana. Public bettors are confident that the Wildcats will take care of business, although the line did drop to 8.5 Sunday night before settling in at the opening line of 9. |
| Kentucky | 67% | -9 | -9 | |
| Xavier | 38% | 6 | 6 | 3-seeded Baylor will play its third straight double-digit seed, this time opening as a 6-point favorite over 10-seeded Xavier. Roughly 2 in every 3 bets is going to Baylor but the line has not moved off the opener. |
| Baylor | 62% | -6 | -6 | |
| Ohio | 33% | 10.5 | 10.5 | UNC has had terrible luck in terms of injuries this postseason but the Tar Heels are a heavy favorite over 13-seeded Ohio, the lowest remaining seed left. Even with PG Kendall Marshall done for the year, the majority of bets are going to the favorites. |
| UNC | 67% | -10.5 | -10.5 | |
| NC State | 77% | 8 | 7.5 | The final Sweet 16 matchup sees the underdog Wolfpack garnering nearly 80% of all spread bets, pushing the line down a half-point from the opener to 7.5. NC State has reeled off 2 straight upsets in terms of seeding (SD St., Georgetown), while Kansas struggled last round to get past 10-seeded Purdue. |
| Kansas | 23% | -8 | -7.5 |
* Betting Percentages reflect Sports Insights’ College Basketball Betting Trends.
** Opening and Current Lines from CRIS unless otherwise stated.
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