Due to popular demand, SportsInsights is pleased to bring our Members a March Madness Edition of our popular Sports Marketwatch publication. Note that we’ll be publishing editions of the March Madness MarketWatch through the end of the Tournament.

Welcome to the Sports Marketwatch – March Madness Edition, where SportsInsights gives sports fans unprecedented insight into the sports marketplace. If you want to know what is really happening on the sportsbook side, you now have an all-access pass with Sports Marketwatch!

The staff at SportsInsights.com speaks directly with the line managers at some of the sports betting industry’s largest sportsbooks about which games the public is chasing and the Sharps are pounding. We’ll look at what’s in store for the upcoming NCAAB games.

Sports Marketplace – March Madness – Round 2 (Sunday)

Recapping NCAA Tournament Action

Saturday saw the Sports MarketWatch selections go 2-1, bringing the March Madness record to 5-4. UNLV couldn’t hang close to Kansas, getting blown out by 19. Even so, underdog lovers should note that this was a relatively close loss against the spread (ATS) of +13.5.

Michigan State won their game outright, beating an incredibly hot – and public favorite – Pittsburgh team. In addition, Texas A&M, a 10.5 point underdog, stayed with UCLA until the very end, before succumbing in a tight 53-49 loss. This was a nerve-wracking win for UCLA (and for most bracket-watchers!) – but an easy win ATS for MarketWatch readers.

2008 March Madness Games to Watch: 5-4 = 55.6%
*Source: SportsInsights.com

NBA Sports Marketwatch – Round 2 (Sunday) – Games to Watch

Arkansas +11 over North Carolina

We’re getting down to the elite teams so the games are getting tighter. We won’t see many more double-digit spreads the rest of the NCAAs, so we want to take Arkansas plus the huge points. We also like the fact that the public is betting on the heavily favored NC to the tune of around 67%.

This kind of sports marketplace “setup” (betting against the favorite, on a double-digit underdog) has resulted in positive value, as reported by the SportsInsights article on March Madness. We also like “selling NC on a recent high” – after their 39 point victory in Round 1. Let’s “bet against the public” and take the side of the sportsbooks.

Arkansas +11

Miami-Florida +6.5 over Texas

The public is pounding this game as if they had tomorrow’s newspaper. We haven’t seen this kind of one-sided action during the entire NCAA Tournament. Texas is capturing more than 90% of the bets at the time of this writing. This huge one-sided betting has moved the line from Miami-Florida +4 up to +6.5.

We like the extra 2.5 points value in the point spread, plus “betting against the public” – big time! The line might move up even more if the betting pressure on Texas continues (even at this increased spread). Keep your eye on the key betting statistics at SportsInsights to follow the line movement and betting pressure in this match-up. SportsInsights stats can help you get the best value for your sports investment dollars.

Miami-Florida +6.5

So, here’s a wrap-up of SportsInsights.com analysis for the Games to Watch for March Madness.

Games to Watch (5-4)
Arkansas +11
Miami-Florida +6.5

It should be another exciting NCAA Tournament for the sports marketplace. Keep Sports Marketwatch picks handy and your browser pointed to SportsInsights.com for the latest real-time updates, using our exclusive Sports Investing tools.

We’ll be back soon with a new edition of the Sports Marketwatch – March Madness Edition.

Enjoy the games!

The Team at SportsInsights.com