Omaha Pacific Gardens NCAA Tournament Tips

There are 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 possible NCAA tournament bracket combinations. Here’s a few tips:

R.J. Bell, Las Vegas sports bettor, CEO of Pregame.com: “In the first round, pick no more than two seeds worse than No. 12. Since 1985, No. 13 and No. 14 seeds win only 18 percent of their first-round games combined. Only four of the 104 No. 15 seeds since 1985 have won games, and no No. 16 seed has ever beaten a No. 1 seed in an NCAA tournament game. Remember that when picking your first-round upsets.”

 Richard Gardner, sports book manager, BoDog.com:  “Notre Dame may have an easier path than most teams in the tournament to the regional final. The Irish have flown under the radar all year but have consistently beaten top-notch teams. Kansas and the Morris twins, meanwhile, have what should be an easy first-round win against BU but then will have to face solid opponents in UNLV or Illinois, and maybe Vanderbilt and Louisville after that.”

 Dave Mason, sports book manager, BetOnline.com: “George Mason opens as a 1-1/2-point favorite over Villanova in the 8-9 game out of the East. It’s hard to imagine a Big East team that was ranked in the top five earlier in the season is the underdog to a team from the Colonial Conference. But, Villanova has been brutal down the stretch for the second year in a row. They ended the season on a five-game losing streak. In their last 13 games, they were 4-9 straight up and covered the point spread just once. They are also a bit banged up. Go with George Mason.”