March Madness 2011: Bracket Presents Some Upset Possibilites On Friday

Anyone who had forgotten just how crazy the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament can be didn’t have to wait long for a reminder. March Madness set in immediately with buzzer beaters and 14-seeded Princeton almost beating Kentucky as a 12.5-point underdog in Thursday’s Day 1 action.
But no game was crazier than Morehead State’s stunning upset over Louisville. Louisville was favored by 10 points and lost to their little intrastate neighbors on a long three-pointer with four seconds left.
And as predicted, Richmond pulled the upset as a 12 seed, although our Utah State upset went down in flames in a close loss to Kansas State in the Southeast. [ More Trends ]
So what madness will Friday’s action bring? Illinois vs. UNLV highlights a board loaded with great games. Full previews, live odds, trends and matchup reports on every game, check out SB Nation lines partner Odds Shark.
Grizzlies Golden in Beating Texas
We had a 13 seed defeating a 4 seed in the first round, but it wasn’t Morehead State. Trends and odds analysis has Odds Shark experts picking Oakland, Michigan not only covering a 10-point spread against the Longhorns, but beating them outright!
We have the 25-win school and Summit League champion Golden Grizzlies winning.
9-seed Illinois Fighting Illini (+2.5) vs. 8-seed UNLV Rebels (-2.5)
To say 8-seed versus 9-seed games are coin tosses isn’t really fair, but in the past 10 years, the record is 20 wins for the 8’s and 20 wins for the 9’s. If you think the betting produced a different result, you think wrong. The record is 19-19-2 ATS.
Not only should Illinois vs UNLV be a great matchup between two evenly matched teams, but it also has a great side-story. UNLV Rebels Coach Lon Kruger coached Illinois from 1996-2000, amassing a record of 81-48 and leading the Illini to three tournament bids in his four years before leaving to coach the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA. When Kruger returned to the NCAA, he took over the UNLV job in 2004; and now, he meets his old team in the tournament.
UNLV has had a deceptively solid season (24-8 SU, but an ugly 12-17 ATS), masked somewhat by the success of BYU and San Diego State atop the Mountain West. Though they struggled against elite teams, the Rebels did pick up impressive wins against Wisconsin and Kansas State.
Illinois (19-13 SU, 15-14-1 ATS) jumped out to a great start, going 13-3 over their first 16 games (including double digit wins over UNC and Gonzaga as well as a win over Wisconsin), but went just 6-10 over their last 16. They will have to find their early-season form if they want to hang with the pesky Rebels.
Ironically, the winner of this game will in all likelihood face Kansas head coach Bill Self, who also coached Illinois (right after Kruger did, from 2000-2003). The plot thickens…
We have UNLV winning and we like 8 seed Villanova and 9 seed Tennessee to win.
More Picks
We picked all the 12 seeds to win and have our money on Memphis (+5.5) over No. 5 Arizona. We also have all the 7’s winning (Washington and Texas A&M).
For more live odds, college basketball specials and matchup details on every game every day, check out Odds Shark.