The Princeton Tigers are 19-0 straight up over their last 19 games and 12-5 against the spread over their last 17 games. The Tigers will be one of four 12-seeds looking for a win this Thursday when they face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
NCAA tournament odds 2017: Round of 64 Thursday betting lines and trends
The 2017 NCAA tournament tips off on Thursday, with the Princeton Tigers among the lower seeds and betting underdogs at the sportsbooks for the first full day of action.
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Princeton is a 6.5-point underdog in its No. 12 vs. No. 5 matchup at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Over the last eight years, No. 12 seeds are 17-15 SU and 21-10-1 ATS in the first round against No. 5 seeds.
The Tigers were outstanding in Ivy League play this season en route to the conference title, but the committee didn’t do Princeton any favors with this tough matchup out of the gate. Notre Dame is 8-2 SU and 7-3 ATS over its last 10 games with the only losses over that stretch coming on the road at Louisville and in the ACC title game against Duke.
Princeton is 21-6 ATS in its last 27 games as an underdog of six points or more.
The only betting favorite among the No. 12 seeds this season is the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, who are going off at -1 against the No. 5 Minnesota Golden Gophers. Middle Tennessee had a fantastic season in Conference USA with a 30-4 SU and 23-10 ATS record that includes a current run of 10-0 SU and 8-2 ATS.
Minnesota is 2-6 SU and ATS in its last eight games played in the month of March.
No. 12 Nevada vs. No. 5 Iowa State (-6.5) and No. 12 UNC Wilmington vs. No. 5 Virginia (-7.5) round out the bracket’s No. 12 vs. No. 5 matchups on Thursday. Virginia is just 4-5 SU and ATS over its last nine games with four losses as a betting favorite.
As expected, the one No. 8 vs. No. 9 game on the board Thursday is an evenly matched one between No. 9 Vanderbilt (-2.5) and No. 8 Northwestern. Vanderbilt is 8-2 SU and 9-1 ATS in its last 10 games against teams with winning records.
Three of the tournament’s top eight seeded teams will be in action on Thursday as well. No. 1 Villanova is a 26.5-point favorite over No. 16 Mount St. Mary’s, No. 1 Gonzaga is a 22-point favorite against No. 16 South Dakota State, and No. 2 Arizona is a 17-point favorite facing North Dakota.
