The Arizona State Sun Devils ended their regular season on a 1-5 straight up and against the spread skid. The Sun Devils will try to turn things around Wednesday night when they take on the Syracuse Orange in their First Four play-in game.
March Madness odds 2018: Wednesday First Four betting lines and trends
The Arizona State Sun Devils will be looking to advance into the Round of 64 with a win over the Syracuse Orange on Wednesday as betting favorites in their First Four clash.
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Arizona State is a 1.5-point favorite in Dayton, Ohio on the March Madness odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. With a 19-6 SU and 12-10-3 ATS record heading into their final six games of the season, the Sun Devils looked like a pretty obvious selection into the NCAA tournament. But an ugly 1-5 SU and ATS stretch that included four losses as betting favorites landed Arizona State in this precarious position.
The winner of this game will secure a No. 11 seed and take on the No. 6 TCU Horned Frogs in the Round of 64.
As the last team in, the Orange’s selection has been mired in controversy. With an unimpressive resume and underwhelming 20-13 SU and 14-17 ATS record, many college basketball fans believed that a handful of tournament snubs should have been in this spot instead. But here the Orange are, and going up against an ice-cold Arizona State team, they’ve got the chance to prove they belong with a tournament victory.
In the earlier game on Wednesday, the No. 16 seed that will face No. 1 Xavier on Friday will be revealed as the Texas Southern Tigers clash with the North Carolina Central Eagles.
North Carolina Central finished the regular season in sixth place in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference with a 9-7 SU record and entered the month of March in the midst of a 2-5 slump. Things turned around as the calendar turned however as the Eagles finished their season on a 5-0 SU run that included a 4-0 SU and ATS run through the Mid-Eastern Athletic tournament to win the conference championship. The team finished the season with a 19-15 SU and 11-4 ATS record.
Texas Southern opened its season with an 0-13 SU road trip, facing plenty of far superior teams from power conferences over that stretch. But once they entered conference play, the Tigers went a respectable 12-6 SU and eventually finished the regular season on a 7-0 SU and 3-0 ATS run en route to a Southwestern Athletic Conference championship. The Tigers enter this game as 5.5-point betting favorites.
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