The Villanova Wildcats landed a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament with a 30-4 straight up and 21-12-1 against the spread record this season. The Wildcats will reap the rewards of their one-seed with an extremely favorable matchup this Thursday night against the Radford Highlanders.
NCAA tournament 2018 odds: Betting lines and trends for Thursday’s Round of 64 games
The Villanova Wildcats and the Duke Blue Devils are among the big odds favorites at the sportsbooks for Thursday’s Round of 64 NCAA tournament action.
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Villanova is the biggest favorite on the March Madness odds board on Thursday going off at -23.5 at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Going off as a massive favorite is nothing new for the Wildcats, who are 4-1 ATS in their last five games as a favorite of 20 points or more with an average margin of victory of 28.8 over that stretch.
The Duke Blue Devils will also be in familiar position as big favorites looking to cover a spread of -20.5 against the Iona Gaels in this 2-seed vs. 15-seed matchup. Duke enters the tournament on the heels of a 7-2 SU and ATS run and is 12-7 ATS in its last 19 games as a favorite of 20 points or more.
On the more competitive side of the spectrum, both of Thursday’s 8-seed vs. 9-seed matchups are expected to be extremely close calls. No. 8 Seton Hall is a 2.5-point favorite over No. 9 NC State in the early evening and No. 8 Virginia Tech is a 2-point favorite over No. 9 Alabama later in the night.
Seton Hall is 4-0 SU and 3-1 ATS in its last four games against ACC opponents and enters the NCAA tournament on a 5-0 ATS run per the OddsShark College Basketball Database.
The Oklahoma Sooners ended their regular season on an unimpressive 3-9 SU and 2-10 ATS skid. This landed them a 10-seed in the NCAA Tournament where they will face the No. 7 Rhode Island Rams as 2-point underdogs. This game kicks off the Round of 64 with a start time of 12:15 PM ET.
Thursday’s action features two 12-seed vs. 5-seed matchups as No. 5 Ohio State (-7.5) takes on No. 12 South Dakota and No. 5 Kentucky (-5) faces No. 12 Dayton. South Dakota has been a popular pick this week with the Jackrabbits opening as 8.5-point favorites and getting bet down to +7.5. Kentucky enters March Madness on a 7-1 SU and ATS run.
For more odds information, betting picks, and a breakdown of this week’s top sports betting news check out the OddsShark podcast with Jon Campbell and Andrew Avery. Subscribe on iTunes or listen to it at OddsShark.libsyn.com.
