John Wooden died earlier this year on June 4, 2010 at the tender age of 99 years young. The prime of his career was some 30 plus years ago as he turned UCLA into a basketball juggernaut. Prior to guiding the UCLA Bruins to an astounding 10 National Titles, Wooden himself won a National Title as a player for the Purdue Boilermakers in 1932.

Throughout his tenure as the head coach for the UCLA Bruins, Coach Wooden amassed an overall record of 664 wins and 162 losses for a win percentage of over 800. Wooden initially coached at the University of Indiana before agreeing to join the dying program at UCLA in 1948.

Prior to the 1948 season, the UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team could be compared to the Detroit Lions of this decade in that neither was taken seriously when it came to a competitive matchup. When Wooden joined UCLA in 1948, he used the team’s poor reputation to his advantage, as he was able to guide them to an instant turn around, something seen in football not in basketball.

Wooden took the Bruins with a 12 – 13 losing season one year prior and turned them into a perennial powerhouse, guiding the club to a 22 wins and seven losses season. As well he guided the Bruins to four straight Southern Division Championships in his first four years. Suffice to say, if Wooden had never joined UCLA in 1948, they may not have the strong basketball program they do today.

College football betting

Before, there was a play-in game between the final two teams in the field to decide who would fill out the field to the official number of 64 teams. But now, there will be an extra three play-in games, and this volley of games will be called “The First Four”, to be held a few days prior to the actual beginning of the NCAA Tournament. There are two reasons for this: one, it’s extra television money for the NCAA, who have three extra games to show, and that means extra cash for them, as well as smaller schools who may not get the exposure and money any other way. Another reason is that it makes it easier for the selection committee, as the bubble conversation dominates the college landscape from about halfway through the conference portion of the schedule. As for NCAA basketball betting players, that means there are three extra games to wager on, which means three more chances to win, and isn’t that all you’re asking for when doing your sports betting online anyway?

Since 1985 only one low seed has ever won the entire tournament. In 85, Villanova ranked number eight became the lowest seed to ever win the tournament as they defeated top seed Georgetown 66 -64. From 1985 onwards, no team has reached the championship round that was ranked eighth or lower. However, the 2006 number 11 seed George Mason made it all the way to the final four before being defeated.

Throughout the history of the tournament, the number eight, 11, 12, 14, and 15 seeds are the only low seeds to ever make it past the first round. The 15th overall seed has made it as far as the second round four times, with the most recent coming in 2001 with a team from the University of Hampton. Conversely, the 14th seed was able to make it to the sweet 16 twice, Cleveland St. in 1986 and Chattanooga in 1997.

Bettors looking to back a 16 seed pulling an upset may appear ambitious. In the history of the March Madness tournament, no 16 seed has ever gone past the first round. Nevertheless, five number 16 seeds have given number ones a scare, by only losing by a handful of points. These games include:

1985: Fairleigh Dickinson lost to Michigan by four points 59 – 55.
1989: Princeton lost to Georgetown in the closest affair by one point 50 – 49
1989: East Tennessee St. lost by one to 72 – 71.
1990: Murray St. became the only 16 seed to take a number one to overtime when they lost to Michigan state by four points 75 – 71.
1996: Western Carolina vs. Purdue 73 – 71.

Fans betting on March Madness for the first time, tend to get into the betting habit of expecting the top ranked seeds to be eliminated by a heavy underdog. Since this is a common mistake, many fans new to the March Madness, tend to be eliminated rather quickly in their pools. Remember although the tournament is known for the big upsets, these teams that were ranked number one in each bracket, were not ranked by fluke.

After reading this, it is important to keep in mind that over the history of the tournament, a number one seed winning the entire tournament almost occurs as rarely as a 16 seed making it out of the first round. Since 1949, the UCLA Bruins have won an astounding eight March Madness titles once being ranked as one of the top seeds. In the 1970s alone, the Bruins won four of their eight titles. Further, from 1949 to 2001 only 22 teams were able to accomplish the feat of being ranked number one and winning the tournament.

Since 1979 when the NCAA adopted the seeding format to the tournament, the final four was made up of all number one seeds only once, in 2008. As previously noted, the idea of a number one seed winning the entire tournament is as rare as a number 16. Moreover in 2008 when all four number ones ranked seeds met (Kansas, UNC, UCLA and Memphis) it became nullified after the tournament, as Memphis was disqualified from being ranked number one due to an ineligible player being a part of the roster.

Also, since the format of four number one seeds, one for each bracket, was adapted in 1979, two number one seeds have only met six times in the tournament. UNC was a part of these six finals, three times. For fans still thinking of betting against the number one seeds, be aware, that a number one seed has only missed the final four twice in tournament history. In 1980, the final four was #2 Louisville vs. #8 UCLA and #5 Iowa vs. #6 Purdue. The other time this occurred was in 2006 as #2 UCLA faced #11 George Mason and #3 Florida faced #4 LSU.

However, when creating your next bracket for the next March Madness pool with your friends, these three tips will help you go from last year’s runner up to this year’s champion.

A) Get in As Many Brackets As You Can - Ever wonder why Joe always wins his office pool, while you can’t catch a break? Well it’s because Joe bets everywhere on the board in each of the brackets picking the winners from each and moving on. Meanwhile, you were picking all the big names in each conference and even then those teams got knocked off. The smartest tip we can give you is to bet in as many brackets as you can and it will increase your odds at winning the overall grand prize.

B) The First Round Is The Most Important - With the 2011 tournament switching to a 68 team 34 game opening round, it is extremely important to pick as many possible winners as you can. If you can win at least 17 games in the first round, you will be in good shape for the rest of the tournament.

C) Take the Favorites - They got ranked highly for a reason, and although you may think Albuquerque Tech can upset Duke, you are better off taking Duke. As well, picking the favorites in the early rounds can pay dividends in the latter rounds as these are the teams that will have performed well for you all tournament long, and can guide you to winning the pool. 

Next year’s NCAA Tournament was expanded from 65 to 68 teams, meaning there will be a play-in game in each region instead of just one.  However, there was a huge fear among fans and purists (and some coaches) alike that the Tournament would be expanded to a whopping 96 teams, which would create more games for the NCAA to show on television, which is important as they just signed a massive new deal between CBS and Turner Sports.  But there are a whole slew of complications with going to 96 teams.  First of all, time: the Tournament would obviously have to go longer, which cuts into conference tournaments and remember, a lot of these athletes are students who won’t be going to the NBA and still have to do little things like go to class, and study.  But the biggest worry is that it will dilute the product.  The Cinderella aspect of the Tournament is a big part of its allure, but it would pretty much make the regular season irrelevant if you knew you could probably get into the dance with a sub-.500 record. The furore among fans will probably put this off for a few years, but I would place a sports bet on this coming up again sooner than later.

Butler fans have much to look forward to as their team has plenty to build on. Unlike rival Duke, the majority of Butler’s roster will be returning to the team this coming season. Fans and sports betters, participating in online betting, should expect Butler at the very least to make another final four appearance. For many teams the key to success is naturally built around a few stars on the roster, but for Butler the key to their success is built around 33 year old head coach Brad Stevens. Stevens is only in his third season with the Bulldogs, but has already accomplished some of the biggest feats in his short career. As a result of taking the Butler Bulldogs to their best finish in NCAAB history, Stevens has been signed a long term deal with the school which will see him make $1 million until the 2021-2022 seasons. When he took Butler to the finals of the March Madness tournament, Stevens was the lowest paid coach in all of college sports. His counterpart on Duke’s side Mike Krzyzewski perhaps the best coach in NCAA men’s basketball, makes over $6 million. Stevens looks to follow in Kryzyzewki’s footsteps over the next 11 years as the chief asset for the Butler Bulldogs.

Donovan led the Gators to the national title in 2006, but he was surprised when his starting five returned the next year for a chance to repeat, which they did.  This class isn’t as good as that clas was, but the Gators will have all five starters back in Gainesville after Alex Tyus decided to withdraw from the draft.  Tyus will join Kenny Boynton, Erving Walker, Chandler Parsons and Vernon Macklin as the Gators’ top players, and they’ll need every game of experience that they can muster as Kentucky has also reloaded, despite losing five players to the draft.  The Gators also have a solid recruiting class coming in this year, but it’s always good when you have a good crew of veterans you can lean on.

The Gators went out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament after two years in the NIT, and all they have to do is look at last year’s tournament.  The Final Four featured four teams with plenty of experience and familiarity on their roster, while the one with the most talent (Kentucky) fell down the stretch in the Elite Eight.  Their experience and coaching is enough to make sports betting players consider the Florida Gators this year.

Florida State’s 7-foot-1 center, Solomon Alabi, has announced he is entering the 2010 NBA draft. While Alabi is a great free throw shooter at 7-feet-1, he can get pushed around in a physical game, and seems to take bad shots from outside the paint from time to time. Many fans of basketball betting have posited that Alabi is not ready for the NBA. Regardless, Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton stated that Alabi was on track to finish his academic work this semester, and would receive a degree in International Relations next year.

In other draft news, the freshman phenom of this year’s tournament, John Wall has announced he will enter the 2010 NBA Draft. The announcement comes as a surprise to no one, after the six-foot-four guard for the University of Kentucky swept the nation with his style of play and personality. Indeed, most media pundits and fans of sports betting have him as a clear number one pick overall. While Wall has not yet signed with an agent, reports indicate he is finalizing his decision. Many close to the situation have speculated he will eventually sign with LeBron James’ marketing company, LRMR, although there is no deal between the two parties, and Wall has stated that negotiations remain ongoing.

Finally, the University of Kentucky will lose another player to the draft after Patrick Patterson announced his intention to turn pro. After spending three years with the Wildcats, it appears the junior is looking to start his professional career. The moves mean the Wildcats will be particularly dependent on cultivating new prospects and stars.

The top four conferences (Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, ACC) took 26 bids, but nine of those teams were gone after the first round. The top overall seed, Kansas, didn’t even make it out of the first weekend as they were upset by Northern Iowa. By the time we got to Indianapolis, we had just one No.1 seed (Duke), a No.2 seed (West Virginia), and a pair of No.5 seeds (Michigan State and Butler).

The Blue Devils took care of West Virginia, making their first appearance in the Final Four since 1959, but the story of the game was the knee injury suffered by Mountaineers star Da’Sean Butler, who will surely go later in the draft, if at all this year. Butler, whose campus was six miles from the site of the Final Four (the closest proximity in history), held off Michigan State, who was the hometown favorite last year in Detroit, but they were in the Final Four for the sixth time in 12 years, while Butler was here for the first time.

The final game was a classic as Duke won their fourth national title under coach Mike Krzyzewski, but Butler never gave up in this 61-59 game, and Gordon Hayward’s heave from center court would have been the best buzzer-beater in Tournament history, but it just missed. Brackets were a mess by the second weekend, and online sports betting players may have had a bad month, but for excitement, this was the best Tournament in years.