The NCAA Men's Basketball Championship is colloquially referred to as March
Madness, and is one of those occasions in the USA when nearly everyone who
follows sports will have a bet going, usually in the form of private pools to
determine the outcome of the bracket. Basketball betting is technically illegal
but Americans enjoy nothing more than these hypocritical grey areas and so
millions take pleasure in wagering on the outcome of these college basketball
games, collectively known as the Big Dance.
68 college basketball schools have qualified for the 2011 tournament, with 37
teams receiving at-large bids. Thirty-one of these schools got in by winning
their respective conference tournaments.
We are highly confident that our March Madness Power Rankings provide you
with 10 automatic bracket picks. The basketball handicapping experts feel that
these ten schools are likely Sweet Sixteen candidates (although seeding clashes
might of course prevent that from happening). The college basketball teams we
have selected range from the usual suspects for Final Four berths such as Duke
and North Carolina, to a couple of surprise schools that stand a chance of being
this year's so-called Cinderella team.
The NCAA Tournament for 2011 will be the 72nd Big Dance as the original
tournament was first played in 1939, although back then it only consisted of
eight teams, and it stayed that way until 1950. The term March Madness came into
being in 1982, and as a reference to the tournament it may first have been
uttered by Brent Musburger.
March Madness mainly refers to the sports gambling frenzy that used to center
around the Las Vegas sportsbooks but is now accessible online.
Online sportsbooks provide NCAA Tournament odds for every game and as the
bracket breaks down to the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, and Final Four stages the
betting levels increase substantially.
We'll feature free NCAA Tournament picks as sports betting can be extremely
profitable and it is also an adrenaline rush second to none, especially when it
comes to the ubiquitous thrill of 2011 NCAA Tournament bets.
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