Syracuse (3-0, 3-0 ATS) looked very impressive in beating Pac-10 favorite and No. 12 California, 95-73, on Thursday. The Orange led by double digits at intermission and put the game away with a 15-4 run to start the second half. Sophomore Scoop Jardine, one of the guys trying to replace departed star Jonny Flynn at point guard, scored a career-high 22 points and had six assists, while Wes Johnson had 17 points and 11 rebounds. With its trademark 2-3 zone, Syracuse held the Bears, the nation's top 3-point shooting team last year, to 6-of-20 from long range — this season opponents have hit just 17 of 71 3-point attempts (24 percent) against Syracuse.

Orange senior Andy Rautins, the team's best 3-point shooter, re-injured a sprained ankle in the game but hopes to play tonight – his loss would be huge, so check on that injury before placing those college basketball bets at Bodog. I would also caution about reading too much into SU's win as one of Cal's best players, Theo Robertson, surprisingly didn’t play.

North Carolina (4-0, 2-2 ATS) looked impressive for a while in its 77-73 win over No. 15 Ohio State, leading by as many as 19 points in the second half. However, OSU staged a furious rally to get within two with under 10 seconds left before two Heels free throws sealed it. However, North Carolina had just four fast-break points and turned the ball over 19 times. UNC has won 44 straight regular season games vs. non-conference opponents.

It's the first meeting between the Orange and Heels since 1987.

Get all of your college basketball betting lines at Bodog Sportsbook.

This matchup is part of the 2KSports Classic and will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York on Thursday night. The winner of this one plays the Syracuse-Cal winner in Friday's championship game; find lines on all three games at Bodog's college basketball odds.

Of course North Carolina is the defending national champion, but UNC has been uneven in their 3-0 start (1-2 ATS) – which isn't surprising considering the Heels had to replace four starters, mostly with youngsters. On Sunday against Valparaiso, UNC led by just seven points at the half in an 88-77 win. By comparison, the Heels never led by fewer than eight points at halftime of a non-conference game last season, NCAA Tournament included.  But that victory was North Carolina's 43rd non-conference regular-season win in a row.

Get your NCAA men's basketball championship odds at Bodog.

Ohio State, picked by most to finish third in the Big Ten and returning five starters, has crushed Alcorn State and James Madison by a combined 68 points. No one in the country has started better than Buckeyes junior swingman Evan Turner. In OSU's opener, he had the second triple-double in team history (14 points, 17 rebounds, 10 assists) and first by a Big Ten player in eight years. He followed that with 24 points and 17 rebounds against James Madison. Turner is the first OSU player with back-to-back games with at least 17 rebounds since 1985. Of concern is that that other four starters had a total of 22 rebounds in the first two games, and UNC has a daunting frontcourt and big edge there.

When deciding your college basketball bet on this one, know that the Buckeyes are 2-2 in their last four games against Top 10 teams, with the last win coming over Michigan State in the 2009 Big Ten Tournament.

Get all of your college basketball odds at Bodog Sportsbook.

The NCAA basketball season is a little over a week old, but there really hasn’t been a marquee matchup worth getting too excited about this season… until Tuesday night. Gonzaga at Michigan State is one of many good matchups Tuesday, with the Spartans favored on Bodog’s college basketball odds.

Michigan State has three starters back from last year's national runner-up team, led by reigning Big Ten Player of the Year Kalin Lucas and Raymar Morgan. But Morgan was limited by injury most of last year and already is hurt again. The 6-foot-8 forward played just nine minutes in the Spartans' opening 97-58 win over Florida Gulf Coast with an ankle issue. He'll play Tuesday but is nowhere near 100 percent.

Spartans center Derrick Nix had 14 rebounds in the opener, setting a school freshman debut record. MSU is always one of the nation's top rebounding teams and was 27-6 last year when outrebounding foes. This team doesn’t lose much in November, either. Sparty is 81-24 all-time in November games and 57-3 at home — the last loss was in 1986.

Gonzaga brings back one starter from last season's Sweet 16 team. The Zags didn't look great in their opening 92-74 win over Mississippi Valley State. Gonzaga's roster features seven newcomers and three redshirts who had never played a minute of Division I basketball entering the season. One thing the Bulldogs have is size: four players at 6-foot-10 or taller, with the best of them 7-foot center Robert Sacre, who had 17 points and nine rebounds in the opener.

The keys of this game, when deciding on your college basketball bet, will be the Bulldogs' size and if they can outrebound MSU, while the Spartans have a big edge in the backcourt.

Get all your NCAA basketball betting at Bodog Sportsbook.

The Jayhawks return their top nine scorers (and add star freshman Xavier Henry) from the team that went 27-8 and reached the Sweet 16 a year ago, losing to Michigan State – which just happens to be No. 2 in both polls. KU has been the coaches’ preseason No. 1 two previous times, in the 1996-97 and 2004-05 seasons, and they didn’t win the national title in either. The Jayhawks have been a preseason No. 1 in the AP poll just for that 2004-05 season.

Butler, at No. 10/11, is ranked in the preseason for the first time. The Bulldogs’ highest ranking ever during a season is No. 8. Dayton, at No. 22/21, is ranked in a preseason poll for the first time since 1967-68 season. Conspicuously absent from the polls: UCLA, which is only picked to finish third in the Pac-10.

Kentucky, under new coach John Calipari and with a stellar freshman class, Georgetown and Georgia Tech were the only teams in the preseason poll not to play in the NCAA Tournament last season. 

So here are both polls, with Bodog college basketball odds to win the national title on the ESPN/USA Today version:

ESPN/USA TODAY COACHES POLL
1. Kansas (27 first-place votes): 4/1
2. Michigan State (3): 12/1
3. Texas: 12/1
4. North Carolina (1): 15/2
5. Kentucky: 5/1
6. Villanova: 12/1
7. Purdue: 22/1
8. Duke: 10/1
9. West Virginia: 18/1
10. Butler: 60/1
11. Tennessee: 25/1
12. California: 50/1
13. Washington: 45/1
14. Connecticut: 18/1
15. Michigan: 70/1
16. Oklahoma: 40/1
17. Ohio State: 40/1
18. Minnesota: 100/1
19. Mississippi State: 100/1
20. Georgia Tech: 35/1
21. Georgetown: 20/1
22. Dayton: 200/1
23. Louisville: 12/1
24. Clemson: 50/1
25. Syracuse: 20/1

ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25
1. Kansas (55)
 2. Michigan State (5)
 3. Texas (1)
 4. Kentucky (3)
 5. Villanova
 6. North Carolina (1)
 7. Purdue
 8. West Virginia
 9. Duke
10. Tennessee
11. Butler
12. Connecticut
13. California
14. Washington
15. Michigan
16. Ohio State
17. Oklahoma
18. Mississippi State
19. Louisville
20. Georgetown
21. Dayton
22. Georgia Tech
23. Illinois
24. Clemson
25. Minnesota

Be sure to get all you college basketball futures in the Bodog Sportsbook and get ahead of all the betting action.

Stick to the facts and bet with your head. Don't second-guess your picks and don't listen to the so-called experts unless you have no clue who will win.

Remember to throw historical facts out the window when comparing matchups because college rosters change each year. Stick to the present and focus on the last several weeks.

Even with all of the number crunching and detailed analysis there is still no perfect formula for picking winners. That is what makes the NCAA Tournament so amazing. Sometimes you just have to throw all the stats and mathematical equations out the window and flip a coin.

Need a bracket? Check out Bodog's printable NCAA basketball bracket.

Take part in the free Bodog Bracket Buster Contest that pits you against everyone else and gives you the chance to challenge your friends by creating your own league. You are already going to watch the games, so why not win some cash and earn some bragging rights?

The winner of the Bodog Bracket Buster's Public League will be awarded with a prize of $5,000, second place receives $1,000, and third place receives $750. Pretty sweet deal for a free contest.

Pick the most teams that can survive the longest and walk away with a nice chunk of change. Points are awarded per win and increase as the tourney progresses through the rounds.

In the Midwest, No. 1 Louisville will get the play-in winner, Michigan State will face Robert Morris, Kansas vs. North Dakota State, Wake Forest vs. Cleveland State, Utah vs. Arizona, West Virginia vs. Dayton, Boston College vs. Southern California, and Ohio State vs. Siena.

In the East, it’s No. 1 seed Pitt vs. East Tennessee State, Duke vs. Binghamton, Villanova vs. American, Xavier vs. Portland State, Florida State vs. Wisconsin, UCLA vs. Virginia Commonwealth, Texas vs. Minnesota, and Oklahoma State vs. Tennessee.

In the South, it’s No. 1 seed North Carolina vs. Radford, Oklahoma vs. Morgan State, Syracuse vs. Stephen F. Austin, Gonzaga vs. Akron, Illinois vs. Western Kentucky, Arizona State vs. Temple, Clemson vs. Michigan,and LSU vs. Butler.

The championship game will be played on Monday, April 6. Get your NCAA basketball picks in the Bodog Sportsbook today as well as Bodog's printable NCAA basketball bracket.

The Arizona Wildcats are in big danger of falling off the Tournament bubble after falling 68-56 to the Arizona State Sun Devils. ASU was favored by 4.5 points at home, so the loss is no surprise, but Arizona still needed a strong performance in the Pac-10 tournament. Same goes for Wooden Award finalist Stephen Curry and the Davidson Wildcats, who were upset 59-52 by the College of Charleston (+9.5) in the second round of the Southern tourney.

And what will the Committee do about the Mountain West? The UNLV Runnin’ Rebels have lost three times this year to the San Diego State Aztecs, including 71-57 on Thursday as 3.5-point home faves. It’s one or the other. Bet on NCAA basketball with Bodog before March Madness passes you by!

No. 64 vs. No. 65
University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio

Mar. 19-20: First Round

South Region

No. 1 vs. No. 16, No. 8 vs. No. 9
Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina

No. 5 vs. No. 12, No. 4 vs. No. 13
Rose Garden Arena, Portland, Oregon

No. 6 vs. No. 11, No. 3 vs. No. 14
Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

No. 7 vs. No. 10, No. 2 vs. No. 15
Sprint Center, Kansas City, Missouri

West Region

No. 1 vs. No. 16, No. 8 vs. No. 9
Dayton

No. 5 vs. No. 12, No. 4 vs. No. 13
Taco Bell Arena, Boise, Idaho

No. 6 vs. No. 11, No. 3 vs. No. 14
Portland

No. 7 vs. No. 10, No. 2 vs. No. 15
Kansas City

Midwest Region

No. 1 vs. No. 16, No. 8 vs. No. 9
Dayton

No. 5 vs. No. 12, No. 4 vs. No. 13
Boise

No. 6 vs. No. 11, No. 3 vs. No. 14
Greensboro

No. 7 vs. No. 10, No. 2 vs. No. 15
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota

East Region

No. 1 vs. No. 16, No. 8 vs. No. 9
Philadelphia

No. 5 vs. No. 12, No. 4 vs. No. 13
AmericanAirlines Arena, Miami, Florida

No. 6 vs. No. 11, No. 3 vs. No. 14
Miami

No. 7 vs. No. 10, No. 2 vs. No. 15
Kansas City

Mar. 19-20: Second Round

Mar. 26-27: Sweet 16

South: FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee
West: University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona
Midwest: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana
East: TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, Massachusetts

Mar. 28-29: Elite Eight

Apr. 4: Final Four

Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan

Apr. 6: National Championship

Get all your NCAA basketball odds in the Bodog Sportsbook now.

Betting on Coaches During March Madness: Our roundup of some of the greatest coaches in the college game, including Roy Williams and Rick Pitino.

March Madness Recap and Upsets: A review of the first two rounds of the 2008 tourney – this will help you identify year’s Cinderella candidates.

March Madness Matchup Preview: Picking out the most intriguing first-round battles from 2008. Don’t say we didn’t warn you about the Hilltoppers.

The History of Selection Sunday: What to expect from the Selection Committee this weekend.

2009 March Madness Bracket: Get your office pool off on the right foot with this stylish printable bracket.