By Nick Savage & Jake Lazarus & Trevor Roughan
This March Madness, an estimated $15.5 billion will be wagered. Roughly 31 million American adults will place a traditional bet online or at a physical sports book.
Our goal is to beat the public by using the Only Players Expert Pick Tracker, experts with positive and public records who pick every tournament matchup. While shocking upsets do happen, the wisdom of the crowd fits sports gambling trends quite well.
Remember… anything can happen in March!
| Expert | 2023 Record | PITT @ XAV | UK @ KSU | MSU @ MARQ | SMC @ UCONN | CREI @ BAY | FDU @ FAU | MIA @ IU | TCU @ GONZ |
| Covers | 23-25 | XAV -4.5 | UK -1.5 | MARQ -2.5 | UCONN -3.5 | BAY -1 | FAU -13.5 | IU -1 | GONZ -4.5 |
| Dimers | 23-25 | XAV -4.5 | UK -1.5 | MARQ -3 | UCONN -3.5 | BAY -1.5 | FAU -14.5 | IU -1.5 | GONZ -4.5 |
| CBS Sports | 23-24 | PITT +5 | UK -1.5 | MARQ -2.5 | UCONN -3.5 | CREI +1 | FAU -13 | MIA +1.5 | GONZ -4.5 |
| Action Network | 22-23 | N/A | UK -2 | MSU +2.5 | N/A | CREI +1.5 | FAU -13.5 | IU -1.5 | TCU +4.5 |
| Oddstrader | 25-23 | PITT +5 | KUS +2 | MARQ -2.5 | SMC +3.5 | CREI +1 | FDU +13 | MIA +1.5 | GONZ -4.5 |
| PickWise | 14-21 | N/A | N/A | MARQ -2.5 | N/A | CREI +1 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Sports Chat Place | 17-27 | PITT +4.5 | KSU +1.5 | MARQ -3 | SMC +3.5 | CREI +1 | N/A | IU -1.5 | GONZ -4.5 |
In surprising fashion, 11 seed Pittsburgh sent 6 seeded Iowa St. home in a blowout on March 17. They are now set to face 3 seed Xavier in the second round. Xavier narrowly defeated 14 seed Kennesaw St. on Friday, winning 72-67. Many of our experts didn’t expect that game to be so close and are now readjusting their expectations of an Xavier squad that was expected to be offensively dominant, especially in the rounds of 64 and 32. Against the spread, our experts are leaning towards Pittsburgh, displaying a loss of confidence in Xavier.
Uh oh… For the second straight year, Purdue was upset in March by a Cinderella team from New Jersey. 16 seed Farleigh Dickinson played the Boilermakers like a fiddle on Friday, forcing uncharacteristically bad turnovers and shots from a team that many believed would make a deep run this March. Our experts, however, expect this Cinderella story to end on Sunday. Most are siding with the favorite, 9 seed Florida Atlantic University, against a large point-spread of 13.5.
4 seed Indiana and 5 seeded Miami are set for a second-round matchup that should be close. Both teams have “star power,” but only one of those stars showed up in the round of 64. Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis was as-advertised on Friday, putting up 24 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 blocks on efficient shooting in the contest. On the other hand, Miami’s Isaiah Wong struggled to convert anything on Friday, going 1-10 from the field with just 5 points. Experts are leaning towards Indiana (-1.5 ATS) in this game but watch out for Miami if Wong can get his shot to fall more often on Sunday.
Survive and advance!
