[Tommy]

The second season of college basketball gets under way this week, and it's sure to be a four-week orgy of buzzer beaters and bracket busters. Follow (and bet) on all the live action via bet365's 'In-Play Console', and don't forget our Parlay Bonus (more of that later). Of course, serious bettors at bet365 will be getting excited at the prospect of picking point spread winners, and we've already highlighted the fact that following the bigger teams blind could be the quick way to the 'poor house' (and madness!). Public teams, like Duke and Kentucky, are always going to get heavily backed with bet365, and that will be factored into the point spread. Hence, the other team (the likely dog) is going to be a value price, in order to attract equal money on both sides.


DEFENCE, DEFENCE, DEFENCE
Another factor for bet365 customers to consider over the coming weeks is defence. That is, teams are far more likely to display all-out defence for 40-minutes (compared to the regular season), as games are far more likely to be close and meaningful, especially as the tourney gets close to the championship game. Taking Duke as an example from last season, the Blue Devils fell below their regular season scoring average (78ppg) in all three of their ACC tourney games, and all but one game went under the total. In fact, they went under the total in four of six games in the ACC and NCAA tournaments… get the drift.


JAYHAWKS ARE CALLING AT 40/1
No.1 Duke have been chalked up as 5/2 favorites in bet365's NCAA Men's championship betting, followed by No.2 Connecticut at 11/4. The fact that these two top the betting is a no-brainer, but what of the challengers? Gonzaga (28/1) have already completed a perfect season in their conference, while Memphis (10/1) and George Washington (28/1) will be trying to keep their perfect seasons intact as well on Thursday night. GW is also tied with Gonzaga for the nation's longest current winning streak (16). Kansas are a very young team who have made great strides since the beginning of the campaign. After their 1-2 start in Big 12 play, the Jayhawks reeled off ten consecutive wins, leading the nation in defensive field goal percentage allowed (an outstanding defensive effort), and they are attractively priced at 40/1 here at bet365. Good luck and enjoy the madness.

bet365's NCAA Men's Championship prices … Duke 5/2, Connecticut 11/4, Texas 7/1, Villanova 9/1, Memphis 10/1, Michigan St 16/1, West Virginia, Florida 20/1, Gonzaga 20/1, Kansas 40/1, others on bet365 website.


AVOID MARCH SADNESS – PLACE YOUR PARLAYS WITH bet365!
While we'll be backing our NCAA tourney picks in singles (as every serious bettor should), it will be hard to resist a speculative parlay wager along the way, especially as we're assured of getting more back with the bet365 Parlay Bonus. Each week, we pay out up to 50% more on successful NBA & NCAAB parlays on the following 6 markets:

Point Spread, Game Total, First Half Point Spread, Second Half Point Spread, First Half Total, Second Half Total.

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC - USA HEAVY CHALK AT 5/4
Here at bet365, we make the USA team 5/4 favorite to win this weekend's inaugural World Baseball Classic, with Canada a longshot a 50/1. The Dominican Republic are second choice at 6/4, and victory for any other team outside the top two in the betting will be a massive shock. Teams have been divided into four pools, and USA is an overwhelming 1/16 choice to win Pool B against its northern neighbours Canada (10/1), Mexico (12/1) and South Afica (150/1). Japan, who will host Pool A games, are a 3/10 selection to cop its division, while Puerto Rico is even money chance in a close Pool C race that has Cuba at 6/4, Panama 6/1 and The Netherlands at 12/1. The Dominican Republic is a 5/11 Pool D favorite. Action gets underway on Saturday with Pool A games in Tokyo.

Bet365 World Baseball Classic prices … USA 5/4, Dominican Republic 6/4, Venezuela 11/2, Japan, 12/1, Puerto Rico 14/1 Cuba 16/1, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Korea 40/1, others on bet365 website.

Get in the game and be lucky!

Nigel