March Madness betting continues this evening as the first round of action comes to a close.  We’ll have more March Madness betting this weekend along with NBA, NHL, NASCAR and MMA.  For now, we’ll take a look at 9:55 Eastern/6:55 Pacific start time game between Louisville and California.  This morning all of the sports media was in a lather over the dismal first day performance of the Big East.  That’ll be the ‘hook’ among lazy sports media types for at least the next few days, and whenever a Big East team does something right they’ll talk about how they’ve avoided the ‘jinx’ that befell Georgetown, Marquette and Notre Dame on opening day.  They’ll wring their hands about how Villanova barely escaped Robert Morris–a very good mid-major program that could be to this decade what the College of Charleston was under John Kresse during the 1990′s.  There’s nothing wrong with the Big East, other that they were the beneficiary of the crooked NCAA selection process that gave them more bids than they deserved.   Louisville may not have really deserved a bid, finishing at 20-12 overall and 6th in the Big East but now that they’re here look for them to win a few games.  Cal finished first in the Pac 10 with a 23-10 record overall.

CALIFORNIA VS. LOUISVILLE:

The Cal Bears haven’t traveled East of the Rocky Mountains since they were butchered at Kansas in late December.  In terms of individual talent, the Bears have as much as anyone–they’re a fast and athletic team that shoots the ball very well.  Still, they don’t play particularly well as a cohesive team unit and don’t have great hoop fundamentals.  They showed a tendency at time to come unraveled against defensive pressure, resulting in rushed shots and bad decision making.  So guess what Rick Pitino and the Cardinals will throw at them?  You got it–Louisville will play pressure defense for the entire time and contest everything.  The Bears even struggled at times against a good active zone defense–they lack a strong post up presence, so they’ll end up reverting to a jump shooting team.  If those shots aren’t falling, it could be a Louisville blowout.  Even if they are, the Cardinals will find a way to get the outright win and that’s all we need them to do.

PLAY LOUISVILLE +1 OVER CALIFORNIA