Early NCAA Tournament Lines of Interest

Early NCAA Tournament Lines of Interest

Published Mar. 11, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

The NCAA Tournament field is out and already early lines for the week's games are out.

You can see all those lines here.

But I thought I would hit you with the lines that jumped out the most at me.

Georgetown opened just -5 against Belmont in a 3 vs. 14 match-up and within the first hour of posted odds the line dropped to Georgetown -4. That's really low for a seed disparity like this and suggests many are impressed with Belmont's chances.

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Similarly, Florida State is just a -5.5 against 14 seed St. Bonaventure.

These are the two closest lines for major seed differential.

Other close lines relative to seeding:

7 seed Gonzaga is +1 vs. 10 seed West Virginia

This the only time thus far that the higher seed is the favorite.

6 seed San Diego State is a straight pick 'em against 11 seed N.C. State.

6 seed Cincinnati is -1.5 vs. 11 seed Texas

6 seed Murray State is -3 vs. 11 seed Colorado State

5 seed Vanderbilt is -5.5 against 12 seed Harvard. 

At least there's no record of Vandy losing as first round favorite...wait

4 seed Michigan is -6 against Ohio.

6 seed UNLV is -3 vs. 11 seed Colorado. 

4 seed Indiana is -5.5 vs. 13 seed New Mexico State

And if you're looking for the safest bet of all -- four games aren't set yet because they await play-in game winners -- Missouri opened -21 against Norfolk State.

...

In terms of SEC teams, Florida opened -3.5 against Virginia, Alabama opened +2 against Creighton.

Finally, come join us on ESPN -- I had to drop Yahoo because they limit the number of entries -- for this year's OKTC bracket challenge.

The goal is to have the best possible name. Not surprisingly, "Your gay," is the leader in the clubhouse thus far.

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