March Madness betting players are starting their research as teams prepare for the conference tournaments, which is the prelude to the NCAA Tournament. If you looked at the rankings from the end of January, you may have had Texas battling for a top seed, while North Carolina was just breaking into the top 25 and was a sixth or seventh seed, at best. But February wasn’t as good to the Longhorns as it was to the Tar Heels, and North Carolina is starting to peak at the right time. The Longhorns got off to a good start last month with wins over Texas Tech, Oklahoma, at Baylor and against Oklahoma State. Then they were upset at Nebraska, which is a tougher place to play than many think, they followed that with a home win over Iowa State, and the Longhorns proceeded to lose at Colorado and against Kansas State on their Senior Night. The Longhorns did manage to beat the Bears at Baylor, but it wasn’t a very convincing victory, even though Texas fans will probably take what they can get. The Longhorns got away from what made them successful, and that was pounding the ball inside to freshman Tristan Thompson. Jordan Hamilton was taking a lot of bad shots on the perimeter, but Texas has to get Thompson going in the Big 12 tournament. You would probably get a sports betting bonus if you picked the Tar Heels to come away with the ACC title after their start, but North Carolina dropped rival Duke in their finale to snag the regular-season title. In fact, over their last 10 games, they only lost at Duke, and that was after leading by 16 points, which may have been the best thing for their development. Many were wondering if freshman Kendall Marshall could run the point after Larry Drew II left the team, but Marshall has been an improvement with his vision and ability to run the team. Another freshman, Harrison Barnes, is proving to everyone why he was the first frosh in history to be named to the preseason All-American team, and he seems to be at his best in the late stages of a game. The Tar Heels also have a great duo in the post in Tyler Zeller and John Henson, which allows North Carolina to slow the game down and increase their ability to get to the foul line. These two will likely be around the same price (or close) in your sportsbook, but if we had to bet 5dimes, we would put it on the Tar Heels, because momentum is a huge factor at this point in the season, especially for a young team, and North Carolina has a lot of it. And even though the Tar Heels are young, they have more poise than you think, especially after the Duke loss. Look for North Carolina to be a popular pick at your online sportsbook.
