March Madness betting on the second-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes could be successful on Friday as the team plays their opening round game in the Midwest Region against Cal-Santa Barbara. The Buckeyes easily could have been a top seed but they had to settle for a number two behind Kansas in the region. The Buckeyes are a 17-point favorite in March Madness odds.
March Madness betting numbers have the Buckeyes as the second choice to win the Midwest Region behind Kansas. The Buckeyes have the Player of the Year in Evan Turner and they are capable of beating anyone. Turner is averaging 19.5 points per game this season. The Buckeyes are an excellent shooting team as they hit for about 49% from the field. Ohio State also has Jon Diebler and William Buford who can provide support for Turner. The Buckeyes are not expected to get a big test in March Madness odds on Friday in their opening round game against Santa Barbara.
The Gauchos of Cal-Santa Barbara are led by guard Orlando Johnson. He was the Big West Player of the Year as he averaged 17.9 points per game. The Gauchos also have James Nunnally who averaged 15 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Santa Barbara did not play many teams that had the talent of Ohio State so they will have a difficult time against Turner and company. Santa Barbara really struggled against good guards as California’s starting guards hit them for 48 points while San Diego State’s got them for 30. It should be a big game for Turner and Diebler on Friday.
Cal-Santa Barbara has been pretty good of late as an underdog as they are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games as an underdog. The problem for the Gauchos is that they are just 2-5 ATS in their last 7 non-conference games.
Ohio State does not have good numbers in terms of the March Madness betting point spread. The Buckeyes are 3-10 ATS in their last 13 NCAA Tournament games. The Buckeyes are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 non-conference games.
Looking at the total trends for this game we see that 14 of the last 17 Santa Barbara neutral site games have gone under the total. On the other side of that equation in March Madness, the Buckeyes have gone over in six of their last seven tourney games.