March Madness Betting Trends: NCAA Tournament Seed Matchups

With the 2015 NCAA tournament field finally set, it is time to look at the different matchups from a seeding perspective and try to figure out where upsets may occur based on historical betting trends.

The No. 12 seed is best known for busting brackets, upsetting the No. 5 seed three times in four games straight up each of the past two years. This year, the four No. 12 seeds are the Buffalo Bulls (Midwest Region), Wofford Terriers (West), Wyoming Cowboys (East) and Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks (South).

Stephen F. Austin was one of the three teams last year to pull off an upset as a No. 12 seed, knocking out the VCU Rams 77-75 as a six-point underdog. The Lumberjacks face the fifth-seeded Utah Utes Thursday in Portland, while the Terriers also play Thursday when they take on the Arkansas Razorbacks in Jacksonville.

On Friday, the Bulls play the West Virginia Mountaineers in Columbus, and the Cowboys meet the Northern Iowa Panthers in Seattle. The Panthers will be making their first appearance in the Big Dance since 2010, when they made it all the way to the Sweet 16 as a No. 9 seed after beating the eighth-seeded UNLV Rebels as one-point favorites and upsetting the top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks as 11.5-point underdogs.

The four top seeds in the 2015 NCAA tournament appear to be as strong as ever, so there is virtually no chance that any of them will lose their first game this year.

The Kentucky Wildcats (Midwest) and Duke Blue Devils (South) will get the opportunity to play winning teams from the First Four games Thursday and Friday, respectively. The Wildcats are the overwhelming favorite to win the Big Dance and figure to have the largest point spread in the tournament no matter who they play.

The other two matchups featuring No. 1 seeds have the Villanova Wildcats (East) facing the Lafayette Leopards Thursday in Pittsburgh and the Wisconsin Badgers (West) meeting the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Friday in Omaha.

Even though No. 16 seeds are winless in NCAA tournament history, bettors have made money by backing them, as they have gone 6-2 against the spread the past two years. Last year alone three No. 16 seeds stayed within 12 points of the top seeds.