March Madness 2018 Bracket: Latest Picks, Odds Advice Before Thursday's Round 1

The 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament is wide open this year, as a host of schools can present legitimate arguments for winning the national championship. Furthermore, it wouldn't be a surprise to see a dark-horse middle seed emerge from the pack and make the Final Four (or even further).

It should be a fun few weeks. Until then, here's a look at three quick first-round picks against the spread. The odds are via OddsShark.

Bracket

No. 13 UNC Greensboro (+12.5) Over No. 4 Gonzaga

According to the Pomeroy College Basketball Rankings, UNC Greensboro ranks just 317th out of 351 Division I teams in adjusted tempo. The Spartans are also 28th in defensive efficiency.

Gonzaga isn't looking to run up and down the court every play (the Bulldogs are 127th in adjusted tempo), so this could turn out to be a relatively low-scoring game in which neither team pulls away to an insurmountable lead.

If that's the case, then the Spartans have a good chance at covering the 12.5-point spread. It's easy to envision this game being somewhere in the mid-50s to mid-60s, with Greensboro hanging around until the end.

Look for Gonzaga to win outright, but the Spartans will cover.

No. 7 Rhode Island (-2.5) Over No. 10 Oklahoma

Rhode Island did well in the NCAA tournament last year, as it beat Creighton in the first round before barely falling to No. 3 Oregon in the second round.

The Rams may be even stronger this year, as they are led by senior guards Jared Terrell and E.C. Matthews, who combine to average over 30 points per game. Three others also post between nine and 10 points per night.

Their first-round opponent (the Oklahoma Sooners) started out hot but are now on a skid, losing eight of their last 10 games (and six straight during that stretch). While potential future NBA lottery Trae Young can single-handedly take over a game at any time (he averaged 27.4 points and 8.8 assists this year), it's simply too hard to trust OU right now given its recent form.

Furthermore, URI is also getting a lot of love from the Vegas sportsbooks: Per OddsShark, the line for this game started at even before moving to 2.5 points in URI's favor. That's a massive bump and shows that the sharp bettors in Vegas are on URI's side.

Although betting against Young is a bit scary, give the edge to the Rams here.

No. 4 Arizona (-8.5) Over No. 13 Buffalo

Yes, it can be tough to back a team that is giving up close to 10 points off the bat, but one has to wonder how Buffalo is going to slow down Arizona's big men down low.

Potential No. 1 NBA draft pick DeAndre Ayton is 7'1" and 250 pounds and near impossible to slow down. He averaged 20.3 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in his freshman campaign. Ayton is joined by seven-foot center Dusan Ristic, who posts 12.1 points and 7.0 rebounds a game.

Buffalo has a well-rounded scoring attack that could give Arizona problems (four Bulls average 14.6 points or more per game), but it doesn't have anyone who can realistically match the Arizona bigs' size.

Junior CJ Massinburg is the team's leading rebounder, and he's a 6'3" guard. The tallest player on the roster who gets significant playing time is 6'8" forward Nick Perkins, and he's still giving up four to five inches to the Wildcat frontcourt.

The Bulls' core is undoubtedly a talented group, but this simply could be a bad matchup here. Of course, this is March, when anything could happen, but look for Arizona to safely win and cover.