Seconds after The Selection Committee completes the placement of the 68-teams vying for the Men's Division I Basketball Championship, people around the country will scour the internet for 2012 Printable NCAA March Madness Tournament Brackets. The host cities for the "Big Dance" in each round are First Four in Dayton, Ohio, East Regional in Boston, Massachusetts, West Regional in Phoenix, Arizona, South Regional in Atlanta, Georgia, Midwest Regional in St. Louis, Missouri and the Final Four will be held at The Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Back in May of 2011, MGM Resorts International Race & Sports in Las Vegas released March Madness odds and had the following teams as the favorites to win the NCAA Championship: North Carolina +450 ($100.00 wager would pay back $450.00), Kentucky/Ohio State +600, Texas +800, Louisville +1200, Syracuse +1500, Duke +2000, Pittsburgh/Michigan +2200, Memphis/Connecticut/Michigan State/Gonzaga/Vanderbilt +2500 and Kansas +3000.
Prior to the tip of the first Conference Tournament game, here were the top teams favored to close out March Madness with winning the NCAA Championship: Kentucky +180 ($100.00 wager would pay back $180.00), North Carolina +225 Syracuse +600, Kansas +800, Ohio St +800 & Michigan St/Missouri +1000.
Other random March Madness betting tidbits: Kentucky was -280 to win the SEC Conference Tournament. Vanderbilt was +600. Kentucky was -270 vs. rest of the SEC. North Carolina was favored to win the ACC Tournament at -175. Florida State was +800. $100 3-team parlay with Vanderbilt Commodores, St. Bonaventure Bonnies & Florida St. Seminoles on the moneyline would have paid $3311.00 on Sunday.
Here is a list of some good places to print and download free March Madness brackets:
NCAA Tournament Bracket - 2012 from ESPN (updated on Sunday, March 11)
March Madness Bracket 2012 (Printable & Blank) from Team Rankings
Printable March Madness Bracket from PrintYourBrackets.com
Printable NCAA Bracket 2012 from CBS Sportsline
The 2012 Yahoo! Sports Tourney Pick'em from YAHOO
Random March Madness Bracket Tips and Trends: #1 seeds have made the Round of Sixteen 49 out of 56 times or 88% since 1997. Going back to 1997, only one #14 seed and three #13 seeds have ever advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. Going back to 1995, the 7,8 and 10 seeds have each reached the Regional Finals four times. Since 1997, no #9 seed has reached the Elite 8.
Betting Strategies: College Basketball Tournaments-Host Marco D'Angelo and Pregame's own Johnny Detroit talk about how important the college basketball conference tournaments are for some teams and also discuss: Conference tournaments are purest handicap of the season and other various handicapping angles.