The Ohio State Buckeyes (27-2, 14-2 Big Ten) held the No. 1 ranking for four weeks before a loss to Wisconsin on Feb. 12. The Buckeyes regained the top spot after beating Illinois and Indiana last week, and they were helped when Duke lost to Virginia Tech.

Despite their top ranking, a loss on Tuesday would give the Buckeyes a three-game road losing streak. After losing to Wisconsin 71-67 on Feb. 12, they lost to Purdue 76-63 eight days later.

The Buckeyes picked up their wins over Indiana and Illinois despite less-than-spectacular performances from leading scorer Jared Sullinger. The freshman forward played just 12 minutes against Indiana because of foul trouble and ended up with five points with no field goals. He followed that up with a 12-point effort against Illinois. Fellow freshman Deshaun Thomas stepped up in his place against Illinois and scored 22 points.

The Penn State Nittany Lions (15-12, 8-8 Big Ten) has lost five straight home games to Ohio State and 14 consecutive overall. The Nittany Lions have been scrappy at home against ranked teams this season, though, knocking off three of them.

The Nittany Lions gave the Buckeyes a scare when they visited them on Jan. 15 before ultimately coming up short in a 69-66 loss. Sullinger had a three-point play with 13.2 seconds left that ended up being the winning play for Ohio State.

The Villanova Wildcats (21-8, 9-7 Big East) played their final home game of the season Saturday when St. John’s came to town. The Wildcats were outrebounded 37-23 and allowed St. John’s guard Dwight Hardy to score 34 points in the 81-68 loss. It was Villanova’s fourth loss in six games and dropped them into a five-way tie for seventh place in the Big East standings.

The Wildcats started league play by winning their first four games and five of their first six. In that stretch, they picked up wins over then-No. 25 Cincinnati, then-No. 17 Louisville, and then-No. 3 Syracuse. Since then, they are 4-6.

Villanova’s schedule doesn’t get much easier after facing Notre Dame. The Wildcats finish their season with a visit to Pittsburgh, meaning their final four games will have been played against ranked teams.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (23-5, 12-4 Big East) had a rough start to its conference schedule but have come on recently. After a 3-3 start, the Fighting Irish are 9-1 with wins over then-No. Pittsburgh and then-No. 15 Louisville.

The Fighting Irish are coming off of their best defensive effort of the season. They allowed 48 points in Saturday’s 60-48 win over Seton Hall. The win also improved their home record to a perfect 16-0 this season. Tim Abromaitis scored 22 points and Ben Hansbrough added 21.

The Gators head in to this matchup as six-point favorites on the college basketball spread with a total of 130.

The Georgia Bulldogs (18-8, 7-5 SEC) will be trying to avenge a double overtime loss to Florida on Jan. 25. The Bulldogs stayed with the Gators through regulation and through the first overtime before being left behind in the second overtime. The final score of the game was 104-91. They have not allowed more than 100 points in any other game this season.

The Bulldogs went 12-2 over their first 14 games but have split the 12 games they have played in since. They are coming off of a 69-63 road win over Tennessee on Friday. The win ended a nine-game losing streak at Tennessee.

The Florida Gators (21-5, 10-2 SEC) will be hoping for a season-high sixth straight win on Thursday. The Gators had beaten the Bulldogs in 11 straight games before splitting the last four matchups. They maintain their dominance at home in the series, though, and have won the last eight home meetings by an average of 14.2 points.

The Gators picked up a 68-61 road win over LSU on Sunday. They led 40-25 at halftime before LSU cut the lead to six with under 2 minutes remaining. Florida ended up coming through at the free throw line, hitting all six attempts to close out the victory.

Chandler Parsons sat out of Florida’s win over LSU after suffering a thigh bruise in a 61-60 win over Tennessee on Feb. 12. His status for Thursday night’s game is uncertain.

The Atlantic Sun Conference Bisons can hardly be considered a pushover for an untested UNC team that defeated Barton College in an exhibition game. Lipscomb handily downed Trevecca Nazarene in its opening exhibition.

The Lipscomb Bisons have a tall, talented front line led by 6’ 8” Adnan Hodzig, the Atlantic Sun’s Player of The Year, wing players 6’8” junior Justin Glenn and sophomore 6’10” Milos Kleut. Fifth year senior 6’ 5” Michael Teller is a talented swingman that will keep the Heels honest. Add 6’7” Brandon Brown and 6’6” Brian Wright to the mix and you can see why the Bison look forward to success in the Atlantic Sun and against the uncommonly inconsistent Heels.

Coach Roy Williams has always protested too much. In some polls his Tar Heels Heels are ranked as high as number four. One poll picked UNC to win the ACC. A more realistic ACC coach’s poll ranked UNC third behind Duke and Virginia Tech.

Based on their 2011 performance, such lofty expectations will certainly put pressure on an untested team with some key veterans but whose stock is based on the play of a dazzling freshman class. That class includes highly regarded John Henson and forward Harrison Barnes who is a first team preseason All American who struggled in his exhibition game debut.

Despite all this talent, UNC lost three of its top four scorers and four of its top rebounders, an area of great concern for Williams. Returning players Deon Thompson, Tyler Zeller and Larry Drew II, a turnover machine in 2010, are expected to show improvement quickly of find their way to the bench. There is no doubt that Williams has the horses to return to his upbeat tempo, but it may take a few early setbacks for this team to settle in.

The Heels have the depth to run on Lipscomb and may wear them down, but if you can find Lipscomb with points, take it.

The Blue Devils are 2.5-point March Madness odds favorites and the over/under is 131.

The Mountaineers were the survivors of a bracket that ended up pretty cut and dry, as it had the only #1/#2 match-up of the entire tournament in the Elite 8.

Rewind a couple rounds and you’ll find that West Virginia took it to a Morgan State team in the second half to pull out the 77-50 neutral court cover as 17-point favorites. Big men Devin Ebanks and Kevin Jones had monster games combining for 33 points, 21 rebounds, and three blocked shots.

The Mounty’s defense showed how nasty a defensive squad it is by limiting the Bears to 29.5 percent from the field.

Round two saw them partake in a battle with the Big 12 representative Missouri Tigers, but in the end, Da’Sean Butler and company gutted out the 68-59 SU & ATS victory.

West Virginia had the advantage of playing in familiar surroundings (Carrier Dome) in the Sweet 16, and it immediately made the most of of it by getting past Washington. Though they turned the ball over a whopping 23 times, the defense was relentless as it limited the hot Huskies to just 56 overall points and outrebounded the Pac 10 reps 41-25.

They found themselves dogged (+4) for the first time in the tourney in their Elite 8 battle with Kentucky, but uglied it up enough to pull out the dominating 73-66 outright victory. The defense once again stymied an opponent holding the top seeded Wildcats to 34.3 percent shooting and a 4/32 effort from beyond the arc.

WVU enters this match-up winners of 10 in a row (6-4 ATS).

Coach K and his Duke Blue Devils are back in the Final 4 for the first time since 2004 after coming out on top in the South Region.

They took care of the play-in winners in round one without breaking much of a sweat. Kyle Singler led all scorers with 22 points, and the Blue Devils secured the easy SU win and cover as 24-point chalk.

The second round saw them explode out of the gates taking a 37-24 lead with them into the break against California, and they cruised in the second half to ultimately win by a 68-53 final tally; the 15-point victory saw them once again cover the closing CBB betting odds.

The Dookies Sweet 16 battle with the Purdue Boilermakers was close for the first 30+ minutes. However, Duke was just too much for the Boilers on the glass (45-22), and Kyle Singler seemingly couldn’t miss a shot down the stretch. They ended up coasting to their third straight March Madness cover winning 70-57.

In their Elite 8 match-up with Baylor, the Bears seemingly had the Dookies on the ropes late but Coach K’s kids still found a way to get the job done. On top of the win, Duke remained perfect ATS in 2010 NCAA Tournament play.

Duke enters Final 4 betting action winners of eight games in a row and covered five of those games against the CBB betting odds.

This will be the first meeting between these programs since the Mountaineers bounced the Blue Devils in the second round of the 2008 Tourney.

West Virginia is a stellar 12-2-1 ATS its L/15 March Madness battles and a perfect 5-0-1 ATS the L/6 times it was installed an NCAA Tournament underdog. Duke is 6-11 ATS the L/17 times it was tagged an NCAA Tournament favorite (4-0 ATS currently) and just 1-5-1 ATS the L/7 times it opposed a Big East opponent.

The Bulldogs are 1.5-point March Madness odds favorites and the over/under is 126.

If you pegged Michigan State to come out of the Midwest Bracket at the onset of the 2010 NCAA Tournament, you made out nicely with a hefty return. They beat out Kansas, Ohio State, Georgetown, and Maryland to do so.

The Spartans battled a multitude of injuries and took advantage of an easier than most thought path to reach the Final 4 in back to back seasons. This trip marks the Spartans sixth trip to the Final 4 under the watchful eye of head coach Tom Izzo.

Michigan State’s first victim came in the form of a gritty New Mexico State bunch. Though they held a comfortable 42-29 lead at the break, the Aggies proved resilient and at one point took the lead in the second half. Still, the MSU Spartans held on for the 70-67 victory but grossfully failed to cover the lofty 13-point NCAAB odds.

Their second round battle with Maryland came down to the closing moments. Seconds after Greivis Vasquez put the Terps up by one, Korie Lucious introduced himself to the CBB betting world by draining a three-pointer as time expired. The two-point victory propelled the Spartans into the Sweet 16 for the third straight time.

They had their hands full for the majority of their game with the upstart Northern Iowa Panthers, but the Spartans pulled away late to secure their second pointspread cover of March Madness. MSU found itself in another tough battle in the Elite 8 against Tennessee, but in the end, the Spartans made good on their own breaks to punch their ticket to Indianapolis.

Overall, Michigan State stands 4-0 SU & 3-1 ATS in 2010 NCAA Tournament betting.

The Butler did it! Not once twice or three times, but four times to reach the Final 4! With them pulling off the feat, it marks the first time that a Horizon Conference member ever made it this far.

Shockingly, the Bulldogs had their toughest go of it in the first two rounds of March Madness betting. Down six at the break against UTEP in round one, Butler exploded in the second half outscoring the Miners 50-26 to easily cover the 2.5-point closing spread. They also broke the record for most 3-pointers made in an NCAA Tournament game.

They got their biggest scare in round two against the Murray State Racers, but managed to survive winning 54-52 to punch their tickets into the Sweet 16.

The Bulldogs then made Salt Lake City, UT their home away from home by knocking off the regions top two seeded teams in Syracuse and Kansas State. They dominated the Orange from the opening tip, and save for the Wildcats making a run at the beginning of the second half, they never once let up.

Overall, Butler won all four of its March Madness battles and covered the closing pointspread in three of them.

This will be the first ever meeting between the Michigan State Spartans and the Butler Bulldogs on the college hardwood. The Spartans are 5-2 SU & 4-3 ATS in their seven neutral court battles, while the Bulldogs are 5-3 SU & 4-4 ATS in their eight.

MSU is a $$$-making 25-10-1 ATS its L/36 NCAA Tournament games and 4-1 ATS its L/5 games as a Tourney underdog. Butler is 5-1-1 ATS its L/7 games against Big 10 opposition, but just 1-4 ATS the L/5 times it was favored on a neutral court.

The Bulldogs are 4-point March Madness betting odds favorites and the over/under is 135.

The #5 Bulldogs will be the highest seed to lace their shoes up in the Elite 8 on Saturday.

Though this tournament has been littered with a number of shocking upsets, the one Butler just pulled off on the West Region’s #1 seed was by far the most impressive.

Though they only ended up winning by four points (63-59), head coach Brad Stevens’ kids dominated the Orange from the opening tip.

The defense limited Andy Rautins and company to just 43.8 percent shooting from the field, which is insane considering the Orange entered the game shooting better than a 51 percent clip on the year.

They held their own on the glass, but the most unbelievable turn of events came in the turnover department. Butler only coughed the ball up seven times against Cuse’s 2-3 zone, but they forced a whopping 18 turnovers themselves to keep head coach Jim Boeheim’s kids at an arm’s length the entire game.

The Butler Bulldogs have now rattled off 23 straight victories and covered the spread in 11 of those games. While they’re 16-4 SU & 9-11 ATS on the road, they stand just 4-3 SU & 3-4 ATS on neutral courts.

If you asked an average Joe college basketball fan which team out of the state of Kansas he thought would make it to this year’s Elite 8, Kansas would have undoubtedly come out of their mouth.

Be that as it may, head coach/drill sergeant Frank Martin has the purple and silver in the Elite 8 for the first time since 1988.

It didn’t come easy however as the Kansas State Wildcats Sweet 16 battle with the Xavier Musketeers will go down in the history books as one of the most epic college basketball betting battles of all time.

If you got on the Wildcats bus early, you cashed your pointspread ticket. But the majority of the betting public ended up pushing in double overtime after K-State gutted out the 101-96 win.

Everything clicked for the Wildcats as the big men more than held up their ends of the bargain, and the guards shined. Both Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen knocked down big shot after big shot until 50 minutes of game action was put in the books.

The victory improved the Wildcats to 5-1 SU & 4-1-1 ATS their L/6 games. They enter tonight’s battle with Butler 8-2 SU & 6-3-1 ATS in their 10 neutral court CBB betting battles.

This will be the first time these programs faced one another on the hardwood.

While Butler boasts an impressive 22-7 ATS tally the L/29 times it was installed underdogs, the Bulldogs are just 3-8 ATS their L/11 neutral site battles and just 2-10 ATS following a pointspread win the L/12 times.

As for Kansas State, it’s a perfect 8-0-1 ATS its L/9 non-conference games and 6-0-1 ATS the L/7 times it was installed a neutral site favorite. That said; the Wildcats have struggled for their betting backers against solid defensive teams allowing less than 64 PPG going just 13-14 ATS the L/3 seasons (4-5 ATS in 2009-10).

The March Madness odds list the Wildcats as 4-point favorites and the over/under is 133.5.

These two squads form the only #1 and #2 match-up in the Elite 8 after Kansas, Syracuse, and Villanova failed to advance.

It was by no means pretty, but head coach Bob Huggins’ kids scraped and clawed their way to a 69-56 Sweet 16 win and cover against the Washington Huskies on Thursday night.

Nobody on the West Virginia Mountaineers roster tallied 20 or more points and the team shot just 40 percent from the field, but they killed Washington on the glass (41-25) and forced 21 turnovers.

F Kevin Jones led all WVU scorers with 18 points and also pulled down a team high eight rebounds. SR Da’Sean Butler had a miserable night from the floor converting just 5 of 16 overall shots (14 points), but he pulled down seven rebounds, had a pair of assists, and blocked one shot.

The victory was the Mountaineers ninth in row, and they’ve covered the closing pointspread in all three of their NCAA Tournament games.

West Virginia has proven to be a gritty road club this season going 17-4 SU & 10-11 ATS. They’ve won all 10 of their neutral court battles while going 5-5 ATS.

The Kentucky Wildcats went into Sweet 16 betting action the favorite to win the 2010 NCAA Tournament, and they made those that took a flier on them at +200 very happy by getting past a feisty Cornell squad on Thursday.

Though they fell behind 10-2 in the opening moments of the first half against the Big Red, they battled back to take a 32-16 lead with them into the break.

They coasted for a majority of the second half, but once Cornell cut the deficit to six-points, head coach John Calipari’s kids flipped the switch and administered the deathblow.

When it was all said and done, the Wildcats won by a 62-45 final tally and covered the eight-point closing betting odds.

Though Patrick Patterson and John Wall struggled considerably, G Eric Bledsoe and F DeMarcus Cousins picked up the slack to combine for 28 points, 12 rebounds, and three assists.

The SU victory was the #1 seeds eighth in a row, and like tonight’s opponent, they too have covered each of their first three March Madness betting battles.

Kentucky has been almost nothing but green away from their own court this season compiling impressive 16-2 SU & 12-6 ATS marks. They’ve won all nine of their neutral court contests and gone 6-3 ATS.

These programs have only met twice in the last decade with Kentucky winning and covering both meetings.

Both have some exceptional trends backing them heading into this colossal heavyweight match-up.

West Virginia is 11-2-1 ATS its L/14 NCAA Tournament games and 6-1 ATS the L/7 times it was installed neutral site underdogs. However, Kentucky boasts an impressive 13-3-1 ATS mark the L/17 times it faced a Big East opponent, and is a perfect 6-0 ATS the L/6 times it was tagged a March Madness favorite.

The Blue Devils are 8-point March Madness odds favorites and the over/under is 129.

The Duke Blue Devils used stifling defense to roll over their opponents in California.

They beat the California Golden Bears in their own backyard 68-53.

7-foot-1 center, Brian Zoubek had 14 points and 13 boards while dominating the under-sized Golden Bears.

Nolan Smith led the team with 20 points and the whole team was stellar on the defensive end of the court hounding California’s shooters and not letting them have uncontested shots.

Duke had a disappointing game from Jon Scheyer who went 1 of 11 from the field. They will need him to contribute at his normal level if they’re going to get by Purdue.

The Purdue Boilermakers are a good team that has earned their spot in the Sweet 16 with different players stepping up in the first two rounds.

JaJuan Johnson had an unlikely 23 points in their First Round 72-64 victory over Siena and defensive specialist Chris Kramer scored the game-winner in OT against the Texas A&M Aggies.

Both of these teams play strong defensive games, but the Blue Devils definitely have an advantage in the talent department. Purdue will have to be that much more stifling to take down Duke and get in to the Elite Eight.

The Spartans are 1.5-point March Madness line favorites and the over/under is 121.

The fifth-seeded Michigan State Spartans would have been much heavier favorites if not for the loss of their star guard Kalin Lucas. Lucas ruptured his ACL after landing awkwardly on a jump shot in their second round game against Maryland and will miss the rest of the tournament.

With Lucas out, the Spartans lead evaporated and they needed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to eliminate fourth seeded Maryland.

Michigan State’s fortunes depend largely on how they adjust to playing without Lucas and makes predicting this game very difficult.

The Northern Iowa Panthers sent many brackets to the recycling bin by unseating the tournament’s number one overall seed, Kansas.

The ninth-seeded Panthers put their second best defense in the nation on display against Kansas pressuring them everywhere. They pulled ahead by as much as 12 points and then withstood a late-game charge to win 69-67.

The Panthers now hope their defense can fluster the Spartans as they adjust to playing without Lucas. They have a pretty good chance at an upset if they can force enough turnovers.

The Spartans will likely emphasize defense more too without Lucas and they’ll be looking to force some more turnovers on defense while looking after the ball on offense and controlling the game.