March Madness Selection Sunday arrived after weeks of anticipation, leaving NJ online sports betting players excited to take part in legal online betting for the first time on the 2019 NCAA Tournament. College basketball’s biggest event starts Tuesday and Wednesday (March 19 & 20) with the First Four games, then the opening round tips off on Thursday and shifts March Madness 2019 into full gear. NCAA Tournament betting veterans are preparing for a long weekend full of college basketball action to begin the festivities, with 48 games being played in the first four days.
The 2019 NCAA Tournament is segmented into four regions (click region for odds and NCAA pick breakdown):
- East Region (Washington D.C.)
- West Region (Anaheim)
- Midwest Region (Kansas City)
- South Region (Louisville)
Now that the entire bracket has been released, so too have sports betting odds for each individual first-round game as well as futures bets for the winner of each region, as well as the NCAA Tournament. On BonusSeeker, we are looking at each individual region to discuss the odds-on favorite, a prediction for a potential sleeper team and our free NCAAB pick to make it out of the East using college basketball odds from FanDuel Sportsbook.
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Check out our March Madness Guide and March Madness Tips before wagering on the 2019 NCAA Tournament! And read our Sports Betting Guide ahead of the 2019 NCAA Tournament!
Seeding In The East Region Of The NCAA Tournament
- Duke - Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Tournament champion & No. 1 overall seed
- Michigan State - Big Ten regular season & tournament champion
- LSU - Southeastern Conference regular season champion
- Virginia Tech - ACC at-large
- Marquette - Big East at-large
- LSU - Southeastern Conference regular season champion
- Louisville - ACC at-large
- Virginia Commonwealth - Atlantic 10 regular-season champion
- Central Florida - American Athletic Conference at-large
- Minnesota - Big Ten at-large
- Belmont/Temple*
- Liberty - Atlantic Sun regular season & conference champion
- St. Louis - Atlantic 10 Tournament champion
- Yale - Ivy League Tournament champion
- Bradley - Missouri Valley Tournament champion
- NC Central/North Dakota St*
*Indicates First Four Game
Odd-On Favorite In 2019 NCAA Tournament East Region
Duke (-175) is the No. 1 seed in the entire NCAA Tournament, let alone the East Region. Their odds on the FanDuel Sportsbook app along with any other NJ sportsbooks provide no value, although a healthy Zion Williamson playing for the Blue Devils is sure to convince NJ online sports betting players that the juice is worth it. They could face ACC rival Virginia Tech (+1600) in the Sweet 16 as well as Big Ten champ Michigan State (+400) in the Elite Eight.
East Region: Potential Sleeper NCAAB Pick
LSU (+1200): From a value standpoint, LSU provides a ton of it. They’re the SEC regular season champions and an extremely versatile team with different ways to beat you. Unfortunately, they’re missing head coach Will Wade and that plays a huge role come NCAA Tournament time. Those +1200 odds on the FanDuel Sportsbook app, however, will be tough to ignore for some NJ online sports betting players looking for a longshot.
NCAA Tournament Sports Betting Pick For East Region
Michigan State (+400): Duke is the best team in this region, but we are ignoring that for the sake of our NCAAB pick. The odds on Duke winning the entire NCAA Tournament (+220 on most the FanDuel Sportsbook app) are worth taking because they’re plus-money. But Duke at -175 is nothing but risk for NJ online sports betting players. Michigan State is riding high off a defeat of rival Michigan in the Big Ten title game and gets to avoid Duke until a potential Elite Eight clash. The best mix of value and talent makes Michigan State our East Region March Madness betting pick.