{"id":335102,"date":"2025-03-20T13:07:08","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T17:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=335102"},"modified":"2025-03-20T13:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T17:07:08","slug":"march-madness-predictions-first-round-march-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/march-madness-predictions-first-round-march-21\/","title":{"rendered":"March Madness first-round predictions: March 21 picks on Ole Miss and Akron"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;ve got two picks for Friday&#8217;s March Madness action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The pregame narrative<\/strong>: It&#8217;s not often a 6-seed is a first-round underdog, but that&#8217;s how the Ole Miss Rebels stand against the 11-seed North Carolina Tar Heels. I&#8217;m backing Ole Miss to win, though, and am also taking the Akron Zips to cover as underdogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Check out my March Madness predictions for NCAA college basketball action on March 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">March Madness predictions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/sports\/basketball\/competitions\/10530\">Full March Madness Markets<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/news\/march\">PLAY NOW: Un-Bustable Bracket Challenge<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Best bet:<\/strong> <strong><strong><strong>Ole Miss moneyline<\/strong><\/strong> (+102)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many college basketball fans were apoplectic with UNC&#8217;s inclusion to the 68-team tournament field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After all, the Tar Heels posted a 1-12 record against Quad 1 teams and were an uninspiring 22-13 overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">North Carolina silenced the critics \u2014 at least temporarily \u2014 with a 27-point beatdown of San Diego State in the First Four play-in round. But I think the good times end there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ole Miss has a much better 8-10 record against Quad 1 opponents, which includes wins over Arkansas and Tennessee in the last two weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rebels players average 3.47 years of D-1 experience (third-highest in NCAA) and I love to see a veteran team like that in an underdog role. This could be the last gasp for a few seniors on the squad before hitting the LinkedIn portal and joining the real world, so expect them to put up a fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That seasoned group owns the second-lowest offensive turnover rate in D-I (12.8%) while UNC ranks 309th in defensive turnover rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There shouldn&#8217;t be many empty possessions for an Ole Miss offence that ranks 31st in efficiency. Look for the Rebels to light up the scoreboard and win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Key stat:<\/strong> North Carolina has lost its last five Quad 1 games by an average of 13.0 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NCAA college basketball picks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Akron +14.5 (-112):<\/strong> I&#8217;ve got the No. 4 Arizona Wildcats advancing past the first weekend, but I think 13-seeded Akron can give them a scare on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Mid-American Conference champions boasted an incredible 18-1 record in conference play and have an offence capable of lighting up the scoreboard:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Akron ranks 30th in D-I in effective field goal percentage (55.4%) and 49th in 3-point percentage (36.6%).<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Zips are averaging 88.5 points per game during their current seven-game winning streak.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Arizona ranks 33rd in defensive efficiency and is a class above Akron&#8217;s MAC competition but has struggled to dominate lesser opponents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Against Quad 2 opponents \u2014 which Akron qualifies as \u2014 the Wildcats are 1-4 vs. this line while allowing 81.4 PPG. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>March Madness best bets made at 12:42 p.m. ET 03\/20\/2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve got two picks for Friday&#8217;s March Madness action. The pregame narrative: It&#8217;s not often a 6-seed is a first-round underdog, but that&#8217;s how the Ole Miss Rebels stand against the 11-seed North Carolina Tar Heels. I&#8217;m backing Ole Miss to win, though, and am also taking the Akron Zips to cover as underdogs. Check [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":335092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[452,75],"tags":[633],"class_list":["post-335102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-com","category-college-basketball","tag-college-baskeball"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>March Madness predictions: March 21 first-round picks | NSB<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our March Madness predictions for March 21, 2025. 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