March Madness 2023: Betting Odds, Tournament Schedule and Competing Teams

March Madness is a colloquial name that has come to signify all of the interesting sporting action lined up during the month of March. Most anticipated of all is the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament. The competition is scheduled to start on Sunday, March 12, 2023.

Since 1939, the NCAA basketball tournament has been a single-elimination tournament, and this year, it would comprise 68 college teams slugging it out. But before then, Michigan sports betting attention will be directed to the Big Ten Tournament. Here’s all of the information, dates and betting odds unrolled and broken down for you.

The Big Ten Tournament is billed to start on Wednesday, March 8 and it will feature two of Michigan’s NCAA teams. For most people who focus solely on the Division I Basketball aspect of March Madness, the Big Ten Tournament is quite easy to miss. It is a postseason conference event that annually spills into the NCAA Tournament.

Wolverines (University of Michigan) and Spartans (Michigan State University) will be representing the Great Lakes State at the Big Ten. Both teams seek to make it to the Championship game at the United Center in Chicago. The Wolverines will be opening the account for the state of Michigan on March 9 when they face the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

Michigan State, on the other hand, will wait until Friday to face either Ohio State or Iowa. Should the Wolverines win their face-off against Rutgers, they will go on to face Purdue on Friday. Should the Spartans and Wolverines win their [possible] matches on Friday, they would meet each other in the semi-finals of the Championship.

All of these details mean that only one Michigan university basketball team can make it to the United Center for the final game of the Big Ten. Regardless of how the games go, Michigan State Spartans will maintain their spot in the NCAA.

On the flip side, the Wolverines may either need to win the Big Ten or perform very well. This way, they would directly earn a spot or get an at-large bid into the NCAA Division I Tournament.  

The main event of “March Madness” starts on Sunday, March 12, the same day of the final game of the Big Ten Tournament. Winners from the different conference tournaments across the United States (including the Big Ten) will receive an automatic bid to join the first 32 teams in the Division I seeding.

Other teams will be selected by an at-large bid made by the NCAA Division I Selection Committee. Since most postseason conferences end on Saturday or Sunday, the first day of the NCAA Division I will be spent on bids and seedings. Over the years, the first day of the Tournament has come to be known as Selection Sunday.

Below is the full schedule for the NCAA Division I Tournament:

The tournament will be held across 12 states and 14 cities across the US.

NCAA betting on the actual games will not start until after Selection Sunday. Perhaps the best way to participate in the NCAA Tournament is the Bracket Challenge Game. This involves filling out a bracket of matches or seeding teams against themselves. The odds of getting a perfect bracket is astronomically low, but the experience is completely worth it.

BetMGM Sportsbook Michigan has released some early odds on moneyline bets, projecting +20000 odds for the Michigan Wolverines to win. The odds of two-time NCAA winners, Michigan Spartans, is fairly high. They are placed +10000 on the moneyline to come out tops.

You can expect more updates about odds from Gamble Online Michigan after Selection Sunday. But for now, you can place bets on Michigan State University and the University of Michigan teams at the Big Ten Tournament.

You can use any of the licensed Michigan sports betting apps. However, for the final Big Ten game in Chicago, you may have to rely on Illinois sports betting sites if you are taking the trip down to the United Center. Thankfully, many brands there are similar to Michigan.

In all of the March Madness frenzy, the Michigan Gaming Control Board is continuing its awareness on responsible gaming. The board released information on tools that can help you avoid gambling addiction or unreasonable financial decisions.