2008 NCAA March Madness: Thursday semifinals odds and spread

2008 NCAA March Madness: Thursday semifinals odds and spread We have finally reached the point in the 2008 NCAA March Madness Tournament where only 16 teams are left to battle for the Final Four berth. The regional semifinals will start on Thursday with four games and continue on Friday with another four and here we will take a look at the odds and point spread on the Thursday's college basketball games. Starting with the smallest favorite team by spread - West Virginia, who is only -1 point chalk against the spread for the March Madness regional semifinal game against Xavier, according to the online sportsbook BodogLife. The point spread is the same at another popular online betting firm, Bookmaker, where West Virginia holds odds to win at -120 and Xavier would pay out on EVEN odds. There are no injuries reported for this March Madness game by either team.

Moving on to the next 2008 NCAA March Madness regional game, where North Carolina is big favorite against Washington State. At Bookmaker North Carolina is holding odds to win the college basketball game of -405 and Washington State will enter the court underdog at +335. The point spread on the Washington State vs. North Carolina tournament game is sitting at -8 points chalk the Tar Heels with the total expected 142.5 points. North Carolina guard Bobby Frasor is out for the season with knee injury, while Washington State reports no injuries for the semifinal game. Keep in mind that Washington State is 8-4 against the spread in its last 12 games, but North Carolina is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games.

A couple of hours later fans will be able to see the biggest favorite of the Thursday's March Madness games, UCLA, battle Western Kentucky for the final berth in the West Regional Tournament. At Bookmaker UCLA is -1100 to win the game, while Western Kentucky holds underdog odds of +750, possibly the biggest payout punters will see for the rest of the March Madness tourney. The point spread favors UCLA -12.5 points and the total is sitting at 133 points. Western Kentucky will play without Mike Walker and UCLA will go out on the court without Michael Roll, while Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is listed as day-to-day. Betting trends show that Western Kentucky is 5-0 against the spread in its last 5 games, while UCLA is only 2-4 against the spread in its last 6 games.

And finally on Thursday Louisville will symbolically welcome Tennessee at the Bobcat Arena in Charlotte for the last NCAA Tournament game for the day. The Cardinals are favorite with odds -145 at Bookmaker and the Volunteers are underdog with odds +125, indicating that this will be the most bet on game in the Thursday's March Madness lineup. The point spread favors Louisville -2.5 points and the total is listed at 145 points. No injuries have been reported by the Cardinals, but the Vols will play the semifinal without Cameron Tatum, who is out indefinitely with foot injury. Keep in mind that Louisville is 11-2 against the spread in its last 13 games and that the Vols have lost 5 of the last 5 games against the Cardinals.

Published on 03/25/2008