Happy NCAA Tournament for all that celebrate! We are less than 24 hours away from the first round starting and we are already deep into the First Four and NIT. For the next 3 weeks, we will have wall-to-wall March Madness coverage in our newsletters as well as Twitter/X.
Schedule:
Monday - First look at bracket/remaining bracket and futures picks
Wednesday - Thursday game picks and betting data from sportsbooks
Friday - Friday and Saturday game picks
While we give out one (actually two) of our college basketball plays for free tonight in the newsletter, our complete NCAA Tournament analysis, NBA props/sides, Valspar golf card and NHL plays are all worth an upgrade at the current $99/year plan as you don’t want to miss weekly NFL and CFB week picks this fall. One $99 price (or $9.99/month) will get you every single newsletter unlocked, all our trends and picks and access to me of course.
Also make sure you listen to the weekly Betting with Bearman podcast. This week, we had PFSN’s Kyle Soppe on to break down the four NCAA Tournament regions, give out futures and first round plays.
You know that I only recommend tools I actually use, and PoolGenius is what I’ll be using this year when I build out my March Madness brackets and play in a few NCAA Survivor pools.
They’re offering discounts for the Betting with Bearman family if you want to check it out.
One thing a lot of people miss with bracket pools is that winning isn’t really about predicting every game correctly — it’s about understanding what everyone else in your pool is picking and finding the right spots to differentiate. PoolGenius shows public pick rates alongside win probabilities and then generates optimized brackets based on your pool settings, which makes the process a lot more strategic.
They also have an NCAA Survivor tool, which is pretty unique. If you’ve played NFL Survivor, think of NCAA Survivor as packing an entire NFL Survivor season into about three weeks — with even more strategy because of how the tournament works. Their tool grades every possible pick based on win odds, popularity, and how saving teams for later rounds impacts your chances to survive the pool.
If you want to get a feel for the strategy side of survivor pools, their NCAA Survivor Strategy Guide is a good place to start:
They also have an article covering where to play NCAA Survivor Pools if you’re looking for one.
I’ll be using it when I put my brackets together next week, and if you’re looking for an edge in your bracket or survivor pool this year, it’s definitely worth checking out.
We are excited about our affiliate deal with our new friends at Betr. Through our partnership, you can sign up now and get $10 free and then a 50% deposit match up to $200 by using the Betting with Bearman sign up link, right here. We are also going to be sending out Betr plays every newsletter!
March Madness is Here
Since we don’t have a Thursday newsletter, we are going to give our our first-round Thursday plays today. The first one will be right here on top of the pay wall, and the rest of the plays and regional analysis down below. It’s only $9.99/month or $99 for year.
Before we get into tomorrow, a bonus thought: I do like Miami (OH) to cover the 7.5 tonight in the play-in game vs. SMU. The RedHawks are 4-0 as an underdog this season, have a massive chip on their shoulder, and SMU was one of the worst covering teams in the ACC this year.
12 McNeese State vs 5 Vanderbilt (-11.5, 150.5) - South Region
McNeese State leads the nation in points of turnovers (22.3 pts) and is second in the nation in both turnovers forced (16.9 per game) and steals (10.4 per game). They were in the top-15 in forcing turnovers last year.
Cowboys were one of two 12 seeds to pull off upsets last year, winning as a 7.5-pt underdog to Clemson last season.
Larry Johnson, the Southland Freshman of the Year, had one of the more impressive rookie seasons in the country, averaging 17.5 PPG and 5.5 rebounds per game.
Vanderbilt, while having a good SEC tournament, also lost seven of the final 15 games of the regular season
The Commodores are 5-7 ATS this season as a favorite of 10+, including not covering in their last three games with a double-digit spread.
McNeese has more experience here, returning to the Tournament for 3rd straight year, while Vandy hasn’t been since 2017 and haven't won a tourney game since 2012.
I expect Vandy to survive, but this will be closer. McNeese State +11.5
Stick around for the rest of MUCH more NCAA Tournament content and betting date, our top NBA and NHL plays, Valpsar PGA picks and more!
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