For many bettors March Madness begins today as the “BCS” conferences tip-off with Big East action. The Big East odds to win the tournament has Pittsburgh as the favorites.
Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: The Mavericks and Suns meet in Phoenix, the Wings look to get back on track, and the Big East tournament gets underway.
Tipping off on the hardwood . . .
The top game on the NBA schedule for Tuesday night has Dallas in the desert to take on Phoenix. The Mavericks improved to 38-25 straight-up and 30-33 against-the-spread with a 119-103 win over the Wizards on Saturday night. The Suns and Mavs last met on the court on January 9, with Phoenix rolling to a 128-100 home win. Shaquille O’Neal led the way with 25 points in that easy victory.
Utah will travel to Indiana to face the Pacers on Tuesday, with New York at Milwaukee, Charlotte at San Antonio, Oklahoma City at Sacramento, and Cleveland at the Clippers. LeBron James and company knocked off the Heat 99-89 on Saturday night, with Mo Williams scoring a team-high 29 points in the victory. James picked up 14 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists in that matchup.
The march toward Madness . . .
The first major conference starts their postseason tournament on Tuesday, as the Big East offers up four opening-round matchups. First up is DePaul vs. Cincinnati, which will tip off at 12pm ET. Sports Betting Sportsbook has the Bearcats laying 8.5
That game will be followed by St. John’s vs. Georgetown (2pm ET), Rutgers vs. Notre Dame (7pm ET), and South Florida vs. Seton Hall (9pm ET). All games of the tourney are at Madison Square Garden. BetUs Sportsbook has Georgetown laying 5.5, Notre Dame 11 and Seton Hall 5.5.
The top team in action on Tuesday, though, is Butler, which will be taking on Cleveland State in the championship game of the Horizon Conference tournament. Other conference tourneys that will continue on Tuesday: Big Sky, Mid-American, Sun Belt, Western Athletic, Mid-Eastern, and the Summit League.
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Taking a trip around the rink . . .
The Red Wings will be looking to bounce back from an embarrassing weekend loss in one of 11 games on a busy National Hockey League schedule for Tuesday night. Detroit was trounced 8-2 by the Blue Jackets on Saturday night, with starting netminder Chris Osgood allowing seven goals on 30 shots before giving way to Ty Conklin. Henrik Zetterberg and Aaron Downey scored for Detroit.
The Blue Jackets will try to keep the goals coming on Tuesday when they play host to the Bruins. Also on the schedule: Calgary at New Jersey, Buffalo at Philadelphia, Edmonton at Montreal, Florida at Pittsburgh, the Islanders at Toronto, Washington at Nashville, Dallas at St. Louis, Atlanta at Colorado, and San Jose at Minnesota. The Sharks were topped 3-1 by Vancouver on Saturday.
Rounding out the Roundup . . .
Along with the Big East (which will have its title game on Saturday) all the major college hoops conferences stage their tournaments this week. The Big 12, Conference USA, Mountain West, and Pacific-10 conference tourneys all start on Wednesday, with their championship games on Saturday. The ACC, Big Ten, and SEC conference tournaments start on Thursday and will wrap up on Sunday.