The first day of the opening round of March Madness has come and gone, and the biggest story was the first triple-double by a player in an NCAA tournament game since Draymond Green did it in 2012 for Michigan State. Ja Morant put up 17 points, 16 assists and 12 rebounds for Murray State in a throttling of Marquette. Murray State had entered as a 12-seed, likely because they play in the Ohio Valley Conference instead of because of their actual quality as a team. The 83-64 win put the tournament on notice that Murray State could be this year’s Loyola-Chicago and roll quite away into the bracket. Here we have three 2019 March Madness betting picks for you to consider for Friday’s action in the First Round.
Top 2019 March Madness Friday Predictions for the First Round
🗣 #MarchMadness ALL DAY… AGAIN! 🏀📺 pic.twitter.com/x9rsj66AXa
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) 22 de marzo de 2019
Iowa vs Cincinnati (-3.5) (12:15pm ET, CBS)
- Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH
Kansas State (-4.5) vs UC-Irvine (2:00pm ET, TBS)
- SAP Center, San Jose
Iowa State (-5.5) vs Ohio State (9:50pm ET, TBS)
- Bank of Oklahoma Center, Tulsa, OK