With the latest NFL season now in the books, it’s time to concentrate on other sports leagues that are getting started or heating up.  The XFL, which starts in a week, is a good option for football fans, but there will almost certainly be more action coming for March Madness.  The NCAAB championship is now only a little more than a month away, and it’s time to start seriously looking at which teams might be making it to the Sweet Sixteen.

Let’s Start With Florida State

The Florida State Seminoles are having a really good season, now looking at a record of 18-3.  Tonight, they play host to the North Carolina Tar Heels, a team that certainly isn’t able to make similar claims.  The fifth-place ‘Noles are more than capable of handing Chapel Hill another ACC defeat, and are struggling to keep their playoff dreams alive.

The Tar Heels just suffered another loss this past Saturday when they fell in a close game against Boston College.  They are now 3-7 in the conference, with very little time to turn things around.  That same night, the Florida State Seminoles railed over Virginia Tech to improve to 8-2 in the ACC and is showing everything a championship team should.  FSU is getting 9.5 points and they’ll take every bit of it.  The Heels are 6-14 against the spread (ATS) in their last 20 games, and shouldn’t be expected to show anything different against the superior Seminoles.

Bears vs Wildcats

The Baylor Bears are also having a fantastic season, now at 19-1.  The team’s performance has given them the ability to hold onto the number one spot in the AP men’s college basketball poll for the third straight week, and tonight’s game won’t do much to challenge that position.  The Bears will face off against the Kansas State Wildcats, a team that is 9-12 on the season and which hasn’t been able to put its offense to good use.

Counting on Scott Drew and Freddie Gillespie, the Bears have solid talent on both sides of the ball.  This game is essentially a no-contest, with Baylor expected to run away with everything.  The team is looking at a moneyline of -340, which means there’s not much money to be made going with a straight-up bet.  The Bears are also going to keep the Wildcats from finding the basket while running up the score, making the 125 total a good place for an Over bet, despite seven of their last nine games going under.  Tonight is a different ballgame against a team that is substantially weaker, and this will be reflected in the performances and the final score.

Jayhawks vs Longhorns

The Kansas Jayhawks sit only slightly behind FSU in the rankings, but movement is possible.  The 18-3 team meets the Texas Longhorns at home tonight, and both are coming off close wins from this past weekend.  This Big 12 game could see the Jayhawks make a slight improvement, further threatening the Seminoles ahead of March Madness.

The Jayhawks took down Texas Tech on Saturday, but just barely at 78-75.  They need to pull together tonight to beat the Longhorns, which beat Iowa State 72-68 on Saturday.  Against Texas Tech, the Jayhawks seemed to run out of energy too early, blowing a lead of more than eight points to just squeak by, and there are still too many games in the regular season for the batteries to be running out of juice.  Tonight shouldn’t be too challenging, though, and will give them a chance to recharge.  At around -1400, there’s no way a moneyline bet should even be considered.

Taking the spread is worth looking at, but only if gamblers want to take an extra risk.  At -15 (100) to Kansas, it has some weight, but Kansas hasn’t been good at covering the spread lately, going 6-13.  Where the action should be seen is with the Over/Under.  The total stands at 131 and an Under bet is a definite way to win.  Kansas is 8-3 targeting the Under in its last 11 games, and 12 of 18 against Texas.