2011 College Basketball NCAA Tournament Odds: Michigan State vs. UCLA, More

2011 College Basketball NCAA Tournament odds were slowly being released throughout the night on Sunday, including Michigan State vs. UCLA where the line came in at Spartans -1.5 at Bookmaker.com. 

For Michigan State this is their 14^th straight NCAA Tournament invite.  The Spartans nearly didn’t make it and had to endure a long wait for their team to be announced during the Selection Sunday broadcast.

"I wasn't as nervous today as I was for about a month," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo admitted. "We're fortunate to be in, but I feel if you look at the body of work, I think we deserved to be in."

Michigan State comes into their NCAA Tournament game as a number-10 seed against number-7 UCLA.  The Spartans record is 19-14 compared to UCLA’s 22-10.

"I'm excited to try to make a run," Izzo said. "If somebody told me watching Kalin Lucas through a window late last year at halftime of the Maryland game we would be in the Final Four, I would have had them drug tested. But it's not about winning a ton of games. It's about winning one game, trying to win another and getting to the next weekend. Who knows what that does to your team and who knows what happens around the country?

“The oddsmakers do have this one right,” noted Don Shapiro of Gambling911.com.  The Gambling911.com website predicted a line of -2 for the Spartans early on.

Other 2011 College Basketball NCAA Tournament oddsfor the first round in Tampa, Florida March 17 included: 

Here was our earlier predictions on Princeton vs. Kentucky as found at Gambling911.com.

“Kentucky (4) vs. Princeton (13) – Kentucky should be a -9 to -10 point favorite in this game, though we anticipate the oddsmakers to make Kentucky a much bigger favorite.”

- Tyrone Black, Gambling911.com