Oddsmakers' insights on Friday's March Madness games

Two bookmakers break down the four matchups, along with best bets from handicappers

Friday brings us four terrific March Madness games, all of which have spreads of 6.5 points or less. No. 5 Gonzaga and No. 4 Duke both looked terrific in the first two rounds and will face two No. 1 seeds in Purdue and Houston, respectively.

The action has been relatively split on these games so far, with no team getting more than 56% of the bets at DraftKings Sportsbook. As one oddsmaker told me today, “Even though a lot of books — including ours — got crushed over the weekend by the public, we’re left with a lot of great matchups that should generate a big handle.”

In this file, you’ll get quotes from multiple oddsmakers about Friday’s games, along with aggregated picks from a bunch of sharp college basketball handicappers and public betting information from DraftKings.

As always, I’ll keep updating this file as I have more conversations and more picks come in — and please let me know any feedback of things you’d like to see in future articles.

Good luck with your wagers!

No. 11 NC State vs. No. 2 Marquette (-6.5, 151.5)

7:09 p.m. ET

DraftKings betting splits: 45% of bets, 57% of $$ on Marquette -6.5

“This is an interesting one to me because the market is at 6.5 and that’s where we opened it. I tend to make this a 4-point game, so I personally think there is value on NC State at -6.5.” — Thomas Gable, sportsbook director at The Borgata in New Jersey

“Since we launched in North Carolina, bets have been flowing in non-stop on NC State. We’re pretty balanced on the spread, more ML liability on the moneyline on Wolfpack. NC State is the biggest liability for our futures book right now.” — Seamus Magee, BetMGM trader

Best bets:

Marquette -6.5, NC State-Marquette OVER 151 — Jim Root, Three-Man Weave

Marquette -6.5, NC State-Marquette OVER 151 — Matt Youmans, VSiN