March Madness 2015 Bracket Results: NCAA Tournament Live Scores, Updates

Are you stuck behind your desk like a sucker today in an anti-March Madness office? Our condolences. Lucky for you Sports Interaction will keep you dialed into everything you need to know with this afternoon’s live blog.

The anxiety of pushing the pencil bracket to the side and filling out the Sharpie bracket is a rite of passage on the first day of March Madness.

When the bracket comes out, I grab my trusty HB2 and start scouring the page for possible upsets and easy paths to the Sweet 16. From there my eraser serves as a reality check the following day before I take a deep breath and pull out the Sharpie a couple of hours before the opening tip.

This year my main battle was convincing myself that Kentucky could be beaten. The undefeated Wildcats are a +100 favorite to win the whole shebang and rightfully so. But you just never know with this tournament. Maybe the fact that Kentucky hasn’t been through many battles hurts the squad along the way, or then again, maybe they’re just that much better than any other team in the field.

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How the Ones have Done: A Historic Look at the No. 1 Seeds

I have my doubts though. Crazy things happen in this tournament and I’m not about to hand the title to Kentucky right now. It almost seems just too easy.

So, I have a bunch of “upsets” (depending on whether you’re following the seedings or the pointspread) in the first round – Ole Miss, S.F. Austin and Davidson to name a handful. I also like Wichita State and Providence to make it to the Sweet 16 and Michigan State to upset Virginia. But that’s where the chalk comes in heavy.

My Final Four is Kentucky, Wisconsin, Villanova and Gonzaga, with the Final coming down to Wisconsin and Gonzaga (!).

Wisconsin comes away with the title, downing the Zags 71-66.

Thursday’s Live Blog Games of Note:

Note: Odds current as of 11 a.m. ET.

Notre Dame (3) vs. Northeastern (14) Line: Notre Dame -12 O/U 140.5

Iowa St. (3) vs. UAB (14) Line: Iowa St. -14, O/U 144.5

Texas Southern (15) vs. Arizona (2) Line: Arizona -23.5, O/U 133.5

Butler (6) vs. Texas (11) Line: Texas -2, O/U 124

 PREGAME:

The great thing about March Madness is that everybody can get into it. Whether you’re a NCAA hoops die-hard or a newbie, the Tournament has a way of leveling the playing field.

To that end, we put together a bunch of fun props here. You can bet everything from whether the winning mascot will be a dog, cat, or farm animal to whether the winning team will come from a blue or red political state.

Have at ’em. 

Less than 10 minutes into coverage and I’m already wondering how much of this Wildcats talk I can take. Come on guys. Live a little and take the field.

So when does #MarchMadness just stick a red nose on Charles Barkley and have him roll low on the set in a clown car?

NOTRE DAME vs. NORTHEASTERN

Looks like Notre Dame will close at -12.5 (-115). Too rich for my blood but I like the Irish to stroll here.

I don’t have much advice for early March Madness betting outside of it’s a marathon, not a sprint. I normally wait to get any serious bets down in the coming rounds. You just don’t know what to expect early.

Drives me batty to see empty seats in the first few rows for the opening game of the Tournament. What is this, a Leafs game?

15:37 – Time out after a sloppy start all around. ND up 7-3.

13:25 – Score: 9-9. Irish having trouble inside on the glass and are close to being in foul trouble already.

12:00 – Northeastern takes the 11-9 lead on another flush inside. Brey is doing the slow burn on the sideline.

Feeling lucky/crazy? Northeastern is a +350 underdog to beat Notre Dame in live betting.

9:00 – Jerian Grant gets one of two from the line but Northeastern answers the other way. ND up 16-13

5:24 – Northeastern 22 ND 20. Northeastern pulls in front again with a layup inside. Irish need August back in a big way to shut that down. He’s on the pine with two fouls.

**Reminder: Don’t panic. These early scares happen every year. First half bets against high-profile and seeded teams are a goldmine in the first two days of the tournament. **

Iowa State 12 UAB 2 – Big start for Iowa State. I’m in a Grantland pool with some buddies and went with Iowa State and Butler today.

Northeastern won’t go away.

Half: Notre Dame 31, Northeastern 27

Notre Dame a 6.5-point favorite on the halftime line.

UAB vs. Iowa St. – Big turnaround here as UAB and Iowa St. are knotted at 21 with 5:54 left in the first half.

Robert Brown has 10 points for UAB already. Without him the Blazers would be in a deep hole. Georges Niang leads the Cyclones with seven points. Niang sits with two fouls.

UAB leads Iowa St. 31-28 at the half. Cyclones are 9.5-point faves in halftime odds

Notre Dame vs. Northeastern

Irish jump out to a 41-32 lead three minutes into the second half. Zach Auguste is coming on strong after his long sit in the first half. He has 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

15:07 Scott Eatherton having a nice game inside for Northeastern. Cuts ND’s lead to five.

Auguste to the bench again with three fouls. Irish a completely different team without him so this is Northeastern’s chance to make a run.

Uh oh. That’s Eatherton’s fourth foul with 11 minutes left. That could be the difference down the stretch.

Jerian Grant with a nice move to the bucket. He has 13.

Eatherton comes back in with 10 minutes left. Now the question is whether Northeastern can hide him on defence…

8:13 – ND 56, Northeastern 47.

Auguste throws down a huge dunk to make it 60-49. That could be the nail.

4:23 – Check that, here comes Northeastern again. Walker buries one to pull within eight.

2:43 – Eatherton with another big layup. Cuts ND lead to 65-61. That’s a 10-2 run for Northeastern.

1:04 – Grant answers with a steal and a dunk but Northeastern gets it to go again in the paint. ND 67-63.

0:32 – Eatherton with the putback with the clock winding down. Two point lead for the Irish.

Irish nearly get caught on their own baseline. Another timeout.

Crazy finish but Notre Dame escapes 69-65. Northeastern bettors cash in easily and Irish bettors have to be concerned moving forward. That wasn’t nearly good enough.

 UAB vs. IOWA ST. 

4:16 – Tied at 51.

3:47 – Monte Morris scores in transition to put the Cyclones up by two. This could be another one that goes down to the wire.

10 of 29 of my Grantland poolies sweating the Iowa State game. We all thought we were so smart.

Considering how many times Iowa State has come back, this is where you expect to see some Cyclones shots finally go down. When does the magic run out though?

3:13 – 55-51 Iowa State.

0:52 – 55-53 Iowa State with possession.

UAB hits the trey to take a 56-55 lead.

0:17 – 58-57 UAB.

UAB wins 60-59.