March Madness betting players everywhere were preparing to rip up their brackets on two separate occasions yesterday, as Memphis and Villanova were almost sportsbook casualities on the first day of the “Big Dance”.

Roburt Sallie? Who? That’s right, a player who averaged 5.4 points during the regular season and never scored more than 13 all year made a name for himself in Memphis’ 81-70 win over Cal.St.-Northridge, scoring 35 points in 36 minutes, including ten from beyond the arc. His shooting was all that kept the Tigers in it, as the first half may have been their worst defensive 20 minutes of the season. The game was pretty much up in the air until Cal State ran out of gas at the end, and the Tigers will need to be much better on Saturday, when they meet Maryland, who upset California on Thursday. March Madness odds have the Tigers as a 9-point favorite, and they’ll cover, but it won’t be easy.

Villanova were down by as many as 14 in the second half against American on Thursday, but a late surge powered them to an 80-67 victory to avoid a huge March Madness betting upset. Dante Cunningham and Dwayne Anderson had 25 each for the Wildcats, who must get a better performance out of Scottie Reynolds. The junior guard was only 2-of-7 for eight points, and more importantly, he had only two assists and four turnovers. The Wildcats are 1.5-point March Madness betting favorites in their Saturday meeting with UCLA, and Darren Collison is one of the top defensive point guards in the country, so Reynolds will have his hands full. Cunningham should have his way inside to power Villanova to a close victory, and they should cover their March Madness odds, but barely.