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Las Vegas oddsmakers call Midwest Region ‘insane’, selection committee ‘frauds’

Selection Sunday offered several questionable moments.

Virginia scored the last No. 1 seed. Wichita State was placed in one of the most difficult regions ever assembled. Michigan State -- the Big Ten Tournament champion -- and Louisville, currently top-five nationally, were both slotted as No. 4 seeds. Then there is UMass, which earned a No. 6 seed after finishing sixth in its own conference.

The newly-formed American Athletic Conference was not looked favorably upon as SMU was left out while the ACC Tournament carried a lot of weight with UVA earning a top seed and NC State landed one of the last four bids.

The laundry list of confusing decisions has plenty of Las Vegas oddsmakers upset at the selection committee’s seedings.

“That’s probably the hardest bracket I’ve ever seen in my whole life,” LVH Superbook assistant sports book director Ed Salmons told the Las Vegas Sun. "... It was over-the-top insane.”

From the Sun:

Four of the top 10 teams the Superbook listed in odds to win the title at the beginning of the week — Wichita State, No. 2 seed Michigan, No. 3 seed Duke and No. 4 seed Louisville — were stuffed into the region. Add No. 5 seed Saint Louis and No. 8 seed Kentucky to the mix, and Wynn Las Vegas sports book director Johnny Avello said the Midwest could have six of the top 20 power-rated teams.

Later in the article Salmons called the committee, “a bunch of frauds.”

Wynn Las Vegas sports book director Johnny Avello was so displeased with the field, he wants to take away the process from the NCAA.

“I don’t think the committee should be doing it,” he said. “I think they should hand it over to the bookmakers.”

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