Bettors in danger of losing seed money

If you ever needed to know why the NCAA men’s basketball tournament can be so wacky for bettors, just check out the point spreads for Villanova’s games in the first two rounds.

After being eliminated by Georgetown in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament, the Wildcats were considered an NCAA bubble team and got in as the 12th-seeded team in the Midwest Regional.

Villanova then opened the tournament as a six-point underdog against Clemson, which was coming off an impressive run in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

And guess what? The Wildcats proved Las Vegas oddsmakers wrong and won, 75-69, to earn a spot in today’s second-round game.

Normally, an underdog first-round winner stays in that role throughout a seeded tournament. But that’s not true for Villanova, which is listed as a 5 1/2 -point favorite in the second round.

That’s because the Wildcats will not face another single-digit seeded opponent today. Instead they will play 13th-seeded Siena, which upset Vanderbilt, 83-62, despite being listed as a 6 1/2 -point underdog in the first-round game.

March Madness at its best.

There’s more. In the West Regional, 12th-seeded Western Kentucky was a four-point underdog for its first-round game against fifth-seeded Drake and won, 101-99, in overtime.

As a second-round reward, the Hilltoppers have been made 5 1/2 -point favorites over 13th-seeded San Diego, which pulled off its own first-round upset over No. 4-seeded Connecticut.

The Toreros were 11 1/2 -point underdogs but defeated the Huskies, 70-69, in overtime.

Pro basketball

After failing to cover the spread in four consecutive games, the money-making Lakers have covered in their last three games heading into tonight’s matchup against Golden State at Staples Center.

The Lakers, who are favored by seven points over the Warriors, have been a solid bet throughout the season, putting together an impressive 42-25-1 record against the spread.

Golden State, which is coming off a three-point loss at home to Houston on Friday, has failed to cover the line in four of its last five games. The Warriors are also 3-13 against the spread in their last 16 games against Western Conference opponents.

The best bet for tonight’s game may be the over/under, which opened with a combined point total of 230.

The over is 5-1 the last six times the Lakers have played the Warriors at Staples Center, and in the Lakers’ last 26 home games in which they have been favored by between five and 10 1/2 points, the over is 21-5.

The over is also 8-1 in the last nine games in which Golden State has been an underdog.

--

lonnie.white@latimes.com