As March madness continues to heat up, the road to the Final Four begins at the First Four. For the first time in NCAA tournament history, there will be first-round games, held in Dayton for the right to move on to what is now referred to as the second round on Thursday and Friday. Vegas odds.

On both Tuesday and Wednesday, two automatic teams will square off to find out who faces a No. 1 seed later in the week, while a couple of the final at-large squads will try to prove their worthiness in the expanded field.

This year it’s kind of different and will take some getting used to. Nevertheless we’re here to lead you through it with an overview of the First Four’s first-day action.

Little Rock (19-16) vs. UNC-Asheville (19-13)

UNC-Asheville is making just its second NCAA tournament appearance, and in 2003 the Bulldogs won the opening-round game in Dayton over Texas Southern before losing to Texas. Arkansas-Little Rock is in its first NCAA tournament since 1990, when it lost to eventual national champion UNLV. The winner advances to play No. 1-seed Pittsburgh on Thursday in the Southeast Regional.

It will be intereseting to watch Solomon Bozeman from Little Rock. His 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds left against North Texas nearly knocked out the Trojans. Asheville is led by guards Matt Dickey and J.P. Primm. Betting lines.

UAB (22-8) vs. Clemson (21-11)

Along with VCU, UAB was the team nobody could believe made the field. All the criticism about the Blazers, though, obscured the fact that Clemson didn’t beat anyone of note all season, either. Both of these teams have a lot to prove while deciding who plays No. 5-seed West Virginia in the East Regional.

Point guard Aaron Johnson from UAB, leads the nation with 7.7 assists per game. Backcourt mate Jamarr Sanders is often the guy receiving the passes from Johnson and leads the team with almost 18 points per game. On the other hand, senior guard Demontez Stittis averaging 17 points and 5 boards over his past 10 games.

Both teams are evenly matched and boast very similar statistics across the board. They both average 68 points, hold their opponents to just over 60 points, shoot 44 percent from the field and start a three-guard lineup. The Stitt versus Johnson matchup should be fun to watch. Sports scores.

In the meantime we’ll have to wait till the end of the week to see who gets knocked out and continues the path to the Final Four.

For the best NCAA betting odds go to www.scoresandodds.com