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Finished Those March Madness Bracket Predictions? Pencil in the Florida Gators Thursday

The Florida Gators are as close to a home team as you can get in Rounds One and Two at the only March Madness venue in the Sunshine State. Don't bet against them.

Vegas has UF (26-7) scribbled in as a 2-to-1 favorite in Round One Thursday against the UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos (18-13).

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Victor Alvarez, a booking agent at New York New York in Las Vegas, told Sunshine State News, "You want to bet on Florida, you gotta put down 50 cents for every quarter you win.

"You got the Gators playing in St. Petersburg -- that's home cooking -- a No. 2 seed against a No. 15. I know there's no such thing as a sure thing, but c'mon ... this looks to me like a cake walk for Florida."

Are those odds likely to change?

"Maybe. I don't know. Probably not," Alvarez said.

Eight teams are already getting comfortable at the St. Pete Times Forum, ready for the start of the NCAA Basketball Tournament the world knows as March Madness. Besides the Gators and UC-Santa Barbara, teams include UCLA, Kentucky, Michigan State, West Virginia, Princeton and Clemson.

Thursday's Gators-Gauchos tip-off is at 6:50 p.m. The winner gets to play in Round Two Saturday.

There are still tickets at $77 for Thursday night -- but they're going fast. For that money, you get the 6:50 p.m. game and the game that follows 30 minutes later, UCLA vs. Michigan State.

Want tickets for all the games, including Saturday's? A package sale-priced at $231 a piece is still available. All tickets are available at the McDonald's Box Office at the St. Pete Times Forum, Ticketmaster.com or at (800) 745-3000.

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