Most pick 'Nova over Kentucky

All signs point to the American public favoring Villanova over Kentucky in Friday's 8 vs.9-seed, first-round match-up.

Sports fans selected Villanova over Kentucky in both the CBS SportsLine National Bracket and the ESPN Tournament Challenge National Bracket. At the time of this writing, 60.2 percent of sports fans filling out ESPN brackets chose Villanova in the game.

If those percentages are accurate, it means Kentucky has less of a chance to win this game than a craps shooter has to make a point of 5 or 9. And we all know how difficult that is.

CBS Sportsline does not release the percentages associated with its national bracket. CBS did post the brackets of its panel of seven experts. Six of the seven experts chose Villanova to advance. The lone dissenter? Former Villanova head coach Steve Lappas. Take what you will from that.

Finally, the Las Vegas and offshore sportsbooks weigh in on the subject, installing Villanova as the 1-point favorite over the higher-seeded Kentucky at the time of this writing.