The madness really begins in the 2022 NCAA Tournament on Thursday, with 16 games scheduled for the First Round. As always, upsets could be the order of the day. Action gets going with the matchup between sixth-seeded Colorado State and No. 11 seed Michigan at 12:15 p.m. ET. The 6 vs. 11 games have been ripe for upsets, with 54 of the lower-seeded teams winning since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The other 11 seeds play Friday, but March Madness got its name in part from the likelihood of upsets. Can 12th-seeded Richmond pull one off against No. 5 Iowa (3:10 p.m. ET)? How about No. 13 Akron against fourth-seeded UCLA (9:05 p.m. ET)?      

Richmond is a 10-point underdog, while UCLA is favored by 14. Finding upsets in the 2022 NCAA Tournament bracket can lead to some nice returns. Before locking in any 2022 NCAA Tournament picks or building any parlays for Thursday's first round games, you need to see who SportsLine's top college basketball expert, Larry Hartstein, is backing during March Madness.

A former lead writer for Covers and The Linemakers, Hartstein combines a vast network of Vegas sources with an analytical approach he honed while working for Pro Football Focus. Larry has dominated college basketball, going 245-193-8 ATS for a profit of $3,205 over the past two seasons.

In his last 118 against-the-spread picks in college basketball, Hartstein is an outstanding 71-44-3, returning $2,261 to $100 bettors. Anyone who has followed him is way up.

Now, Harstein has scoured the bracket and come up with his best bets for Thursday's games. Parlaying these three 2022 NCAA Tournament picks would pay almost 6-1. You can only see Hartstein's March Madness picks at SportsLine. 

Top NCAA Tournament picks for Thursday

Hartstein has locked in his confident picks for Thursday, and one leg of the parlay he really likes is Arkansas to cover as a five-point favorite against Vermont (9:20 p.m. ET). The Catamounts have played very well, winning eight straight to close out the America East championship. But this is a much higher level of competition, and the defense that has been its calling card might not suffice. The Razorbacks have big-time players in JD Notae, who scores 18.6 points per game, and Jaylin Williams, who was second in the tough SEC with 9.6 rebounds per contest.

The Catamounts held UMBC to just 43 points in the conference title game and allow just 61.5 points per game. But that was against inferior competition, and Arkansas plays some solid defense of its own. It ranks 16th in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom. The Razorbacks outscored their opponents by nine points per game in the SEC and rank 20th in KenPom's overall ratings, while Vermont is 59th. Arkansas also is rested after a rough stretch in the SEC Tournament that left it looking pretty weary in a loss to Texas A&M in the semifinal. 

How to make NCAA Tournament predictions, parlays for Thursday

Hartstein has locked in two other against the spread picks that he loves, including an underdog "that's reminiscent of last year's Oral Roberts." You can find out who it is, and see the rest of Hartstein's NCAA Tournament picks and March Madness predictions at SportsLine.

Which college basketball teams should you target in a three-way parlay as the NCAA Tournament First Round tips off on Thursday? And which underdog is a must-back? Visit SportsLine now to see the top three-way NCAA Tournament parlay for Thursday, all from the expert who's an outstanding 71-44-3 on his last 118 college basketball picks, and find out.