Las Vegas bet shops resembled morgues on Monday as bookmakers braced for huge NCAA Tournament crowds and accompanying March Madness hoopla, while bettors wandered from store to store, searching for the best available numbers.

"It's like every party I've ever thrown," Mirage book boss Robert Walker joked to the local Review-Journal.

"Nobody shows up."

Robert Jaynes, the Stratosphere's race and sports director, offered a similar observation.

"It's real quiet," Jaynes said.

"But it's still early.

"Right now players are trying to digest all the information, just like I am.

"I really didn't expect much of anything until tomorrow (Tuesday)."

Tony Nevill, who runs betting operations at the New Frontier, anticipates wise guys will have the first say, with the general public putting their money where their mouths are starting on Wednesday.

"The lines look good," he said.

First round games are slated to begin tipping off at 9:15 a.m. (PDT) on Thursday and Friday as the field is slashed in half from 64 to 32 at eight sites throughout America, from Spokanne, Wash., and Sacramento, Calif., in the West to Buffalo, N.Y., and Winston-Salem, N.C., in the East.

Other sites for the opening two rounds are Chicago, New Orleans, Columbus, Ohio, and Lexington, Ky.

First-round winners play at the same sites again on Saturday and Sunday for the right to advance to the Sweet 16.

The Stardust for years has been considered Sin City's Tournament Central, but with the venerable resort closing last fall many think the influx of college basketball junkies will fan out across the Vegas Valley.

"This is a great weekend for the hotels, books, restaurants, shows, everybody," Nevill said.

"It'll be jammed everywhere."

Like many Las Vegans, the trio of Strip bookmakers will be cheering for UNLV (28-6), which beat fellow Big Dance invitee BYU (25-8) to win the Mountain West Tournament last weekend.

The Rebels, seeded seventh in the Midwest, will play tenth-seeded Georgia Tech (20-11) in Chicago on Friday, with the Yellow Jackets favored by a point.

"I don't think people appreciate how good UNLV is," Walker declared.

"I think there's a tremendous East Coast bias and we have to factor that in there.

"People think the teams from the East Coast are better."

Jaynes believes UNLV's bracket placement was on the money, while Nevill feels the Rebels were slightly robbed and should have been seeded higher.

"That's OK, though," Nevill said.

"It plays right into UNLV's hands, just like being the underdog.

"The Rebels have an opportunity to show people how well they play together as a team."

The bookmaking brethren have few doubts UNLV will triumph.

"A lot of people don't believe how good UNLV is," Jaynes said, all but echoing Walker's thoughts word for word.

"The Rebels kind of snuck up on everyone.

"Early in the season, you'd find them on Page 2 of the sports section or below the fold on the first page.

"Then they started appearing above the fold.

"The last week they've made headlines on Page 1of the whole paper.

"That sort of tells you how their season has gone."

Nevill points to guard Kevin Kruger, Coach Lon Kruger's son, as the key to recent Rebel successes.

"He's not real quick with his feet, but he is with his hands," Nevill said.

"He has great hand-eye coordination and the Rebels' big men have nice soft hands that can catch the ball.

"Georgia Tech's a good squad, but I think UNLV has a solid chance to make the Sweet 16."

Book generally have UNLV listed at between 100/1 and 150/1 to capture their second national championship to go with the one Coach Jerry Tarkanian's club won 17 springs ago.

A Thursday game Jaynes finds "intriguing" is the one between Boston College (20-11) and Texas Tech (21-12) in Winston-Salem, another matchup between seventh and tenth-seeded clubs.

The Eagles are laying 3 points.

"I'm from Boston, so I'm biased, but I'd love to be there to see that one," Jaynes said.

"Yeah, I'd slightly favor BC.

"Bobby Knight has had his ups and downs through the years, but he's a helluva coach.

"It'd be nice to beat him."

Nevill's other first-round pick in addition to UNLV is Texas (24-9) minus 9 (at the Stratosphere) over New Mexico State (25-8).

The Longhorns, seeded fourth, and the 13th-seeded Aggies meet Thursday in Sacramento

"The Big 12 is strong this year," Nevill said.

"Texas' defense isn't great, but offensively I think the Longhorns will just run up and down the court and overpower New Mexico State."

Texas was a 10-point favorite at the Mirage, where early wagering moved the numbers no more than one point either way in about a third of the first-round contests.

The Mirage's biggest favorite was No. 1 seed North Carolina (28-6), which is laying 27 points to No. 16 seed E. Kentucky (21-11).

They play Thursday in Winston-Salem.

Niagara (22-11) is an 8 1/2-point favorite over Florida A & M (21-13) in Tuesday night's "play-in" game in Dayton, Ohio.

The winner faces No. 1 seed Kansas (30-4) in Chicago on Friday.