2026 NCAA tournament odds, picks, predictions: Best bets for Sweet 16 games

The 2026 NCAA tournament continues on Thursday and Friday with eight more exciting matchups, including potential Houston taking on an offensive powerhouse in Illinois and Rick Pitino’s St. John’s team facing No. 1 seed Duke.

The first rounds of March Madness saw plenty of favorites win — all 16 teams won on Friday for the first time since 1992 — but also its share of upsets (see: Iowa beating No. 1 Florida).

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What’s in store for the Sweet 16?

Below you’ll find the favorite wagers for all the games from our college basketball handicappers — Corbie Craig, Matt Jacob, Matt Russell and Frank Schwab.

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All odds courtesy of BetMGM.

Best bets for Sweet 16 games

No. 11 Texas vs. No. 2 Purdue (-6.5, 148.5)

Russell: Texas, the last team that should be labelled as some sort of Cinderella, has made an improbable run, but the Longhorns’ road from Dayton to Portland to Austin to San Jose, has benefitted from teams that were some combination of less talented, less deep and shakier coached than them.

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Purdue is none of those things.

The Longhorns edged NC State on a late basket after they almost kicked away a lead built off of taking some of the least-efficient possessions imaginable from the Wolfpack offense, and by beating the 76th-ranked defense by Ken Pom. Then they went on to top BYU’s two-man team, using Matas Vokietaitis to dominate a team with poor interior defense (61st overall in KenPom). The 7-footer was able to match Gonzaga’s best player, under-sized big man Graham Ike, allowing a talent disparity on the wings to find an edge in another game decided by a late, difficult shot.

The Boilermakers have the combination of head coach-instituted infrastructure and a veteran group with the most efficient offensive metrics in the country taking on the Longhorns’ 81st-ranked defense, while also having enough size (6-10 Oscar Cluff) defensively so that Vokietaitis won’t be as effective as he showed…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/mens-college-basketball/betting/article/2026-ncaa-tournament-odds-picks-predictions-best-bets-for-sweet-16-games-141830145.html

Author : Matt Russell,Frank Schwab,Corbie Craig

Publish date : 2026-03-25 14:18:00

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