The Daily Sweat: Friday brings us eight Sweet 16 games to wager on
The men's Sweet 16 continues while the women's Sweet 16 begins
Can underdogs get two more wins in Friday night’s men’s Sweet 16 action?
Underdogs went 2-2 straight up on Thursday night as Kansas State and Florida Atlantic advanced to the Elite Eight. Gonzaga and UConn were favored before tipoff in their wins.
Friday, the lines aren’t nearly as close as they were the day before at BetMGM. Both Gonzaga and Michigan State were 1.5-point favorites and the biggest line was 4.5 points in FAU’s upset of Tennessee. That’s the size of Friday’s smallest line as Texas is a 4.5-point favorite against Xavier.
The Longhorns won the Big 12 tournament ahead of the NCAA tournament after beating Kansas to end the regular season and the Jayhawks again in the Big 12 title game. Texas is on a six-game win streak entering its matchup with the Musketeers. Xavier dominated Pittsburgh for much of the game in their second-round win against the Panthers and are led by Souley Boum with 16.5 points per game. Boum hasn’t shot especially well from the field so far in the NCAA tournament but scored 17 against Kennesaw State and 14 against the Panthers. We’ll take the Longhorns.
The other game in the Midwest region features a 7.5-point spread. Houston is favored by three possessions over Miami as the Cougars are two wins away from playing in the Final Four in their home city. Miami won the ACC regular-season title and was impressive in a second-round win against Indiana. Isaiah Wong had 27 points in that win. We think Houston can cover in this one.
Alabama is also favored by 7.5 points against San Diego State in the South region. The Aztecs haven’t given up more than 57 points in their two NCAA tournament wins while Alabama pulled away from Maryland late in its second-round win. Alabama should win straight up while San Diego State could keep it close enough for the cover.
The game with the biggest line is Creighton and Princeton. The Blue Jays are 9.5-point favorites over the Tigers after dispatching Baylor in the second round. Princeton shot much better from the 3-point line in its second-round win over Mizzou than it did against Arizona. We like Princeton to cover against Creighton if it can continue to get open looks from deep.
Women’s Sweet 16 begins
The women’s NCAA tournament starts the second weekend on Friday and all four of the games on tap have lines within 5.5 points.
LSU is a 5.5-point favorite over Utah while Iowa is a 5.5-point favorite over Colorado. The Tigers have a 30-2 record and score over 83 points per game while star forward Angel Reese averages 24 points and 16 rebounds a game. Utah also averages over 83 points per game while star forward Alissa Pili averages 21 points per game. She’s scored 61 points in Utah’s first two NCAA tournament games. We think Utah can cover in this one and maybe even win straight up.
It’s hard to go against Caitlin Clark in the other game. The Iowa star averages 27 points, nearly nine assists and seven rebounds a game as the Hawkeyes average the most points of any team in women’s basketball. Colorado is going to want to slow the pace. The Buffaloes score just 69 points a game and outscore opponents by over 10 a contest.
Villanova and Maddy Siegrist are 4.5-point favorites against Miami. The Hurricanes upset No. 1 seed Indiana to advance to the Sweet 16. Siegrist is the nation’s leading scorer with 29 points per game and is the focal point of everything the Wildcats do on offense. Miami did a good job of keeping a limited Mackenzie Holmes in check in its win over the Hoosiers. Can the Hurricanes do it again? Why not. We’ll go with a Miami cover.
The closest line of the night also involves a team that knocked off a No. 1 seed in the second round. Ole Miss is a 2.5-point underdog after beating Stanford on Sunday night. The Rebels allow just 56 points per game and hold opponents to 35% from the field while the Cardinals dominated Texas in the paint and on the glass in a 22-point second-round win. We’ll take Louisville.
10 NBA games
If you don’t want to watch college basketball there are plenty of NBA games to check in on, especially in a crowded Western Conference.
The biggest game of the night is the Sixers’ trip to Golden State. The Warriors are great at home and are 6.5-point favorites in that one. The Phoenix Suns are 4.5-point underdogs at the Sacramento Kings and the feisty Oklahoma City Thunder are 5.5-point underdogs at the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Thunder and Lakers are two of four teams currently sitting at 36-37 and just 2.5 games back of the Suns in fourth place. The Lakers currently occupy the ninth spot thanks to tiebreakers while the Thunder are out of the play-in entirely at the moment in 11th. Oh, Utah is a half-game behind the Thunder too. There are eight teams within three games of each other.
Who cashed tickets on Thursday?
You would have made a little bit of money if you had tickets on all four underdogs to win straight up on Thursday night in the tournament. And you would have also been happy with the Brooklyn Nets in their 116-114 home loss to the Cavaliers if you had the Nets at +2.5.
