March Madness Betting: Sweet Sixteen Preview

With the first weekend of the tournament wrapped up, now it gets interesting. Read on as Bodog takes you onto the runway.

March Madness betting is approaching fever pitch as we inch closer to crowning the winners of the biggest prize in college basketball.

We began our month of madness with a staggering 68 college basketball teams, and now, in no time at all it seems, they’ve whittled themselves down to just sixteen, each vying for ultimate success in the NCAA tournament.

Bodog has been courtside since the first jump ball, all along keeping our eagle eyes on the teams and players to sort the strong from the stronger. As predicted, we saw some early upsets, none quite like the #2-seed Kentucky Wildcats losing 85-79 to the Saint Peter’s Peacocks in the first round.

Plenty of the favourites going into March Madness remain in the tournament. Some have outperformed expectations, while others have come up short. With that in mind, let’s take a look at which teams have the best March Madness betting odds right now.

Gonzaga Bulldogs (+220)

The Gonzaga Bulldogs went into the tournament as the undisputed favourites, and after two rounds, they have retained their position as March Madness betting pick topdogs. They demolished the Georgia State Panthers 93-72 in the first round, with Drew Timme alone accounting for a third of the team’s entire point haul.

Their second round match against Memphis was much closer, with the Tigers going 41-31 up in the first half. The Bulldogs turned it around though, netting a total of 51 points in the final two quarters to end the game 82-78. To prove he’s no fluke, Timme set the court ablaze for a second time running: he scored 25 points with his own two hands, and Andrew Nembhard sizzled right behind him with 23 of his own points.

Gonzaga’s Sweet Sixteen opponent will be the #4-seed Arkansas, a team who beat the Vermont Catamounts 75-71 in the first round and the New Mexico State Aggies 53-48 in the second round.

The Bulldogs go into this match as the clear favourite. In Bodog’s March Madness betting lines, the #1-seed has odds of -395, which implies the team’s chances of victory are almost 80%.

But as we all know with March Madness, anything can happen, so Arkansas could still pull off one of the biggest upsets in the history of the NCAA tournament, even with their current odds of +300.

Kansas Jayhawks (+450)

With the Kentucky Wildcats and the Baylor Bears eliminated, the Kansas Jayhawks have seen their March Madness odds improve quite considerably. In the first round, they destroyed the Texas Southern Tigers 83-56, with Remy Martin, Christian Braun, Dajuan Harris, Jalen Wilson, and Ochai Agbaji all contributing double figures to the tally.

Things were a little tighter in the second round game against the Creighton Bluejays. The Jayhawks led 39-38 after two quarters, but opened up a lead in the second half to finish 79-72. Remy Martin led the way again with 20 points from 29 minutes on the court, helped along by some strong contributions from the same backing band we saw in the first round.

To stay in the tournament, Kentucky needs to do it all again when they take on the Providence Friars on Friday. Kansas are the clear favourites for the game with lines of -360, but the Providence fans must not have got the memo as they chanted “we want Kansas!” from the bleachers of their second round game against Richmond.

While on paper, Providence may not have as strong of a team as Kansas, they have been one of the “luckiest” in the NCAA recently having beaten several big teams that shouldn’t have been troubled by them. That might be enough for another March Madness upset in a few days.

Arizona Wildcats (+500)

The Arizona Wildcats have been a firm favourite in our March Madness betting picks for some time, and their performance so far has justified our predictions. In the first two rounds, the team has been relentless with basket after basket.

In the first challenge against the Wright State Raiders, Benedict Mathurin, Christian Koloko, and Dalen Terry led the charge with 18, 17, and 16 points respectively. There was somehow still room for their teammates to shine, with notably strong performances from the likes of Ąžuolas Tubelis and Pelle Larsson.

But it was in the second round we saw some truly spectacular play. Mathurin managed 30 points and four assists, closely followed by Koloko who bagged 28 points and two assists, accounting for 68% of the team’s total tally of 85 points between them.

Despite this showing, the Wildcats need to score big in their next games – they’ve conceded more on-court ground than most other Sweet Sixteen teams. The Raiders netted 70 in the first round while the TCU Horned Frogs held on in the second round to push the game into overtime, before ultimately losing to Arizona by five points at 85-80.

This trend, should it continue, could be an existential threat for the Wildcats of Arizona, even if they do manage to triumph against the Houston Cougars in their Sweet Sixteen fixture this week.

Houston Cougars (+900)

Before the 2022 tournament kicked off, the Houston Cougars weren’t widely considered to be top contenders; nor were they dominating March Madness bracket betting. Yet, after two convincing wins in as many rounds, they’ve seen their odds shorten considerably.

The first round fixture against the UAB Blazers bagged the Cougars a comfortable 82-68 win as they led from start to finish. The second round game on Saturday saw Houston similarly dominate, sitting at 4 points ahead of UAB come halftime, before pocketing 38 more of them in the final two quarters to win 68-53.

Kyler Edwards has been indispensable, earning 40 points for his team’s two victorious performances. Pundits certainly expected Edwards to crash onto the court with plenty of draft-worthy form – after all, the senior guard has racked up several 20+-point games this season. Houston fans will rest much of their hope in the burgeoning champ as each do-or-die match gets underway.

The toughest Sweet Sixteen challenge for the Cougars will be facing off against  #1-seed Arizona. Bodog is currently giving the Wildcats -110 in its NCAA March Madness betting lines, equating to an implied probability of 52%, showing just how close this match could be.

 

The Sweet Sixteen marks the moment that March Madness raises the mercury to melting point. How exactly are you getting on with your March Madness bracket? With fewer than a quarter of the original teams left to fight it out for the final, there’s no time like the present to tighten up your March Madness betting strategy and make your picks. Once those bet slips are signed, sealed and delivered at Bodog, it’s game on as the madness continues to rock the basketball world from this Thursday.

 

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