March Madness 2025 is down to the final 16 teams. The Sweet 16 matchups for 2025 will be played on Thursday, March 27 and Friday, March 28. The eight teams moving on to the Elite Eight will then compete on March 29 and 30. The tournament wraps up on April 7 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas with the NCAA championship game. Below, we look at the best bets for the four Sweet 16 games scheduled for Thursday, March 27.
Find the best NCAA Men’s March Madness odds here
The BYU Cougars face the Alabama Crimson Tide in one of the two East Region Sweet 16 matchups. BYU reached this spot by defeating VCU (80-71) and the No. 3 seed Wisconsin (91-89). Alabama earned its Sweet 16 spot with wins over Robert Morris (90-81) and Saint Marys (80-66).
BYU has been playing high-level basketball since mid-February. The team’s only loss since February 11 came on March 14 when Houston downed them 74-54 in the Big 12 semifinal game. Richie Saunders, who has averaged 19.3 points and hit 43.5 percent of his three-pointers in his past 11 outings, is the BYU player to watch. Saunders is coming off a 25-point performance against Wisconsin.
Don’t let Alabama‘s record of 4-5 between February 15 and March 15 lead you to believe that the Crimson Tide doesn’t deserve its high ranking in the 2025 March Madness tournament. All those losses came against ranked teams, including two to Florida and a 94-85 defeat against Auburn. Alabama is a deep team, and they will be ready for the surging BYU Cougars.
The betting pick is for BYU to pull off the upset win over Alabama to make the Elite Eight.
Yes, Maryland and Florida are playing in the West during March Madness, and they are playing on Thursday for a birth in the Elite Eight. Maryland has gotten this far with wins over Grand Canyon (81-49) and Colorado State (72-71), while Florida defeated Norfolk State (95-69) and UConn (77-75).
Maryland has had a good run this season and through the first two rounds of the 2025 March Madness tourney, and the team showed some real grit in coming from behind to beat Colorado State in a game where freshman Derik Queen led the team. However, the Terrapins run is going to end on Thursday.
Florida is simply too talented and too deep for Maryland, and the Gators behind the play of Alijah Martin, who has scored 17 and 18 points during 2025 March Madness action, will move on to the Elite Eight.
The betting pick is Florida to beat Maryland.
Arizona and Duke face off in second of the two East Sweet 16 games to take place on Thursday, and the No. 1 seeded Duke Blue Devils are massive betting favorites over the Arizona Sun Devils. Duke made it this far with easy wins over St. Marys (93-49) and Baylor (89-66), while Arizona downed Akron (93-65) and Oregon (87-83).
The question facing Arizona is whether the team can stop one of the best players in the tournament, Cooper Flagg. If the Arizona defense falters at all against Duke, the team will find itself in deep water. The Sun Devils must play a nearly perfect game if they hope to pull off the upset on Thursday. That’s a lot to ask at this point of the year for any team. Caleb Love is the player to watch for Arizona. He scored 29 points against Oregon.
The betting pick is for Duke to beat Arizona.
Arkansas and Texas Tech represent the West on Thursday night. Arkansas enters Sweet 16 play with wins over No. 7 Kansas (79-72) and No. 2 St. John’s (75-66), while Texas Tech downed UNCW (82-72) and Drake (77-64).
Texas Tech is one of the better defensive teams in the tournament, but unlike some of the other defense-first squads, the Red Raiders can also score on offense. JT Toppin has averaged 22.6 PPG over his past 13 outings and has hit the 30-point threshold three times during that run. Arkansas needs to shut him down. He scored 25 points against Drake.
Arkansas played well in the paint against St. John’s, but Texas Tech is going to be a much stiffer challenge for the Razorbacks in that area on Thursday night.
The betting pick is Texas Tech to beat Arkansas.
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