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 Friday, March 28.
Find the best NCAA Men’s March Madness odds here
Ole Miss and Michigan State are playing for a berth in the South Elite Eight. The Ole Miss Rebels have wins over North Carolina (71-64) and Iowa State (91-78) heading into this matchup. Meanwhile, the Michigan State Spartans earned their spot with victories against UC San Diego (68-65) and Texas A&M (91-79).
This is a very interesting matchup. On one side of the court, you have an Ole Miss team that hit 40 percent of its three-pointers against UNC and connected on 36.4 percent against Iowa State. Meanwhile, in Michigan State, you have a club with the best three-point defense in the NCAA in 2024-25. This game will come down to who wins that battle.
The betting pick is that Michigan State will get the better of Ole Miss.
The top two teams in the lower half of the Midwest bracket meet on Friday when the Kentucky Wildcats meet the Tennessee Volunteers. Kentucky got this far with wins over Troy (76-57) and Illinois (84-75). Meanwhile, Tennessee earned its Sweet 16 spot by beating Wofford (77-62) and UCLA (67-58).
Kentucky holds two wins over Tennessee this year, beating them 78-73 on January 28 and 75-64 on February 11. But this not the same Volunteers squad that played the Wildcats during the regular season. Tennessee is getting top-notch performances from players like Chaz Lanier, who has scored 49 points during March Madness, and Zakai Zeigler, who is averaging 13.5 points and 9.0 assists in the past two games.
If Kentucky can be as effective as it was from the three-point line against Tennessee in the regular season on Friday night, the Wildcats have a good chance to get to the Elite Eight. However, the Volunteers are playing very good defense as of late, which will reduce Kentucky’s three-point chances.
The betting pick is for Tennessee to beat Kentucky.
The Michigan Wolverines and the Auburn Tigers are looking to make it to the Elite Eight in the South in this matchup. Michigan has wins over UC San Diego (68-65) and Texas A&M (91-79), while Auburn defeated Alabama State (83-63) and Creighton (82-70) to earn its spot in the Sweet 16.
Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf lead Michigan on offense. Goldin was tops on the team in scoring during the regular season with 16.8 points per game, while Wolf was second with 13 points per game. Goldin is coming off a 23-point game against Texas A&M, while Wolf put up 14 in that contest. They’ll need to be in that range or better for the Spartans to stand a chance against Auburn.
Auburn will look to player of the year candidate Johni Broome to anchor the Tigers on Friday. Broome led the team in points (18.4), rebounds (10.7) and assists (3.0) during the season. Broome scored eight points in Michigan’s win over Creighton while grabbing 12 rebounds.
The betting pick is for Auburn to defeat Michigan.
Houston is coming off wins over SIUE (78-40) and Gonzaga (81-76), while Purdue defeated High Point (75-63) and McNeese (76-62) to make the Sweet 16.
The Houston Cougars have played well on offense this season, but the squad is better on defense, which is where they thrive. The team is ranked at the top of many defensive charts this year. and it’s hard to imagine the team will change its focus as the national championship game nears. While the team plays well on D, the scoring of J’Wan Roberts helps. Roberts is coming off an 18-point performance against Gonzaga.
The Purdue Boilermakers need Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn to be at their best on Friday. Smith had eight turnovers against McNeese, which is something he cannot afford against Houston. Meanwhile, Kaufman-Renn has had strong offensive numbers during March Madness, putting up 21 and 22 points in the Boilermakers wins.
The betting pick is for Houston to beat Perdue.
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