It is down to the Sweet 16 in the 2023 NCAA Tournament with just two No. 1 seeds remaining, Alabama and Houston. The action in the Sweet 16 takes place on Thursday, March 23 and Friday, March 24. Let’s find some winners in Sweet Sixteen picks.
It is down to the Sweet 16 in the 2023 NCAA Tournament with just two No. 1 seeds remaining, Alabama and Houston. The action in the Sweet 16 takes place on Thursday, March 23 and Friday, March 24. The two remaining top seeds will have to wait until Friday to get into action, as Alabama takes on San Diego State, while Houston plays Miami. There is one Cinderella story still alive in this year’s March Madness, as the No. 15 seed Princeton Tigers will face Creighton on Friday. Let’s see if we can find some winners in Sweet Sixteen picks.
Sweet Sixteen Schedule
Thursday, March 23
No. 3 Kansas State vs. No. 7 Michigan State | 6:30 p.m. | TBS
No. 4 UConn vs. No. 8 Arkansas | 7:15 p.m. | CBS
No. 4 Tennessee vs. No. 9 Florida Atlantic | 9 p.m. | TBS
No. 2 UCLA vs. No. 3 Gonzaga | 9:45 p.m. | CBS
Friday, March 24
No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 5 San Diego State | 6:30 p.m. | TBS
No. 1 Houston vs. No. 5 Miami | 7:15 p.m. | CBS
No. 6 Creighton vs. No. 15 Princeton | 9 p.m. | TBS
No. 2 Texas vs. No. 3 Xavier | 9:45 p.m. | CBS
Sweet Sixteen Picks
Connecticut -4 vs. Arkansas
How does a team not have some sort of a letdown after beating a No. 1 seed? Arkansas is faced with that problem and I am sure they are thrilled to have it, but the Razorbacks still have to focus on a very good Connecticut squad. The Huskies rolled in their first two games of the tournament and now they are laying a small number to an Arkansas team that already had their huge win. The Huskies look like they could be a Final Four team and I expect them to win this game convincingly. I’ll lay the points and take Connecticut.
Miami +7 vs. Houston
This should be an interesting matchup, as Miami has the potent offense, while Houston plays tough defense. Count me as someone who is not yet sold on the Cougars. Maybe they are a true No. 1 seed and will roll over Miami, but I still don’t think the Cougars played that good of a schedule and I don’t know that they can win tough games. Miami has three guards in Isaiah Wong, Nijel Pack and Jordan Miller who can give Houston problems. It doesn’t hurt that Miami is coached by Jim Larranaga, who took George Mason to a Final Four in 2006. The Cougars have Marcus Sasser who looked good against Auburn, but his groin injury is still a concern. I think Miami is capable of hanging with Houston, so I will take the points in this one.
Xavier-Texas Over 148.5
I know that Xavier let us down last week in their first tourney game, as they went under the total, but they came back and went over the total in the second game. This game against Texas should be a total shootout. The Longhorns are one of the few teams in the country that won’t be afraid to run and gun with the Musketeers. Whether that is a good idea or not is another story, as Xavier has a ton of offensive weapons. The Musketeers don’t play much defense, so they want to get into a track meet. I can’t see anything other than a high scoring game, so I will go over the total with Xavier and Texas.
Princeton +10 vs. Creighton
The Tigers are the lone Cinderella story still left in the NCAA Tournament and they get what appears to be a decent matchup against Creighton. It is not like the Bluejays are a national power and it could be that Creighton is getting too much respect from the oddsmakers. The Bluejays beat an overrated Baylor team in the first round and then an NC State team that was lucky to be in the tournament at all. Princeton looked really good in routing Missouri and then took out the No. 2 seeded Arizona Wildcats in the second round. There is no reason that Princeton can’t stay in this game and we get double-digits. I’ll take the Tigers in this one.
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