Sweet 16 picks, best bets & preview for the NCAA basketball tournament

March Madness is in full swing and the 68-team tournament field has been whittled down to the Sweet 16. It truly has been “madness” as we’ve had a #1 seed go down in the first round, plenty of upsets, brackets busted, Cinderella stories written by lower seeds and much more.

What better way to add to the excitement of the NCAA tournament than to pair our experts’ NCAA basketball tournament Sweet 16 picks and best bets in this article with a great offer from FanDuel Sportsbook?

Let’s break it down for what’s to come in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament and also go over an excellent promotion from FanDuel.

XAVIER VS. TEXAS PREDICTION: TEXAS -3.5 (-120) at FanDuel Sportsbook

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March Madness Sweet 16 preview

With just two #1 seeds and two #2 seeds remaining in the NCAA tournament, parity reigns supreme during March Madness. That doesn’t mean that some of the best teams in the country aren’t remaining, as top seeds Alabama and Houston are two of the hottest teams in the country and have excellent matchups heading into the Sweet 16.

Alabama will get #5 seed San Diego State and Houston will face #5 seed Miami. On the other side of Alabama, in the South region bracket, #6 seed Creighton and the #15 seed Princeton will do battle, as we’re sure everybody predicted. Opposite of Houston vs. Miami in the Midwest region is a chalky matchup fearing #2 seed Texas and #3 seed Xavier.

No top seeds remain in the East or West regions, but each are ripe with schools who hold plenty of prestige. The West region features marquee matchups of #4 UConn vs. #8 Arkansas and #2 UCLA vs. #3 Gonzaga. Over in the East, #4 Tennessee will square off with #9 Florida Atlantic, who beat #16 Fairleigh Dickinson to get to the Sweet 16 round. In the other matchup, #3 Kansas State will matchup with #7 Michigan State.

Sweet 16 picks for the 2023 NCAA Tournament

Regarding our experts’ NCAA basketball tournament Sweet 16 picks, it’s really hard to bet against the highest-remaining seed from the Big 12 conference, the Texas Longhorns.

Texas dismantled Colgate in their opening game, 81-61, and beat a scorching hot and momentum-laden Penn State squad, 71-66. With Kansas losing to Arkansas in the round of 32, Texas holds the mantle for the Big 12 conference, which was touted by experts as the best conference in college basketball this season.

The Texas point spread is currently listed as -3.5 (-120) on FanDuel Sportsbook to third-seeded Xavier, who struggled with #14 seed Kennesaw State and was down 13 with under 10 minutes to play before a furious comeback.

The Musketeers would bounce back by beating 11th-seeded Pitt in the round of 32. Xavier will have a tough time stopping the multitude of options Texas can throw at them, but forward Dylan Disu was close to unstoppable on Saturday night against Penn State. Disu led the Longhorns with 28 points and 10 rebounds, including multiple baskets to pull Texas ahead.

Texas won’t let up against a volatile Xavier team on Thursday, so we like Texas -3.5 (-120) here.

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Best bets for the Sweet 16 at March Madness featuring Alabama -7.5 and Under 136.5

One of the remaining top seeds, the Alabama Crimson Tide, have steamrolled through their two contests against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Maryland by 21 and 22 points, respectively. Their opponent, San Diego State, dispatched two double-digit seeds in Charleston and Furman. Seeing Alabama across from them is a gigantic step up in competition, as the Crimson Tide are the betting favorite to win the NCAA tournament.

On FanDuel Sportsbook, Alabama is favored by 7.5 over San Diego State, which is still a pretty low point spread for a team that’s been running on all cylinders so far. San Diego State has looked pretty good, but having to play Alabama is another story.

Another best bet to consider would be taking the under on the game total laid out by FanDuel of 136.5. The under has hit in all of San Diego State’s last five games, and in all but one of Alabama’s last five contests. For our NCAA basketball tournament Sweet 16 picks, the under of 136.5 is very attractive for bettors.

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How to bet on the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 with FanDuel and earn $1,000 in bonus bets promotion

Many exciting Sweet 16 matchups are set for Thursday and Friday, with ample opportunity to tune in and watch some great basketball. Ensure you take advantage of this fantastic action by signing up for FanDuel Sportsbook. All new members will receive up to $1,000 in bonus bets if your initial wager doesn’t win. The best part is that you don’t need a FanDuel promo code to enter.

This promotion requires a minimum deposit of $10, but you can earn up to $1,000 in bonus bets to use on our experts’ NCAA basketball tournament Sweet 16 picks or any other game, team, etc. To do so, make sure you’re activating a new membership with FanDuel Sportsbook ahead of the Sweet 16 action.

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