2024 March Madness Sweet 16 Predictions and Picks | Players To Watch

2024 Sweet 16 Betting Advice and Strategy

Sportsmemo college basketball handicapper William Burns runs through his NCAA Tournament March Madness Sweet 16 betting preview before action tips off on Thursday! Get betting advice for various Sweet 16 matchups including San Diego State vs UConn and Alabama vs North Carolina! Don’t miss out!

WagerTalk, the largest picks site online offers college basketball best bets free every day, as well as cheap premium paid NCAAM picks from expert professional handicappers.

Clemson Tigers vs Arizona Wildcats

Kicking off the round in style, we’ve got an unlikely matchup here in Los Angeles. Clemson barely upset Baylor in the last round and look to do it again on Thursday.

Arizona has looked very strong themselves and haven’t been really tested yet. This should prove to be their hardest game so far, but I don’t see them losing it still.

If the Wildcats can knock down their threes and free throws, they should have no problem advancing to the elite eight on Saturday against the winner of Alabama/UNC.

San Diego State Aztecs vs UConn Huskies

It’s a rematch of last year’s final. UConn won that game by quite a bit. But, we’ve got a nearly completely different roster for both teams in this year’s edition.

Though I do believe that UConn is still the better side, this game should be much closer than that one. UConn has blown out both the teams they’ve faced so far and San Diego State blew out Yale in the last round.

I’ve got UConn advancing but if they play it right, the Aztecs could shock a lot of people here and I wouldn’t be surprised.

Alabama Crimson Tide vs North Carolina Tar Heels

After barely hanging on against Grand Canyon in an epic battle, Mark Sears and Alabama look to break even more hearts on Thursday.

Although they haven’t really so far in this tournament, UNC has looked vulnerable at times this year. Defense has been their issue and Alabama is one of the best at playing fast in the country.

That could be troublesome for a UNC team that is used to playing fast, but not nearly as fast as the Crimson Tide.

Therefore, I could see this game going either way. If I had to pick one though, I’d probably still lean the way of the #1 seed.

Illinois Fighting Illini vs Iowa State Cyclones

One of the most intriguing Sweet Sixteen matchups finishes off an excellent Thursday of games. Illinois has a few guys that can really score the ball on offense like Terrrance Shannon Jr and Marcus Domask.

However, ISU has one of the best defenses in all of college basketball, & it’s shown especially in recent games. The Cyclones have allowed 65 points or less in ten consecutive games now.

However, Iowa State struggles on the offensive side at times. According to KenPom, Illinois is the #1 ranked offensive efficiency team in the country.

Though I don’t think their defense is good enough to win the championship, I do like Illinois to get through to the elite eight here if I had to pick a team.

NC State Wolfpack vs Marquette Golden Eagles

NC State enters the Sweet Sixteen as the last double digit remaining. They haven’t had to win much though, having beaten Texas Tech (#6) and then Oakland (#14) to get here.

Marquette’s offense looked better than ever against Colorado and should be able to roll again in this game against an NC State team that relies heavily on DJ Horne and DJ Burns.

I’ve got Marquette moving on out of this matchup.

Gonzaga Bulldogs vs Purdue Boilermakers

Gonzaga played Purdue very tough earlier this season. Although it ended in a 10pt Purdue win, Gonzaga was actually leading by five at halftime.

That was in Hawaii so nobody had home-court advantage in that game and no one will as well in this game with it being played in Detroit.

Purdue lost last year in the first round against a #16 seed. This year they play with that motivation. Zach Edey is a monster and I don’t think Gonzaga will be able to stop him quite yet.

Duke Blue Devils vs Houston Cougars

Duke dominated the Dukes of James Madison in the Round of 32. However, this is a completely different challenge for them.

Yes, they are good enough to make a game out of this, but Houston won’t want to take any chances with the scare that they had in the last round.

An overtime game that was an easy winner until about 2 minutes left in regulation. Kelvin Sampson (Houston’s coach) will most definitely have his team ready for this game and they should be back to playing their shut down defense that everyone is so scared of.

In my opinion, moving to the Big 12 this season has helped Houston a lot. They are battle tested and ready to make a run for the championship this season.

Creighton Bluejays vs Tennessee Volunteers

Saving perhaps the best matchup for last, this one really could go either way. I should probably mention that I actually have Creighton winning the whole tournament in the bracket I made prior to the tournament.

However, Tennessee could very well be the one’s to send them home. The Volunteers have a defense as good as anyone in the country and will try to shut down Creighton’s three point shooting to the best of their abilities.

However, if Creigton’s shooting is on, then they will win. Although Tennessee’s offense is pretty good, Creighton’s defense is also pretty good. Having said that, the main focus will be when Creighton has the basketball in this game.

In the end, good defense is countered by better offense and I got Creighton moving on – it should be close and could go the way of Tennessee for sure though.

2024 Sweet 16 Players To Watch

PJ Hall – Clemson 

Chase Hunter – Clemson 

Caleb Love – Arizona 

Pelle Larsson – Arizona 

Jaedon LeDee – San Diego State 

Lamont Butler – San Diego State

Darrion Trammell – San Diego State

Entire Starting 5 *Tristen Newton* – UCONN 

Mark Sears – Alabama 

RJ Davis – UNC 

Armando Bacot – UNC

Terrance Shannon Jr – Illinois 

Marcus Domask – Illinois 

Coleman Hawkins – Illinois 

Tamin Lipsey – Iowa State

Keshon Gilbert – Iowa State

Milan Momcilovic – Iowa State 

DJ Burns – NC State 

DJ Horne – NC State 

Tyler Kolek – Marquette 

Cam Jones – Marquette 

David Joplin – Marquette 

Graham Ike – Gonzaga 

Anton Watson – Gonzaga 

Nolan Hickman – Gonzaga 

Zach Edey – Purdue 

Guards – Purdue 

Jeremy Roach – Duke 

Jared McCain – Duke 

Kyle Filipowski – Duke

Entire Starting 5 *Jamal Shead* – Houston

Baylor Scheierman – Creighton

Trey Alexander – Creighton 

Ryan Kalkbrenner – Creighton 

Steven Ashworth – Creighton 

Dalton Knecht – Tennessee 

Jones Aidoo – Tennessee 

Zakai Zeigler – Tennessee 

Get $15 FREE towards all expert picks – including College Basketball Picks

WagerTalk Live Odds Screen

WagerTalk’s live odds screen features up-to-the-minute lines from a variety of offshore and domestic sports books. Track college basketball moneylines, spreads and betting percentages for all of today’s college basketball games and monitor your player prop betting picks including college basketball props!

**************************************************

Looking for more free sports picks and sports betting tips? Go beyond the college basketball props picks!

• • Latest Betting Odds and Public Action: Vegas lines updated in real time, including who the public is betting on and anytime touchdown scorer odds.

• • Last Minute Handicapping Advice: Check out our extensive library of handicapping tips and advice from professional Vegas handicappers (we also recommend taking the time to look over our sports betting tips video library)

• • Want an expert opinion? Check out the latest Free Sports Picks and Best Bets from our team of expert sports handicappers.

Make sure to bookmark all the above!