{"id":335900,"date":"2025-03-25T13:30:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T17:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=335900"},"modified":"2025-03-25T13:30:51","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T17:30:51","slug":"march-madness-best-bets-sweet-16-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/march-madness-best-bets-sweet-16-2\/","title":{"rendered":"March Madness Sweet 16 best bets: NCAA basketball picks on Purdue, Kentucky and Maryland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>March Madness returns to action on Thursday and Friday, and I&#8217;ve got a trio of best bets from the Sweet 16 games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The pregame narrative<\/strong>: Facing arguably the toughest defensive matchup possible, I like the No. 4 Purdue Boilermakers to break through on offence and clear their modest team total. I&#8217;m also backing a pair of underdogs to cover their spreads (No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats, No. 4 Maryland Terrapins)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out my March Madness best bets for NCAA college basketball action on March 27-28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">March Madness best bets<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/sports\/basketball\/competitions\/10530\">Full March Madness Markets<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/news\/article\/un-bustable-bracket-challenge\">PLAY NOW: Un-Bustable Bracket Challenge<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Best bet: Purdue over 62.5 points (-118)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Boilermakers play very slowly, and so do their opponents, the 1-seed Houston Cougars. Pacing is the primary concern for this wager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I see a pathway to Purdue having an efficient offensive night on Friday \u2014 inside and out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In the paint, Purdue has a size mismatch with Trey Kaufman-Renn (6-foot-9) and Caleb Furst (6-foot-10). The tallest players on Houston&#8217;s roster are 6-foot-8.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>On the outside, the Boilermakers rank ninth in NCAA Division I in 3-point percentage (38.5%). They have four players shooting north of 38.0 3PT% on multiple attempts per game.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Purdue has only gone under 62.5 points <em>twice<\/em> in 35 games this year. For a team that ranks seventh in offensive efficiency, per KenPom.com, why on earth is this line so low?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, it&#8217;s because Houston ranks No. 1 in scoring defence (58.4 PPG) and No. 1 in defensive efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the Cougars have allowed three of five postseason opponents to clear this point total, and I expect the Boilermakers to keep that rolling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It also helps that this is practically a home game for Purdue despite Houston being the higher seed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The game will take place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. That&#8217;s an hour south of Purdue&#8217;s campus by car &#8230; and two hours north of Houston&#8217;s campus by plane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ket stat:<\/strong> Purdue averaged 77.7 PPG this year (79th in D-I).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NCAA college basketball picks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kentucky +4.5 (-130):<\/strong> It&#8217;s difficult to beat a team three times in one season, and it&#8217;s rare to even get the opportunity. But that&#8217;s what Kentucky will try to do on Friday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Wildcats beat the Tennessee Volunteers, 78-73, in late January on the road. They followed that up with a 75-64 win at home on Feb. 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kentucky is 8-4 ATS as an underdog this year, so even if the season sweep falls short, I think Mark Pope&#8217;s squad will hang around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tennessee shoots a lot of 3-pointers (43.3% of its total field goal attempts, which is 79th in D-I), and that&#8217;s what Kentucky is best at defending. The Wildcats hold opponents to a 30.6 3PT%, which is 24th in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong><strong>Maryland +7<\/strong><\/strong> (-110):<\/strong> If you have any friends who are Maryland fans, tell them to get their blood pressure checked. It&#8217;s been that kind of season for the Terps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>All eight of their losses have come by six or fewer points.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Each of their past four losses came on a game-winning shot in the final seconds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Maryland is coming off a buzzer-beater win of its own in the second round (vs. No. 12 Colorado State).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Florida is 0-2 ATS to open the tournament, and it suffered a genuine scare over the weekend against No. 8 UConn (trailing inside the final four minutes before gutting out a 77-75 win).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maryland has the best interior player in this game (all-Big Ten honouree Derik Queen), as well as a perimeter defence (15th in 3PT%) capable of slowing down Walter Clayton Jr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I expect Florida to win, but likely in heart-racing fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>March Madness best bets made at 1:15 p.m. ET 03\/25\/2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>March Madness returns to action on Thursday and Friday, and I&#8217;ve got a trio of best bets from the Sweet 16 games. The pregame narrative: Facing arguably the toughest defensive matchup possible, I like the No. 4 Purdue Boilermakers to break through on offence and clear their modest team total. I&#8217;m also backing a pair [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":335894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[452,75],"tags":[21],"class_list":["post-335900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-com","category-college-basketball","tag-college-basketball-betting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>March Madness best bets: Sweet 16 picks 2025 | NorthStar Bets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our March Madness best bets for Sweet 16 action. 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