Welcome to the second day of the Sweet 16.
We’ll keep rolling through the NCAA Tournament with another three-leg parlay before we set our sights on the Elite Eight.
With that said, let’s dive into my NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 parlay and college basketball picks for the games on Friday, March 28.
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NCAA Tournament Parlay for Friday, March 28
- Tennessee ML -190 vs. Kentucky
- Auburn -9 vs. Michigan
- Purdue +8.5 vs. Houston
Parlay Odds: +434 (Fanatics)
Remember that some parlays are long shots for a reason, so please bet responsibly.
[subheader sizedown=”true” text=”Tennessee ML -190″ subtext=”vs. Kentucky · 7:39 p.m. ET · TBS” center=”false” logo1url=”https://static.sprtactn.co/teamlogos/ncaab/100/ten.png” link1=”” link1follow=”true” logo2url=”” link2=”” link2follow=”true” trailinglogourl=”” trailinglink=”” trailinglinkfollow=”true”][/subheader]
We’ll head to Lucas Oil Stadium for the first leg of this parlay, as the Kentucky Wildcats and Tennessee Volunteers renew an old-school SEC rivalry on Friday night.
Kentucky is coming off a dominant win over Illinois on Friday night. The Wildcats will now be making their 46th Sweet 16 appearance in program history.
The last time the Wildcats made the Sweet 16 was 2019, but they haven’t won a national title since 2012.
Otega Oweh leads the Cats with 16.3 points per game.
Tennessee, meanwhile, is coming off a 67-58 win over UCLA that put it in the Sweet 16. This marks the third consecutive season in which head coach Rick Barnes’ team has made the Sweet 16.
The Volunteers have reached the Elite Eight twice in program history, doing so in 2010 and 2024. Now, they’ll look to make it back-to-back seasons.
Chaz Lanier leads the Vols with 18.1 points per game.
We’ll ride with the favorite for the first leg of this parlay.
The Vols will control the pace of this game and turn this contest into a half-court rock fight. Tennesee ranks sixth in points allowed per game at 62.9.
Kentucky will struggle to string together stops in this contest, as it ranks 304th in points allowed per game at 77.2.
Tennessee has also gone 25-4 straight up as a favorite this season.
[subheader sizedown=”true” text=”Auburn -9″ subtext=”vs. Michigan · 9:39 p.m. ET · CBS” center=”false” logo1url=”https://static.sprtactn.co/teamlogos/ncaab/100/aub.png” link1=”” link1follow=”true” logo2url=”” link2=”” link2follow=”true” trailinglogourl=”” trailinglink=”” trailinglinkfollow=”true”][/subheader]
The Michigan Wolverines and Auburn Tigers will clash with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line.
The Wolverines won the Big Ten Tournament Championship in the first year of the Dusty May era. Following that triumph, May led his team to a hard-fought win over UC San Diego in the first round of the tournament.
In the Round of 32, Michigan trailed by double digits against Texas A&M but stormed back in the second half to earn a 91-79 win.
FAU transfer Vladislav Goldin leads the team with 16.8 points per game.
On the other side, the Tigers entered the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed.
Head coach Bruce Pearl has led the Tigers to their sixth-ever Sweet 16 appearance. In fact, Auburn has appeared in the Sweet 16 just three times since 2003.
The Tigers have never won a national title and have appeared in the Final Four just once in program history. As the No. 1 overall seed, they’ll be looking to change that this season.
Auburn is coming off a double-digit win over Creighton in the Round of 32.
Johni Broome leads the Tigers with 18.4 points per game and 10.7 rebounds.
The Tigers will wear Michigan down on Friday night.
Auburn is the deepest team in college basketball and matches up well with this Michigan team.
A big reason will be the turnover battle. The Wolverines rank 337th in the nation in turnovers per game (13.9), which will be the X-factor in this game.
Expect Michigan to struggle to take care of the ball against this fast, physical defense.
[subheader sizedown=”true” text=”Purdue +8.5″ subtext=”vs. Houston · 10:09 p.m. ET · TBS” center=”false” logo1url=”https://static.sprtactn.co/teamlogos/ncaab/100/pur.png” link1=”” link1follow=”true” logo2url=”” link2=”” link2follow=”true” trailinglogourl=”” trailinglink=”” trailinglinkfollow=”true”][/subheader]
The Purdue Boilermakers and Houston Cougars will close out the night with a highly-anticipated battle between two blue bloods.
Purdue will be making its 15th Sweet 16 appearance in program history after picking up comfortable wins over High Point and McNeese State to punch their ticket to the Sweet 16.
Matt Painter led his Boilermakers to the national championship last season, where they lost to the UConn Huskies.
Big man Trey Kaufman-Renn leads the team with 20.3 points per game and 6.5 rebounds.
On the other side, Houston will be making its sixth straight appearance in the Sweet 16. Head coach Kelvin Sampson has turned the Cougars into one of the best programs in college basketball over the past decade.
However, despite its recent dominance, Houston hasn’t reached the Elite Eight since 2022 and hasn’t appeared in the national title game since 1984.
The Cougars are coming off a nail-biting 81-76 win over Gonzaga in the Round of 32.
Senior L.J. Cryer leads the team with 15.6 points per game.
Ultimately, we’re getting too many points with the underdog in this matchup.
Purdue is a veteran team with big-game experience. Painter will have a strong game plan against this outstanding Houston team.
The pick-and-roll game between Braden Smith and Kaufman-Renn will give Houston’s defense issues. With that, expect Houston big man J’Wan Roberts to have trouble with the speed of Kaufman-Renn and get into foul trouble.
We’ll see a close back-and-forth contest that favors the ‘dog on Friday night.
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