NCAA Tournament Best Bets, Expert Picks, Elite 8 Odds for Sunday, March 30

Welcome to the final day of the Elite Eight.

We have one more spot in the Final Four on the line, as Michigan State meets Auburn on Sunday afternoon.

Let’s dive into our NCAA Tournament best bets and March Madness Elite 8 expert picks for the college basketball games on Sunday, March 30.

While parlaying these picks isn’t our official recommendation, click the button below to automatically add these picks to your bet slip as a two-leg parlay.

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NCAA Tournament Best Bets for Auburn vs. Michigan State

The team logos in the table below represent each of the matchups that our college basketball betting staff is targeting from Sunday’s slate of Elite Eight games. Click on the team logos for any of the matchups below to navigate to a specific bet discussed in this article.

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[subheader sizedown=”false” text=”Tennessee vs. Houston Pick for Sunday, March 30″][/subheader]

[gameheader haspick=”true” picktext=”Tennessee +3.5″ league=”ncaab” awaylogo=”https://static.sprtactn.co/teamlogos/ncaab/100/ten.png” awayname=”Tennessee Volunteers” awayslug=”tennessee-volunteers” homelogo=”https://static.sprtactn.co/teamlogos/ncaab/100/hou.png” homename=”Houston Cougars” homeslug=”houston-cougars” date=”Sunday, March 30″ time=”2:20 p.m. ET” network=”CBS” bookname=”BetMGM” bookprimarylogo=”https://assets.actionnetwork.com/779359_BetMGM800x200@1x.png” bookreviewslug=”betmgm”][/gameheader]

By Mike McNamara

I wrote up why I thought the Volunteers would handle Kentucky in this column on Friday night, and back to the Tennessee well I go in the Elite Eight.

This game has the potential to be the game of the tournament, in my opinion, so I was very surprised when this line opened as high as it did.

I view the matchup as a total coin-flip game, so I will gladly play the Vols catching 3.5 points in Indianapolis.

Sunday afternoon will pit the No. 1-ranked defense in America in Houston against the nation’s No. 3-ranked defense in Tennessee.

Every basket scored in this game will be hard-earned, and this contest will not be for the faint of heart.

Between the lines, I think Tennessee is playing better basketball than Houston right now, and in addition to covering, I like the Vols to punch their ticket to San Antonio in this one.

Zakai Zeigler can go toe-to-toe with L.J. Cryer, and Tennessee just has more scoring threats when factoring in Chaz Lanier, Jordan Gainey and Igor Milicic.

With Cryer being heavily swarmed in the backcourt, Houston’s next best option will be veteran J’Wan Roberts in the paint, but this will be a difficult matchup for the senior.

Rick Barnes can throw the trio of Jahmai Mashack, Felix Okpara and Cade Phillips on Roberts, and all three will make him work for every bucket in the paint.

Tennessee should also have a major crowd advantage in this one, given the proximity to Indianapolis for the Knoxville faithful.

The Vols have never made a Final Four, and Barnes is looking for a final special moment in the tournament as he gets up there in age.

I believe in this nucleus of players, and I expect Tennessee to take advantage of the massive opportunity in front of it.

Give me Rocky Top +3.5 in a game I expect the Volunteers to win outright.

Pick: Tennessee +3.5 (Play to +2.5)