NCAA Tournament Odds: Oklahoma, Notre Dame Favored In Sweet 16 Action
After ending Northern Iowa’s NCAA Tournament Cinderella run Sunday with the biggest comeback in college basketball history, the No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies will make their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2007 on Thursday when they face the No. 2 seed Oklahoma Sooners as a 1 1/2-point betting underdog at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The Aggies overcame a 12-point deficit with under a minute remaining against the Panthers, forcing overtime and eventually coming away with a 92-88 win in their West Region second-round clash.
The victory improved Texas A&M to 10-1 straight up in its past 11 games entering Thursday night’s Sooners vs. Aggies betting matchup at Honda Center, but saw its recent against the spread record drop to 8-3 ATS after coming up short as seven-point chalk.
The Aggies are a strong 7-1 SU in their past eight games against teams with winning records, but winless in four all-time Sweet 16 appearances.
The Sooners return to the Sweet 16 for a second straight year after escaping with an 85-81 win over the No. 10 VCU Rams, but are now winless in their past seven ATS after failing to cover as six-point chalk.
Oklahoma has won two straight against Texas A&M, SU and ATS, after falling in six of the teams’ previous seven meetings, and is 3-1 SU in its past four Sweet 16 contests, according to the OddsShark College Basketball Database.
In East Region action, the No. 7 Wisconsin Badgers look to defy the oddsmakers once again when they face the No. 6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish as narrow one-point underdogs at the sportsbooks.
NCAA Tournament runners-up a year ago, the Badgers reached the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in the past six years by stunning the No. 2 Xavier Musketeers at the buzzer Sunday in a 66-63 win, claiming the outright victory as 4 1/2-point underdogs.
The Fighting Irish also needed last-second heroics to advance to the Sweet 16, ending the No. 14 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks’ impressive 21-game SU win streak Sunday with a 76-75 victory as 1 1/2-point chalk.
Notre Dame is a solid 14-4 SU in its past 18 games following an outright win, but has battled with inconsistency of late, going 5-4 SU over its past nine, 4-5 ATS.
In other Sweet 16 betting matchups, the No. 1 Oregon Ducks face the No. 4 Duke Blue Devils as two-point favorites, the No. 2 Villanova Wildcats are favored by four points over the No. 3 Miami Hurricanes, the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks are 6 1/2-point chalk against the No. 5 Maryland Terrapins and the No. 11 Gonzaga Bulldogs get the nod as a 4 1/2-point favorite against the No. 10 Syracuse Orange.
Thumbnail photo via Kevin Jairaj/USA TODAY Sports Images
