March Madness has not disappointed in 2024! We’ve made it through the first weekend of games, and both the first and second rounds are complete. The teams get a few days off to travel to the next cities where the next rounds will be held. Before we get into the NCAA March Madness tournament, Sweet 16 upset picks, and parlays, let’s take a look at the first two rounds.
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2024 NCAA March Madness Tournament Sweet 16 Upset Picks and Parlays
The first round of the NCAA Tournament was loaded with barking dogs. It all started with No. 11 Duquesne taking down No. 6 BYU. Next up, it was Dana Altman and the No. 11 Oregon Ducks taking down No. 6 South Carolina.
Later on Friday, No. 13 Oakland slayed the giant, or rather Wildcats, of No. 3 Kentucky, causing Wildcat fans to call for John Calipari’s job. Luckily for us, my first-round upsets article called for the Oakland win at +725!
Saturday, No. 13 Yale took down No. 4 Auburn, followed by The No. 12 JMU Dukes, ending the day by taking down the No.5 Wisconsin Badgers and cashing our +1605 parlay from the first-round article.
BANG! Oakland +725 and then NCST, Wazzu & JMU +1605! LFG @GamblingPodcast & @TheSGPNetwork https://t.co/AX3PxQHPML https://t.co/JwbTvvEo6C pic.twitter.com/piL1tLoiFb
— Cody Zeeb (@Husker_Zeeb) March 23, 2024
In round two, the dogs didn’t show up like in round one. Saturday’s slate featured all-favorites taking home the wins. No. 5 seed Gonzaga defeated No. 4 Kansas; however, they were favorites in the game.
North Carolina State (11) Over Marquette (2) (+235)
The Wolfpack have been one of the hottest teams in basketball lately. They lost their last four regular-season games and headed into the ACC Tournament with little hope.
Then, as a No.10 seed in the ACC Tournament, the Wolfpack went on a magical run that included wins over No. 2 Duke, No. 3 Virginia, and No. 1 North Carolina to win the ACC Tournament and secure a spot in the NCAA’s March Madness.
In the NCAA tournament, as the No. 11 seed, they handled No. 6 Texas Tech before ending the Cinderella story of Oakland in overtime.
Marquette failed to cover over Colorado on Saturday after handling Western Kentucky in the first round. Marquette struggled in big games down the stretch, though, losing to UConn in the Big East Tournament and twice near the end of the season.
They also dropped the game to Creighton late in the year. North Carolina State may just be this season’s true Cinderella, and I think they’ll punch their ticket to the Elite 8 on Friday.
Gonzaga (5) Over Purdue (1) (+170)
The Bulldogs have made it to the Sweet 16 every year since 2015 (No tournament held in 2020 due to Covid) and they’ve extended that streak another season by taking down the No. 4 seeded Kansas Jayhawks. In those eight appearances, Few has a record of 5-3.
This might be the most impressive run Few has had. This team was disappointing in the regular season, and there was fear they’d snap their 24-years in a row run of making the NCAA Tournament. They turned it on late in the season but still lost a close one to St. Mary’s in the conference tournament championship.
Purdue has not been tested in the first two rounds, blowing past a bad Grambling State team and demolishing Utah State in the round of 32.
This will be the first true test of the NCAA Tournament for the Boilermakers. Purdue showed in the Big 10 tournament they aren’t invincible. Michigan State took them to the wire before Wisconsin beat them in the semifinals.
Purdue dropped games to teams like Ohio State, Nebraska, and Northwestern. When these teams played early in the season, Purdue won by 10, but that was before Gonzaga turned it on. This Purdue team lost as a No. 1 seed to Fairleigh Dickenson in last year’s tournament, and Few is going to have a plan of attack against Zach Edey. Give me the Bulldogs as dogs.
Creighton (3) Over Tennessee (2) (+124)
Finishing up with another small dog, as I don’t feel confident in making Clemson or San Diego State a March Madness upset pick to pull off the bigger upsets. A team I am confident in is the Creighton Bluejays.
It took overtime to get it done against their old head coach, but once they got into the extra period, they quickly put the Ducks away. Creighton handled Akron in the first round and, at the end of the regular season, won a big game against the No. 2 seed Marquette. Creighton also destroyed Uconn back on February 20th, proving they can hang with the best teams.
Tennessee beat down the Peacocks of St. Peters but struggled against the Texas Longhorns in the second round. Tennessee cake walked the easy opponents on its schedule but struggled with the tougher ones. I think we’ll see that again in the Sweet 16.
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