College Basketball NCAA Tournament Elite 8 Free Plays – Sports Betting

March 29, 2025

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Table of Contents

Saturday:

This is a must watch game. Alabama is the fastest playing team in all of basketball while Duke seems to be able to score on anyone.
The big difference with Duke and BYU is the defense and rebounding. Duke has both of those, and that will cause problems for the Tide.
In saying that, the Tide does not have a lot of weaknesses themselves. They have been quite consistent team this year. They beat Auburn on the road, while they should have beaten Tennessee. The Tide’s only real crutch was the Gators and a little bit against Auburn.
I think that the pressure lies more on Duke here to win this game. Do I want to get in their way? Not really, but I also think that both teams can defend the three ball much better than their previous opponents.
No way these teams shoot 50% + again from behind the arc. I like the first half under 82.5. It is too high based on what just happened recently.
The fair spread on this game is probably closer to 6.5, but Alabama will be a lean unless this thing gets to 8 or more.
First Half under 82.5 – 2 stars

This is a tough handicap for a few different reasons. First is injuries. I thought that Chance McMillian would play vs Arkansas and he last minute could not do it due to oblique pain. Florida is also banged up with their star Center Alex Condon hurting his ankle.
Condon came back in the game, but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t swell up overnight as Ankles tend to do.
The Gators have some defensive matchup advantages over Texas Tech and they should be able to score over a shorter JT Toppin down low.
A big problem with the Gators last game is that they kept turning the ball over. That doesn’t bode well when playing a strong offensive team like Texas Tech.
A big problem with the Red Raiders is that they should have lost last game to Arkansas. The Hogs turned into delicious bacon and choked that game away.
I think that Darion Williams will struggle to score down low as long as Condon is ok. Florida is filled with depth and they are relentless on the boards.
I think that a play at -6.5 looks ok to me as long as long as McMillian doesn’t play. I assume he will be hampered even if he does. I just have to wait on Condon’s status.
Lean Florida -6.5 and lean 1st half under

I watched that whole Purdue game on Friday, and Houston was mighty fortunate to be on the end of either biased or incompetent officiating. Multiple times the ball clearly went off out of bounce from the Cougars, and the zebras got it wrong.
In saying that, there will once again be a huge home court advantage for the Vols being less than a 6 hour drive away from campus.
Both defenses are lights out, but Tennessee is the better overall shooting team ranking 80th in effective FG% to 102nd for the Cougars.
Both teams have the size to compete with each other. Both teams play very slow hence the low total.
Another big outlier to me is strength of schedule. The Vols have played a much harder SEC schedule compared to Houston. They have seen teams like them before quite a few times. I think that the Vols cover this spread, and will get to the final four.
Tennessee +3.5 – 2 stars

Sparty has been doing just enough in this tournament to get by, but I think that this is the point where the rubber meets the road.
As good as Michigan State is at defense, Auburn is better. The Tigers can stop shots from all over the court.
Michigan State struggles with stopping shots from Mid-range and near the rim.
Another huge red flag for Sparty is that they struggle from downtown shooting the three. When Auburn puts the pedal to the medal, Michigan State will not be able to keep up. Lay the Points.
Auburn -5 – 3 stars