2018 March Madness Parlay Picks for Sweet 16

Looking to amp up the excitement of your sports betting for March Madness? With the Sweet 16 round coming up on Thursday and Friday, you can increase your payouts when your parlay picks both come back winners. We’ve put together a suggested parlay pick for each day’s action. With half of the 1-seeds, 2-seeds and 3-seeds (and three of the 4-seeds) already headed home, there’s definitely plenty of movement on the NCAA Basketball lines. Here’s a look at the March Madness parlay picks for the Sweet 16.

2018 March Madness Parlay Picks for Sweet 16

How sweet it is… 🕺💃#MarchMadness #Sweet16 pic.twitter.com/xP7RhLpHTP

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 19, 2018

Thursday’s games:

• #7 Nevada (-2) vs #11 Loyola-Chicago (7:07pm ET, CBS)
• #3 Michigan (-3) vs #7 Texas A&M (7:37pm ET, TBS)
• #5 Kentucky (-5.5) vs #9 Kansas State (9:37pm CBS)
• #4 Gonzaga (-5.5) vs #9 Florida State (10:07pm TBS)

Friday’s games:

• #1 Kansas (-4) vs #5 Clemson (7:07pm ET, CBS)
• #1 Villanova (-5) vs #5 West Virginia (7:27pm ET, TBS)
• #2 Duke (-11.5) vs #11 Syracuse (9:37pm ET, CBS)
• #2 Purdue (-1.5) vs #3 Texas Tech (9:57pm ET, TBS)

Thursday’s Parlay Picks: Nevada (-2) and Kentucky (-5.5)

Nevada squares off with the biggest Cinderella story left standing when they face Loyola-Chicago on Thursday night. The Ramblers have taken down a mid-level ACC contender in Miami and the SEC Tournament runner-up in Tennessee to reach the Sweet 16, while the Wolfpack took down Texas (a 10-seed that probably should have seen their bubble burst and Marquette put in that slot in the tournament) and 2-seed Cincinnati, who let a 22-point lead melt away in the last 11 minutes of the round of 32 game. Cody Martin was the hero for Nevada, posting 25 points and dishing out seven assists, as leading scorer Caleb Martin had a cold game, going just 4 for 12 — although he did post a double-double in the win over Texas. The Wolfpack have overcome two large deficits now (coming back from a 13-point gap against Texas), and they can fill up the basket once their offense starts clicking. I see them using their speed to overwhelm the Ramblers. Now let’s look at Kentucky’s matchup against Kansas State. Now that Virginia and Arizona have been eliminated from the bracket, it’s going to be a whole lot easier for the Wildcats to get to the Final Four. Kentucky ended Buffalo’s Cinderella run after just one game, rolling to a 95-75 rout thanks to a huge night from freshman point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who put up 27 points and dished out six assists while grabbing six boards. Hamidou Diallo punctuated a 22-point night with two highlight-reel dunks. The Wildcats are meshing at just the right time, winners of five in a row, finally playing the defensive scheme that John Calipari put together for them. They take on Kansas State, who only scored 50 points in their escape from UMBC on Sunday. Kansas State made just one of their 12 shots from downtown, and they committed 18 turnovers, but UMBC had fallen back to earth after eliminating Virginia and shot just 29.8 percent from the floor. I see Kentucky rolling to another big win here.

Friday’s Parlay Picks: Villanova (-5) and Texas Tech (+1.5)

In Villanova’s win over Alabama, we saw an outstanding offense simply dismantle a defense that has contended in SEC play this year. The Wildcats rolled to an 81-58 win behind 23 points from Mikal Bridges and 18 points from Donte DiVincenzo, along with a dozen points from Jalen Brunson. Villanova leads the nation, scoring 86.9 points per game and shoots 50.3% from the floor for the season — including 40.2% from behind the arc. They face a West Virginia team that lives and dies with their fullcourt press. The Mountaineers have been able to overwhelm Murray State and Marshall with “Press Virginia,” but when they hit teams with elite speed and talent, things tend to fall apart — and the same thing will happen against Villanova. Purdue’s championship hopes took a big blow when center Isaac Haas broke his right elbow. He put on a bulky brace for the Boilermakers’ second-round game against Butler, but the officials considered it too dangerous — and he had a hard time even lifting his right arm. He was practicing free throws with his left hand — and ended up not playing. Purdue did edge Butler by three, but without Haas inside, Purdue doesn’t have the inside game to loosen up Tech’s defense against their perimeter shooting. Texas Tech has beaten the spread in seven of their last 10 games against Big Ten foes, and they have stood tall in a tough Big 12 this season. I see them not only covering that small spread but knocking out Purdue to advance to the Elite Eight.