No. 1 vs. No. 3. And three No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups.
Those are the seeds for the Elite Eight, as one of the chalkiest NCAA tournaments ever moves on. There were some nervous moments from the top teams in the Sweet 16, but Texas Tech had a wild comeback, Michigan State and Auburn rallied after showing some signs of being in trouble, and Houston got a last-second shot to advance.
The only seed outside of the top two lines that made it to the Elite Eight is Texas Tech, which was all the way down as a No. 3 seed. St. John's is the only top-two seed that lost before the Elite Eight. There are many brackets that still are in pretty good shape late in the tournament.
Let's see if the favorites keep rolling as we find out the Final Four. Here are the picks for the Elite Eight, with all odds from BetMGM:
(All times Eastern.)
Florida (-7.5) over Texas Tech, 6:09 p.m. Saturday
Texas Tech's comeback against Arkansas in the Sweet 16 was amazing. They had a 16-3 run late in the second half to force overtime, then a Darrion Williams shot late in overtime clinched the win. It reinforced that the Red Raiders are a tough, well-coached and talented team.
But Florida is a lot different than Arkansas. Since early February the Gators are 13-3 against the spread, via Covers.com, which shows that a good team is still easily outperforming the market expectations. The Gators had a scare against UConn in the second round, but bounced right back with a 16-point win over a good Maryland team in the Sweet 16. Depth is a bit overrated in the NCAA tournament, but it can't hurt that the Gators keep coming at opponents with waves of talented players.
Texas Tech is very good, and the Red Raiders were tested all year in a very good league. But Florida is on another level. The tournament has been defined by favorites winning, so maybe the best move is just leaning into taking the chalk.
Duke (-7.5) over Alabama, 8:49 p.m. Saturday
If Alabama shoots like it did Thursday, the Crimson Tide will go to the Final Four. They hit 25-of-51 from the 3-point line in a win over BYU. The
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