March Madness predictions for Friday featuring Houston, Drake and MSU

Silive

16 March 2023

March Madness predictions for Friday featuring Houston, Drake and MSU

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March Madness has officially arrived as the NCAA Round of 64 officially begins. While the first-day games are certainly an exciting venture, nothing hits quite the same as the second slate of games for the Round of 64, which take place Friday.

In this article, we’ve rounded up our favorite March Madness picks for day two of the NCAA Tournament, as well as our 2023 champion pick. Additionally, we have detailed the most generous new-user bonus available at Bet365 Sportsbook.

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We have two games that we have our eyes on heading into Friday’s slate, and the first one is the first game of the day. We have the #10 seed USC Trojans taking on the Michigan State Spartans.

This is USC’s third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament led by Andy Enfield, and they enter with a record of 22-10. This is a very solid Trojans squad thank ranks top-50 in the nation in offensive and defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com.

They are led by a dynamic duo in the backcourt of Boogie Ellis, who averages 18 PPG this season, which was second in all of the PAC-12. They also have Drew Peterson, who is the other guard and averages 14 points, six rebounds and four assists. These two are the real heartbeat of the team.

This is head coach Tom Izzo’s 25th straight appearance in the NCAA tournament, which is an outstanding feat in itself. The Spartans come into this one favorited by -2 points, according to Bet365. MSU comes into this one with a 19-12 record and is coming off an early exit in the Big Ten Tournament, losing in the quarter-finals to Ohio State.

Sparty is led by their veteran backcourt of Tyson Walker, who averages 14 points per game and A.J. Hoggard, who averages 12.5 points and six assists. In March, you have to love teams who excel in the backcourt, and that is exactly where both of these teams excel at.

With that said, our prediction to kick off Friday’s slate of games is on the Trojans +2 (-110 at Bet365).If you would like to wager on the money line instead, you get (+110) odds which means a $10 wager would profit $11.

The second game that intrigues us is the #12 seed Drake Bulldogs getting +2 points taking on the #5 seed Miami Hurricanes. This game intrigues us because these two teams are total opposites.

Miami is an elite offensive team ranking 12th in offensive efficiency in the nation but ranks outside the top 130 in defense. While Drake ranks just inside the top 100 in offense and is a top 50 defensive efficiency in the country. We like defense here, so we could see Drake pulling off the upset. Therefore, our second pick is Drake +2 (-110 at Bet365).

While it may not be a flashy March Madness pick, we like the betting favorite, Houston, to win it all said and done. This is almost completely contingent on the health of senior guard Marcus Sasser. Given his own confidence in being ready to go and Houston’s recent tournament success, we are counting on head coach Kelvin Sampson and the Cougars to go all the way in 2023.

Houston’s backcourt of Jamal Shead, Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark has all the championship backcourt ingredients one could ask for. They defend, make big shots and get to the rim and create for their teammates. Pair this with the physical, tenacious frontcourt presences of Jarace Walker and J’Wan Roberts, and you have an extremely balanced starting five.

The biggest credit to Houston is that they don’t beat themselves, and they make life miserable for their opponents on offense and on the glass. Houston has the 14th-best assist/turnover ratio, and they also average 12.7 offensive rebounds, which is good for the 15th-best in the country.

Houston’s offensive ability to attack the lane and either put up a good shot or kick out to an open shooter for a good shot is uncanny. Their off-ball movement is some of the most methodical in college basketball. They rank 11th in the country in offensive efficiency this season.

On defense, they extend ball pressure far out, and if you break that, they funnel you into a packed lane. Their size, length and athleticism can really disrupt teams on the offensive side of the ball. That is why they rank in the top five in defensive efficiency in the nation.

Houston may not be the most talented team in the field, but they could be the toughest, grittiest and most reliable squad. This might be the year where they finally take home the titles after getting to at least the second round of the NCAA Tournament for five straight seasons. Therefore, we’ll back Houston (+500 at Bet365) to win the NCAA Tournament.

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Just bet $1 to receive $365 in bonus credits, regardless of whether your bet wins or loses. You can claim this bonus by betting on any games today or on Friday. For the schedule and bracket for our full slate of games for Friday, see below:

East Region