There really aren’t any Cinderella teams in this year’s March Madness Sweet 16. However, that just means we’ll get some really good basketball down the stretch. Using the AI Model, I’ve found some really good value for Thursday’s Sweet 16 matchups at the NCAAB odds board.
Check all our best bets for Thursday’s action:
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BYU Cougars vs. Alabama Crimson Tide
Thursday, March 27, 2025 – 7:09 PM EDT at Prudential Center
BYU Is This Year’s Cinderella!
Unfortunately, there is no major Cinderella this year. But if there’s a single team that you should be rooting for heading into the Sweet 16, it’s BYU.
Nobody expected the Cougars to be as good as they’ve been this season. BYU has shot a 57.2% effective field goal percentage on offense and has limited teams to 49.3% from inside the arc on defense.
The Cougars are terrific on the defensive glass and don’t normally foul at a high rate. Ultimately, Alabama wants to get to the foul line and earn a high rate of rebounds on the offensive end. It’ll be hard to do that against BYU.
Can BYU Limit Turnovers?
The Cougars have turned the ball over 17.5% of the time, which is a bit higher than the average. However, Alabama has earned only 13.4% of turnovers per game, which is one of the lowest rates in college basketball.
If BYU can limit turnovers and continue to get shots up, the Cougars will have a much larger chance of pulling off this upset.
After all, BYU has hit 37.3% from deep and 58.4% from inside the arc. So anytime the Cougars can get shots up, it’s a good thing.
Take BYU at +4.5.
NCAAB Pick: BYU +4.5 (-110) at Bet365 (check our Bet365 Review)
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*The line and/or odds referenced in this article might have changed since the content was published. For the latest information on line movements, visit OddsTrader’s free betting odds tool.
