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After a thrilling first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament, we had the first eight games of the second round yesterday. Today, we’ll find out the remaining eight teams to make it to the Sweet Sixteen. There are several great matchups to dive into, including #6 Kentucky vs. #3 Kansas State and #5 Miami vs. #4 Indiana. We’ll be giving out our NCAA Tournament predictions for those games, including our favorite prop bet.
To go along with our NCAA Tournament predictions, we’ll also outline how you can use them to claim up to $200 in bonus bets at FanDuel Sportsbook.
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The first round of the NCAA Tournament provided plenty of upsets, and we’ll be seeing some of those double-digit seeds in action today. In fact, the very first game of the day features #11 Pittsburgh, who needed to win one of the First Four games just to make it into the coveted field of 64.
The evening matchups feature another First Four team in #16 Fairleigh Dickinson. They became the second-ever team to upset a #1 seed when they defeated Purdue on Friday night. While we’re excited to see how those teams handle the aftermath of such big wins, we’re more confident in two other NCAA Tournament predictions for today’s action.
The first of our NCAA Tournament predictions takes place in the second game of the day between two teams with Wildcats as their mascot. Kansas State may be the #3 seed, but it’s #6 Kentucky that is the slight favorite. With head coach John Calipari’s leadership and experience, we think that’s the right call.
Kentucky has last year’s Player of the Year in Oscar Tshiebwe, and we expect him to dominate, just as he did in the first round. The big man pulled down a ridiculous 25 rebounds, which is a weakness for Kansas State. With that in mind, the first of our NCAA Tournament predictions is on Kentucky -2.5.
We’ll follow that up with one of the later games between two closely seeded teams when #5 Miami (FL) takes on #4 Indiana. The Hurricanes were able to outlast #12 Drake in the first round, but they left a lot to be desired. Miami found themselves down by five at the half, and Indiana is not a team that you can fall behind against.
The Hoosiers controlled their game against #11 Kent State from the tip to the final buzzer. They entered their halftime locker room with an eight-point lead and the 11-point winning margin as the final score didn’t even feel that close. Therefore, we’ll back Indiana -1.5 to keep their tournament run going.
Both Kentucky -2.5 and Indiana -1.5 for our NCAA Tournament predictions come with -110 odds at FanDuel Sportsbook.
To expand further upon our NCAA Tournament predictions, we expect Indiana to have a big night off the back of their star player, Trayce Jackson-Davis. He led the way in their first round win over the Golden Flashes with 24 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
That’s been the norm for the great forward, as he averaged nearly 21 points and 11 rebounds during the regular season. To go along with his dominant performance in the box score, he also recorded five blocks. We’re still focused on his ability to score, especially against a Miami team that was less than inspiring against a #12 seed.
So, to round out our NCAA Tournament predictions, our favorite prop bet is on Jackson-Davis over 23.5 points with -115 odds at FanDuel Sportsbook.
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They’re rewarding all new members with 10x their first bet amount in bonus bets up to $200. So, if you’d like to claim the full amount, you’d bet $20 on any of our NCAA Tournament predictions, or any sporting event for that matter. The best part is that your bet doesn’t even have to win. If that sounds like a sweet deal to you, lock it in by creating a new FanDuel account in time to use our NCAA Tournament predictions.
To help make sure you’re squared away in time for tip-off of the games involved in our NCAA Tournament predictions, here’s the schedule for today’s action:
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