The South Region will send its last team to the Elite 8 on Friday night, and the Indiana Hoosiers and the Kentucky Wildcats duke it out for that spot. We’re set to make our Sweet 16 predictions for the clash in Hot ‘Lanta!

2012 Sweet 16 Matchup: #4 Indiana Hoosiers vs. #1 Kentucky Wildcats
South Region Location: Phillips Arena, Atlanta, GA
Sweet 16 Date/Time: Friday, March 23rd, 9:45 p.m.
Indiana vs. Kentucky Television Coverage: CBS

Key #1: Marquis Teague has to keep up with his strong tourney
Teague is still the freshman of the bunch that is under the most pressure. He is the point guard for this team, and he is the catalyst that has to get the job done. It’s not that he has to be a big time scorer, though he clearly was with his 24 points against the Iowa State Cyclones last weekend. However, Teague has to make smart decisions and take care of the basketball, and that is what we are wondering whether an inconsistent freshman is really going to be able to do. Again, it’s important to state, so far, so good for Teague, but we know that things might not stay that way as the competition gets stronger and stronger. You can bet that the Indiana guards are going to be licking their chops at having another shot at Teague in this one.

Sweet 16 Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
Indiana Hoosiers +9
Kentucky Wildcats -9
Over/Under 144
Click Here to Bet Your Sweet 16 Picks!

Key #2: Indiana has to weather the storm and keep its head above water
Remember that for as young as Kentucky is, the Hoosiers aren’t all that much more experienced. Cody Zeller is just a freshman, and there are no Final Four runs for any of these players in the past. It was remarkable to think that Christian Watford was able to get the job done and knock down the biggest shot of his career and arguably the biggest shot that a Hoosier has knocked down in a decade to beat #1 Kentucky. We know that the Wildcats are going to come out angry and looking for revenge, and there are going to be times in this game when their talent takes over and they are able to go on a run. This is where Head Coach Tom Crean has to coach the biggest game of his career. He has to make sure to keep his team grounded during every timeout period and make sure that he uses his stoppages wisely. The Wildcats are beatable when they get frustrated, but if they frustrate the Hoosiers, there is going to be no encore performance out of the boys in red.

Key #3: The Kentucky bigs have to be big
Save for perhaps the North Carolina Tar Heels, there isn’t another team in the nation that can rebound the basketball with as much talent and authority as the Wildcats can. If is very clear that if Anthony Davis, Terrence Jones, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist are all approaching the double-double line, Kentucky is going to be insanely hard to beat. This isn’t a team that takes all that many fouls, and it has to stay that way. Odds have it, a man like Davis and one like Zeller will counter each other. The question is whether Gilchrist-Kidd and Jones are going to be able to really step up and prove that they are the superior athletes in this game. If so, this could be a cakewalk for the boys in blue. If not, it might be Heartbreak Hotel in St. Louis for the Wildcats.

Click Here to get the best March Madness picks that you’ll find on the internet, including our NCAA Tournament picks and the Sweet 16 picks for the rest of the NCAA Tournament game odds.

The lowest rated team left in the dance, the Ohio Bobcats, are going to try to beat the NCAA basketball betting lines for a third time and make for another March Madness odds upset when they take on the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Gateway to the West.

2012 Sweet 16 Matchup: #13 Ohio Bobcats vs. #1 North Carolina Tar Heels
West Region Location: Scottrade Arena, St. Louis, MO
Sweet 16 Date/Time: Friday, March 23rd, 7:45 p.m.
Wisconsin vs. North Carolina Television Coverage: TBS

Key #1: North Carolina’s guards need to keep the tempo of this game moving
It’s all about the tempo in this one. We already know that the Tar Heels have been slowed down this year by the loss of Dexter Strickland from February, and now, the question is there as to whether or not Kendall Marshall is going to be able to play. Marshall had a screw inserted into his wrist to try to stabilize it, and it is still highly questionable as to whether he is going to be out there or not. Even if he is, there is a real question as to how effective of a player he can be. The Ohio guards tend to play stingy defense, and DJ Cooper, even at just 5’11”, is going to be a nuisance to try to get around. He has quick hands and averages well over a pair of steals per game. If the tempo stays hot like Carolina wants it, it is going to be hard for those guards to be off to the races in transition while the Tar Heels are standing still. This is one of the only ways that we can see the Bobcats even remotely hanging in this one, and if UNC neutralizes it by keeping the ball moving when it is on offense, Ohio won’t be able to keep up.

Sweet 16 Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
Ohio Bobcats +10.5
North Carolina Tar Heels -10.5
Over/Under 143
Click Here to Bet Your Sweet 16 Picks!

Key #2: The Bobcats can’t get killed on the boards
Ohio doesn’t have a player on its team that averages more than 5.0 rebounds per game, and Cooper, which it bears repeating is just 5’11”, is one of the team’s top guys on the glass. John Henson, Harrison Barnes, and Tyler Zeller just love matchups like this one, and when they run into teams that are brutally undersized, it’s almost as if they are all competing with each other to be the first to log a double-double. The Bobcats have to clear the defensive boards, and they can’t let Carolina get all that many second chance points. There is no way, save for some luck, that Ohio outrebounds the Tar Heels, but it can’t just be embarrassed on the boards, or it is going to be far too hard to keep up with the North Carolina offense. Trying to stop this squad once is hard. Twice or more times on the same possession is virtually impossible.

Key #3: Ohio can’t have too many empty possessions
Going against the length of the North Carolina defense is always hard for any team, but particularly one that isn’t all that athletic, big, or quick. That being said, the Bobcats do have some veteran ball handlers that make sure they don’t turn the ball over. It is going to be hard to get anything in terms of offensive rebounds in this one, and that’s part of the reason that we are so insistent that Ohio gets off as many shots as it can on possessions. Having the ball and turning it over is the recipe for a disaster, and the team just cannot get anywhere near its 12.9 turnovers per game, or it is going to take just a phenomenal shooting performance to have a chance of sticking inside of double digits in the Sweet 16.

Click Here to get the best March Madness picks that you’ll find on the internet, including our NCAA Tournament picks and the Sweet 16 picks for the rest of the NCAA Tournament game odds.

Our Sweet 16 predictions kick off on Friday night in the South Region, where the Baylor Bears and the Xavier Musketeers duke it out for the right to go to the Elite 8. Check out our Baylor vs. Xavier keys to the game!

2012 Sweet 16 Matchup: #10 Xavier Musketeers vs. #3 Baylor Bears
East Region Location: Phillips Arena, Atlanta, GA
Sweet 16 Date/Time: Friday, March 23rd, 7:15 p.m.
Xavier vs. Baylor Television Coverage: CBS

Key #1: Mark Lyons has to make an appearance in this game
When Tu Holloway was out of the lineup earlier this year, it was Lyons that really stepped up with some big time games. That being said, we know that even with Holloway on the court, Lyons should be averaging at least 12-14 points per game, if not at least his average of 15.0 points per game. Thus far in the dance though, the X-Men have gotten virtually nothing out of their second leading scorer. Lyons has no choice but to do better in this battle, because these Bears are a heck of a lot better than either the Lehigh Mountain Hawks or the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Scoring seven or eight points as he has in his first two games here in the dance simply isn’t going to cut it whatsoever.

Sweet 16 Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
Xavier Musketeers +6
Baylor Bears -6
Over/Under 141.5
Click Here to Bet Your Sweet 16 Picks!

Key #2: Xavier absolutely cannot get in foul trouble
We know that Baylor isn’t all that deep of a team, and you would figure that it would go without saying that the Bears have to stay out of foul trouble as well. However, there isn’t a player on the court for Baylor that averages more than a shade above three fouls per game, and it is very rare that any of the starting five really have to spend that much time on the bunch for anything but rest. The X-Men though, are a totally different story. Holloway, Lyons, and especially Kenny Frease have to be careful not to commit too many fouls, not just to keep themselves on the court, but to keep Baylor off of the foul line as well. Save for Perry Jones III, all of the shooters are knocking down at least 76.5 percent of their free throws, and Brady Heslip virtually never misses, hitting 93.8 percent of his attempts at the charity stripe. The Bears make a living at the free throw line because of their aggressiveness, but Xavier has to limit that if it hopes to get to the Elite 8.

Key #3: The Bears can’t get frustrated by the length of the Xavier defense
The one thing that really seemed to frustrate Baylor this year in the games that it lost was going against defenses that are big, long, tall, and athletic. Xavier brings just that to the table, and it is going to be the first time here in the dance that the Bears have had to face something like that. These X-Men average coming up with 6.4 steals and 4.0 blocks per game, and those are the type of stats that lead to them having one of the best shooting percentages allowed in the nation. This is one of the few teams in the land that can boast that opponents are shooting under 40 percent against it, and if Baylor can’t get out of that funk and gets frustrated too much by a rock solid defense, it won’t survive and move on to the weekend.

Click Here to get the best March Madness picks that you’ll find on the internet, including our NCAA Tournament picks and the Sweet 16 picks for the rest of the NCAA Tournament game odds.

The Florida Gators are one of the highest ranked teams left in the NCAA Tournament, and they are going to be putting that on the line when we make our March Madness picks for the Sweet 16 against the Marquette Golden Eagles.

2012 Sweet 16 Matchup: #4 Florida Gators vs. #1 Marquette Golden Eagles
West Region Location: US Airways Center, Phoenix, AZ
Sweet 16 Date/Time: Thursday, March 22nd, 10:15 p.m.
Wisconsin vs. Marquette Television Coverage: TBS

Key #1: The Gators need to make sure that they get their shots to fall
It’s really hard for the Gators to get the job done when they aren’t hitting their three-point shots, and they are going to have to make sure that they are consistently going to be on from the outside. The team took 28 three-point shots in the win against the Norfolk State Spartans, and they took 23 from long range against the Virginia Cavaliers. The good news for UF is that it was able to finish off Virginia because it had such a terrible shooting game as well. However, if you look at what the Gators are doing from inside of the three-point arc, they are shooting a whopping 76.4 percent. Numbers like that just don’t happen for most teams, and UF won’t be able to stay like that either if it is forced to come inside because those outside shots aren’t falling.

Sweet 16 Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
Florida Gators +1.5
Marquette Golden Eagles -1.5
Over/Under 145.5
Click Here to Bet Your Sweet 16 Picks!

Key #2: Jae Crowder has to be strong in the post
It is going to be really hard for the Gators to stop the Golden Eagles if Crowder is really doing everything that he has the capability to do. Florida just doesn’t have the forwards to be able to take care of Crowder, and if he can get it in foul trouble, Head Coach Billy Donovan is going to have to go really deep on his bench, something that he really isn’t capable of doing. Crowder had 17 points and 13 boards to put aside the Murray State Racers, another team that really didn’t have the forwards to be able to stick with him. This was the fifth straight double-double for Crowder, and he is averaging 17.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game this year. There just isn’t anyone big enough on the Gators to contend with Crowder when he is at his best, especially with Will Yeguete on the shelf for the rest of the season.

Key #3: One of these teams has to really take advantage of its tourney experience
Marquette really learned a lot about the dance last year when it made it into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. The offense really didn’t do all that well last year in the entire dance, coming up with no more than 66 points in any of its three games in this tournament. However, this is going to be a very interesting contest though, because the Gators, with the likes of Kenny Boynton are going to be on the other side of the court. Both teams have struggled at this type of juncture in the tourney though, and whichever team is really ready to step up and take the bull by the horns will probably be the one that makes it into the Elite 8.

Click Here to get the best March Madness picks that you’ll find on the internet, including our NCAA Tournament picks and the Sweet 16 picks for the rest of the NCAA Tournament game odds.

The East Region will send its last team to the Elite 8 on Thursday night, and the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Ohio State Buckeyes duke it out for that spot. We’re set to make our Sweet 16 predictions for the clash in Beantown.

2012 Sweet 16 Matchup: #6 Cincinnati Bearcats vs. #2 Ohio State Buckeyes
East Region Location: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Sweet 16 Date/Time: Thursday, March 22nd, 9:45 p.m.
Cincinnati vs. Ohio State Television Coverage: CBS

Key #1: Yancy Gates has to keep up with the Ohio State bigs
We give Yates all the credit in the world for getting to his 10 points and five boards in spite of the fact that he was battling foul trouble and a stout Florida State Seminoles defense. He had a huge impact on the game defensively, but the argument could be made that this is going to be an even tougher task. Deshaun Thomas and Jared Sullinger are both fantastic big men, and they are going to be a heck of a lot tougher of a draw on both sides of the court than Florida State’s big men were. Gates is a big time forward who can come up with that double-double on any given night. It’s not necessarily going to have to show up on the stat sheet, but Gates is going to have to stay out of foul trouble and be a real nuisance to these other two big boys on the other side of the court, or it will be a long game for the Bearcats.

Sweet 16 Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
Cincinnati Bearcats +8
Ohio State Buckeyes -8
Over/Under 129.5
Click Here to Bet Your Sweet 16 Picks!

Key #2: Ohio State has to get out of its mind the struggles of past tourneys
The Buckeyes are going to be thinking all week long about the fact that they were eliminated last year by the Kentucky Wildcats right here at this juncture in the Sweet 16. In both situations, OSU was the team that was expected to advance last year over Kentucky, just as it is expected to do this time around as well. Everyone thought that Sullinger was going to head to the NBA, but he eschewed that opportunity to come back to the NCAA Tournament again with these Buckeyes. This is a team that has a heck of a lot more experience right now, and that could prove to be a real asset. That being said, it is a problem that cannot haunt Head Coach Thad Matta and the gang, as this is a team that always seems to be coming up just short of the ultimate goal.

Key #3: The Buckeyes have to be solid with the basketball
There isn’t a heck of a lot that the Buckeyes could complain over in the first two rounds of their tourney, but if there is a bugaboo, it is that they turn the ball over too much. OSU has 30 turnovers in two games, raising its average up to 11.7 turnovers per game. These Bearcats have been flat out awesome turning other teams over in March Madness. They have 28 turnovers already forced to their credit, and they pick up a lot of steals on a regular basis. Cashmere Wright had five steals on his own against Florida State, and if he and the rest of his teammates can get the job done and frustrate the Buckeyes, just as the Wildcats did last year, the Bearcats are going to have a shot at springing this upset.

Click Here to get the best March Madness picks that you’ll find on the internet, including our NCAA Tournament picks and the Sweet 16 picks for the rest of the NCAA Tournament game odds.

The Big East and Big Ten champs will collide in Phoenix on Thursday night for the second of the Sweet 16 encounters, and we are set to make our Michigan State Spartans vs. Louisville Cardinals picks for the second game on tap.

2012 Sweet 16 Matchup: #4 Louisville Cardinals vs. #1 Michigan State Spartans
West Region Location: US Airways Center, Phoenix, AZ
Sweet 16 Date/Time: Thursday, March 22nd, 7:45 p.m.
Wisconsin vs. Syracuse Television Coverage: TBS

Key #1: Someone needs to stop Draymond Green
Simply put, Green is a monster. He is capable of going off for a triple-double every single time that he steps on the court, just as he did against the Long Island Blackbirds in the first game of this tournament. This is a man that personifies Michigan State basketball. He just does everything that needs to be done to put his team in a position to win games. Green averaged 16.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game this year, and we are really struggling to find someone that can really guard him in this Louisville lineup. We tend to think that Gorgui Dieng is going to be too slow to keep up with the shifty forward, and pretty much anyone else that tries to guard Green is going to be a bit undersized. It really isn’t a comfortable position for the Cards to be in, but it is a situation that the rest of the teams in the Big Ten have been dealing with for the last four years. Green is the one guy on the court on either side that can win this game by himself.

Sweet 16 Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
Louisville Cardinals +5
Michigan State Spartans -5
Over/Under 125
Click Here to Bet Your Sweet 16 Picks!

Key #2: Louisville can’t lose its cool down the stretch
We have seen the Cardinals play two very close games here in the dance, and there were a number of tight encounters in the Big East Tournament as well. This is a team that really has to be careful though, as it doesn’t have the greatest history in the close games here in the dance. Just look at what the Morehead State Eagles were able to do to the Cardinals last year. It is clear that this is going to be a close game throughout in all likelihood, and the pressure can’t get to this Louisville team. We know that Michigan State has won some tight contests both at home and on the road this year, and with Green on the court, there is going to be no shortage of confidence and leadership on the Michigan State sidelines. Someone has to do that as well for Louisville in what amounts to probably be its toughest game of the year.

Key #3: Foul shooting can’t be the death for either of these teams
The winner of this game might be the team that ends up shooting the ball better from the charity stripe. It really isn’t often that a team can make a deep run in the dance without being a decent foul shooting team, and we know that neither of these squads meet that mold. The Cardinals only shoot 68.7 percent from the line as a team, while the Spartans are just at 69.5 percent. There isn’t a foul shooter on MSU’s roster that shot 80 percent, but we do know that both Green and Keith Appling are going to likely knock down the clutch shots when it is really needed. Kyle Kuric, Russ Smith, and Chris Smith are all at least 75 percent free throw shooters, but if they get into foul trouble themselves and don’t have the ball in their hands, the rest of this Louisville team is absolutely atrocious on free throws.

Click Here to get the best March Madness picks that you’ll find on the internet, including our NCAA Tournament picks and the Sweet 16 picks for the rest of the NCAA Tournament game odds.

Our Sweet 16 predictions kick off on Thursday night in the East Region, where the Syracuse Orange and the Wisconsin Badgers duke it out for the right to go to the Elite 8. Check out our Syracuse vs. Wisconsin keys to the game!

2012 Sweet 16 Matchup: #4 Wisconsin Badgers vs. #1 Syracuse Orange
East Region Location: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Sweet 16 Date/Time: Thursday, March 22nd, 7:15 p.m.
Wisconsin vs. Syracuse Television Coverage: CBS

Key #1: The Badgers have to keep the pace of this game down
We know that Syracuse isn’t going to be all that interested in running this game into the 70s against the Badgers, but it knows that it is going to want to try to get into offensive sets in a hurry to try to avoid settling in against that ferocious Wisconsin defense. These Badgers are simply awesome in transition defense, and there are very few cheap baskets that they allow. The Orange shoot the ball well at 46.6 percent from the floor, but this is a Wisconsin ‘D’ that is holding teams down to just 52.9 points per game and 38.5 percent shooting from the field and 28.8 percent from beyond the arc. The pace has to stay slow though, as the Badgers don’t have the offense to be able to put up 70-75 points against this stout defense, so it is imperative to try to limit the number of possessions in this game.

Sweet 16 Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
Wisconsin Badgers +3.5
Syracuse Orange -3.5
Over/Under 120.5
Click Here to Bet Your Sweet 16 Picks!

Key #2: The Badgers can’t get three point happy
Syracuse has a great perimeter defense, and the way that it is eventually probably going to get beaten in this tournament is by a team that is able to pound the paint and the heart of that patented 2-3 zone, where Fab Melo is no longer standing due to his eligibility concerns. In the dance, Wisconsin has already jacked up a whopping 52 three-point shots, and that just isn’t going to be good enough against a team like this in all likelihood. The Orange have lanky defenders that can really be a pain to the Badgers who are trying to pick up points three at a time instead of two. Sure, if those shots are falling, it’s fantastic. However, it’s really hard against the 2-3 zone to shake loose and get open looks at threes, and if the Badgers just start chucking up contested long range shots, they’re going to get embarrassed in this clash.

Key #3: Syracuse has to keep the Wisconsin bigs off of the glass
We know that Wisconsin is going to take a lot of those long range shots that we mentioned before, and if Head Coach Jim Boeheim has to have a concern, it is about how his team hits the glass. The Kansas State Wildcats had a whopping 22 offensive rebounds against the Orange in the Round of 32, and though the game did end up with a bit of a lopsided score, there has to be a concern that KSU was able to get up 22 more shots than Syracuse did. Without Melo there to clean up the glass, there just aren’t that many players that have the ability to be dynamos on the boards, and if the Badgers are getting second chance buckets, they are going to be able to pull off the upset.

Click Here to get the best March Madness picks that you’ll find on the internet, including our NCAA Tournament picks and the Sweet 16 picks for the rest of the NCAA Tournament game odds.