Caleb Wilfinger
The first Thursday morning of the NCAA Tournament always feels like Christmas morning to college basketball fans. Considering the excellent matchups in store for us, I couldn’t be more excited for this week’s March Madness action to finally get underway. And what better way to celebrate the start of the Sweet 16 on Thursday than with a March Madness parlay? That’s right; I have crafted an NCAA Tournament parlay for today’s games that pays out at over 11/1 odds at FanDuel Sportsbook.
Let’s dive in, but make sure you also check out our college basketball picks for EVERY game throughout March Madness.
Maryland 1st half/Florida full game (+550)
Arizona +9.5 (-110)
March Madness parlay odds: +1140
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Maryland Terrapins 1st Half ML + Florida Gators to win full game (+550)
To start off our March Madness Sweet 16 parlay for Thursday’s action, let’s go in a unique direction and navigate to the “First Half Winner/Full Time Winner Parlay” section of this game between Maryland and Florida. Both of these teams needed to escape their Round of 32 matchups on Sunday, with each team winning by one possession to squeak by their opponents and into the second weekend. However, it’s certainly not a fluke that either team is in this game when looking at their resume from a season-long perspective. Florida is undoubtedly one of the best teams in the country, and the Gators’ metrics certainly support that assertion (2nd in adjusted offensive efficiency, 10th in adjusted defensive efficiency per KenPom). On the other side, Maryland boasts one of the best starting lineups in the nation, which gives the Terps the capability to play with any team.
Following their lackluster 1st half against Colorado State, I’m expecting a strong start for the Terrapins in this game, led by their excellent starting 5. However, where Maryland gets in trouble in this matchup is its lack of depth. All it takes is foul trouble or fatigue to creep in and the Terrapins could be forced to turn to their lackluster bench, which leaves them operating at a major disadvantage in this game when compared to Florida’s excellent depth. The Gators’ positional flexibility up front and tremendous rotation of guards gives them a massive leg up as the game goes along, so there’s a real chance that Maryland plays well enough to be leading at the half, before the overall depth and talent of Florida takes over in the final 10-20 minutes.
Read our full Maryland vs Florida prediction
Arizona Wildcats +9.5 over Duke Blue Devils (-110)
For the second leg of our March Madness Sweet 16 parlay, let’s target Arizona to keep things within single digits against the top-seeded Duke Blue Devils. Duke has undoubtedly looked like a juggernaut in this tournament, which has inflated this number a bit in the market. However, while the Blue Devils are the deserving national title favorite heading into this game, it’s important to remember that this will be the toughest matchup this team has faced in the postseason by a considerable margin.
On paper, this Arizona team has the athletes to compete with the Blue Devils’ elite talent at all positions and the Wildcats should be able to hang in this game thanks to their top-10 offense (BartTorvik) and excellent offensive rebounding profile (15th in OREB percentage). The true x-factor will be the game Arizona gets from Caleb Love, who is playing some of the best basketball of his career in recent weeks.
As for the Blue Devils, this is obviously a complete team, one that certainly looks like the best in the nation. However, the big unknown in this game is how Jon Scheyer’s side will adjust to finally playing a top 10-15 caliber team. It’s hard to account for the step-up in competition that the Blue Devils will see in this game, as the last time Duke played a team that was anywhere near Arizona’s weight class from a talent perspective, it lost as a favorite against Clemson back in early February. While I don’t expect Duke to slip up and lose outright, Arizona should do enough to keep things close on Thursday.
Check out our Arizona vs Duke predictions
