2026 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 Betting
The 2026 NCAA Sweet Sixteen is full of Big Ten teams, as six of them will be playing on the second weekend of the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Last season it was the SEC setting the record for the most teams in the Sweet Sixteen with seven. The six teams from the Big Ten in this year’s Sweet Sixteen are Michigan, Purdue, Michigan State, Illinois, Nebraska and Iowa. The only double-digit seed to make it to this year’s Sweet Sixteen is Texas, who upset Gonzaga in the second round.
The 2026 NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen takes place on Thursday, March 26 with games in Houston and San Jose and on Friday, March 27 with games in Chicago and Washington, D.C. Three of the four No. 1 seeds are still alive and they are the top three teams in March Madness futures to win the NCAA title. The Michigan Wolverines are the favorite and they are followed by the Arizona Wildcats and Duke Blue Devils. The only other team listed at single-digit odds is the Houston Cougars as the other 12 teams are all considered longshots to win the NCAA Championship.
Big Ten teams are 11-5 ATS in this year's NCAA Tournament. In the last three years of the NCAA Tournament, the conference is 34-19 ATS, the best mark by far of any conference. When favored in the last three years, Big Ten teams are 27-9 ATS. This will be the first-ever trip to the Sweet Sixteen for Nebraska and the first for Iowa since the 1999 season.
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2026 NCAA Tournament Regional Semifinals/Sweet 16
Thursday, March 26
West Region - SAP Center (San Jose), South Region -- Toyota Center (Houston)
(11) Texas vs. (2) Purdue – CBS (Purdue -7.5, total 149) - 7:10 p.m. | CBS
(9) Iowa vs. (4) Nebraska – TBS (Nebraska -2, total 133.5) - 7:30 p.m. | TBS/truTV
(4) Arkansas vs. (1) Arizona – CBS (Arizona -8, total 166.5) - 9:45 p.m. | CBS
(3) Illinois vs. (2) Houston – TBS (Houston -3.5, total 140) - 10:05 p.m. | TBS/truTV
Friday, March 27
East Region - Capital One Arena (Washington, DC), Midwest Region -- United Center (Chicago)
(5) St. John’s vs. (1) Duke – CBS (Duke -7, total 142) - 7:10 p.m. | CBS
(4) Alabama vs. (1) Michigan – TBS (Michigan -10, total 174) - 7:35 p.m. | TBS/truTV
(3) Michigan State vs. (2) UConn – CBS (UConn -1.5, total 136.5) - 9:45 p.m. | CBS
(6) Tennessee vs. (2) Iowa State – TBS (Iowa State -4, total 138) - 10:10 p.m. | TBS/truTV
Duke and Michigan are listed as the biggest favorites in the Sweet Sixteen on Friday, with Duke laying 7 points to No. 5 seed St. John’s and Michigan laying 10 points to No. 4 seed Alabama. On Thursday, Arizona stands out as an 8-point favorite over No. 4 seed Arkansas, while Purdue is favored by 7.5 points against No. 11 seed Texas. The most competitive matchup on the board appears to be Michigan State vs. UConn, where UConn is a slight 1.5-point favorite in what projects to be a tightly contested game. The highest total of the round belongs to Alabama vs. Michigan at 174, pointing to a potential shootout, while Iowa vs. Nebraska carries the lowest total at 133.5, suggesting a more defensive battle.
No. 1 seeds have done well in the Sweet 16, winning 25 of their last 31 games. Last season all four top seeds won in the Sweet 16. This year will see all three top seeds in action in the Sweet 16. Despite the fact that top seeds have done well overall in the Sweet 16, keep in mind that at least one team seeded No. 7 through No. 11 has reached the Final Four every year since 2011 except in 2012 and 2019 and 2025. The matchup between No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in the Sweet Sixteen has seen the No. 2 seeds holding a 34-19 record all-time against the No. 3 seeds.
This is the weekend that separates the men from the boys as anyone can win one or two games in the NCAA Tournament. At this point, teams have actually been able to do some scouting for upcoming opponents and that hurts the smaller programs that can no longer sneak up on their opponents.
NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 Format
The Sweet Sixteen often serves as midnight striking for Cinderella in the NCAA Tournament. With a handful of exceptions, the darlings of the first two rounds find that they don’t have enough to make it to the Elite Eight. All of the winners in the Sweet 16 will play in the Elite Eight two days later, and that's where the nets get cut down for teams that are headed to college basketball's version of Mecca, the Final Four.
One double-digit seed advanced out of the Sweet Sixteen last season with No. 11 NC State beating No. 2 seed Marquette and then it was the Wolfpack beating No. 4 seed Duke in the Elite Eight to make the Final Four. When you are considering the most successful double-digit seeds in recent NCAA Tournament history, nearly all of the big wins have come from No. 10 or No. 11 seeds. Before Saint Peter’s made it to the Elite Eight two years ago, only two teams that were between a No. 12 seed and a No. 16 seed made it to that point. Both were No. 12 seeds as Missouri made history in 2002 and Oregon State did it in 2021. The latter NCAA Tournament was full of history for double-digit seeds as Oral Roberts made the Sweet Sixteen as a No. 15 seed, and UCLA made the Final Four as a No. 11 seed.
No. 1 and No. 2 seeds have lived up to their billing here. Teams that are on the top two lines in their regional are significantly more likely to move on than any other seed, and the difference is massive. We have seen No. 8 seeds play very well too, as they have virtually always beaten a No. 1 seed to get to this point.
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