NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 predictions: College basketball experts don't like Arizona
There are 16 teams left in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, and 13 of them were ranked inside the top 20 of the final NCAA NET Rankings.
The lowest-ranked remaining teams are No. 40 Arkansas, No. 28 Ole Miss and No. 23 Michigan.
Despite being ranked No. 12 in the NET, the Arizona Wildcats are the biggest underdogs in the round of 16. Duke, the No. 1 seed in the East Region and the No. 1 team in the NET, is favored to beat Arizona by 9.5 points on Thursday. The two teams met earlier this season in Tucson and Duke came away with a 69-55 victory.
Four months later, the Wildcats are a much different team. But the college basketball experts at ESPN think it will be the same story.
ESPN experts pick Duke
ESPN released its Sweet 16 predictions on Tuesday, and all three of its experts picked Duke to beat Arizona.
Jeff Borzello predicts an 84-76 Duke victory; Myron Medcalf has Duke winning 78-71; and Joe Lunardi predicts the Blue Devils will win by 15, 90-75.
"In terms of personnel, this should be one of the better battles of the round of 16," Borzello wrote. "Both teams have three versatile, physical guards on the perimeter who can make shots and defend. Both squads have an interior anchor who can block shots and rebound. Both have a freshman matchup problem up front. The problem for Arizona, however, is that Duke's matchup problem is Cooper Flagg, the best player in college basketball."
Flagg is a matchup nightmare for any team, but Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd has options. He can put 6-foot-6 senior Trey Townsend on Flagg, as well as 6-foot-9 freshman Carter Bryant. A projected top-20 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Bryant has the length and athleticism to guard Flagg on the perimeter and in the paint.
BYU only upset pick
ESPN's experts went mostly "chalk" with their predictions, with the exception of BYU. Both Borzello and Medcalf predict No. 6 seed BYU will beat No. 2 seed Alabama.
BYU is one of four Big 12 teams still in the NCAA Tournament, along with Arizona, Texas Tech and Houston.
According to ESPN's picks, here is what the Elite Eight matchups will look like on Saturday and Sunday:
South Region - No. 1 Auburn vs. No. 2 Michigan State
West Region - No. 1 Florida vs. No. 3 Texas Tech
East Region - No. 1 Duke vs. No. 6 BYU
South Region - No. 1 Houston vs. No. 2 Tennessee
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-029877d49238355bd3388a94f90e3c72.jpg "Ben Sherman")
Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his 27-year journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. A basketball junkie, March Madness is his favorite time of the year.