Best bets for UNC-Bama, Thursday's March Madness games

Quotes from oddsmakers, updated betting splits and best bets from respected handicappers

March Madness returns on Thursday with the first four games of the Sweet 16, and some very intriguing matchups. Since favorites went 15-1 straight up in Round 2 (and 11-5 against the spread), we have all the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds still alive and some matchups that college basketball fans dream about. No. 1 seeds are a remarkable 7-1 ATS, so the public is not surprisingly jumping on them again in several games, especially No. 1 North Carolina (-4 vs. No. 4 Alabama) and No. 1 UConn (-11 vs. No. 5 San Diego State) to cover.

One other fun note: North Carolina-Alabama boasts a total of 173.5 — the highest total we’ve seen in an NCAA tournament game since 1995.

A bettor at Caesars Sportsbook in Nevada has also put up the biggest reported wager of the Sweet 16, wagering $240,000 on the UConn moneyline at -600 odds against San Diego State. The bet would win $40,000.

In this file, you’ll get quotes from oddsmakers about the games, along with aggregated picks from a bunch of sharp college basketball handicappers and public betting numbers from DraftKings.

As always, I’ll keep updating this file as I have more conversations and more picks come in — and please let me know any feedback of things you’d like to see in future articles.

Enjoy!

No. 5 San Diego State vs. No. 1 UConn (-12, 136.5)

7:39 p.m. ET

DraftKings betting splits: 67% of bets, 77% of $$ on UConn -12

“All the early money was on UConn, we’re now up to -11 from -9.5. Total has dropped to 135.5. With the way UConn has looked, not only in the first two games of the NCAA tournament, but also in the Big East tourney, everybody is betting UConn. Public will be all over them again on Thursday.” — Gable

“Tonight, we’re really just hoping San Diego State can keep it close. This spread has jumped 2, 2.5 points off the opener. It’s been one-way traffic on UConn.” — Seamus Magee, BetMGM trader

Best bets:

UConn -11 — Matt Youmans

UConn 1H -6, -11 full game, team total OVER 73.5 — Brian Edwards

UConn 1H -5.5, UConn -10.5, UConn-UNC ML parlay (-125) — Julian Edlow, DK Network