Sweet 16 Odds & Schedule – See Who’s Favored in All Eight Games
By Sascha Paruk in College Basketball
Updated: March 23, 2026 at 10:18 am EDTPublished:
- The Sweet 16 odds have been posted for several matchups
- Only one double-digit seed remains (#11 Texas) in a very chalky bracket
- See the Sweet 16 odds for all eight games
The 2026 Sweet 16 will take place next Thursday and Friday (March 26 and 27) in Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and San Jose. All eight matchups have now been set and odds have been posted.
The table below lists the opening Sweet 16 odds for all eight games, listed in the order they were posted.
Sweet 16 Odds for 2026 NCAA Tournament
The biggest spread on the board so far is #1 Michigan laying 10.5 points against #4 Alabama. The slimmest is #3 Michigan State -1.5 against #2 UConn in a near pick’em matchup.The highest game total is, by a wide margin, 176.5 in #4 Alabama vs #1 Michigan.
Odds as of March 23rd at DraftKings, FanDuel, and Kalshi. See which prediction markets are available in your region.
Sweet 16 Schedule
The West Region (#1 Arizona, #2 Purdue, #4 Arkansas, 11 Texas) and South Region (#2 Houston, #3 Illinois, #4 Nebraska, #9 Iowa) Sweet 16 games will go on Thursday, followed by their Elite Eight matchups on Saturday, March 28th.
The East Region (#1 Duke, #2 UConn, #3 Michigan State, #5 St John’s) and Midwest Region (#1 Michigan, #2 Iowa State, #4 Alabama, #6 Tennessee) Sweet 16 games will take place on Friday, followed by their Elite Eight matchups on Sunday, March 29th.
#3 Illinois vs #2 Houston Betting Line
In the South Region, #3 Illinois will face #2 Houston for a spot in the Elite Eight. Despite two wildly impressive performances from Illinois (105-70 vs #14 Penn, 76-55 vs #11 VCU), the Illini are 2.5-point underdogs to the reigning national runners-up.
Houston ran over #15 Idaho (78-47) before overwhelming #10 Texas A&M (88-57).
#11Texas vs #2 Purdue Betting Line
Purdue’s red-hot March continued with double-digit wins over #15 Queens (104-71) and #7 Miami (79-69). Matt Painter’s team has now won six straight.
The Boilermakers get to face the only remaining double-digit seed: #11 Texas, which reached the Sweet 16 all the way from the First Four. The Longhorns beat fellow #11 NC State in Dayton before taking down #6 BYU (79-71) and #3 Gonzaga (74-68), all as underdogs.
#5 St John’s vs #1 Duke Betting Line
The Duke/St John’s odds have opened with the Blue Devils as -258 chalk and the Red Storm as +210 underdogs.
Bookmark the SBD’s March Madness champion odds tracker to see up-to-the-minute national title futures for all remaining teams.
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Managing Editor
Sascha has been working in the sports-betting industry since 2014, and quickly paired his strong writing skills with a burgeoning knowledge of probability and statistics. He holds an undergraduate degree in linguistics and a Juris Doctor from the University of British Columbia.