The No. 5 Kentucky Wildcats are 9-1 straight up and against the spread over their last 10 games, including a current stretch of 5-0 SU and ATS over their last five. The Wildcats can build on that winning streak with a victory Thursday night over the No. 9 Kansas State Wildcats.
NCAA tournament odds 2018: Betting lines and trends for Thursday’s Sweet 16 games
The Kentucky Wildcats will try to extend their winning streak as one of the betting favorites at the sportsbooks for Thursday’s Sweet 16 March Madness games.
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Kentucky is a 5.5-point favorite on the Sweet 16 odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Going off as a small favorite has been a profitable spot for Kentucky of late as the Wildcats are 6-0 SU and ATS in their last six games as a favorite of six points or less.
Conversely, Kansas State is just 1-13 SU and 4-10 ATS in its last 14 games as an underdog of 5.5 points or more.
Thursday’s action kicks off with a matchup between the No. 7 Nevada Wolf Pack and the No. 11 Loyola-Chicago Ramblers. The Ramblers have become tournament sweethearts on the heels of back-to-back upsets over No. 6 Miami and No. 3 Tennessee and a 98-year-old team chaplain named Sister Jean that has given a face to this year’s aptly named March Madness.
Loyola-Chicago is back in its familiar role as an underdog going off at +1.5 in this matchup against the Wolf Pack. Nevada is 12-4 SU and 12-3-1 ATS in its last 16 games played in the month of March.
The highest seed in action on Thursday is the No. 3 Michigan Wolverines, who are 2.5-point betting favorites against the No. 7 Texas A&M Aggies. Michigan is 11-0 SU and 9-2 ATS over its last 11 games, a stretch that includes an 8-0 SU and 7-1 ATS record against teams with winning records.
The Wolverines, though, did show signs of rust in a slow start to their Round of 64 game against Montana, and the Aggies are 4-1 SU and ATS in their last five games with three days off in between games.
In the late game on Thursday night, the No. 4 Gonzaga Bulldogs are a 5.5-point favorite facing the No. 9 Florida State Seminoles. Gonzaga has won each of its last 16 games and is 4-2 ATS over its last six games. Florida State is 3-15 SU in its last 18 games as an underdog of 5.5 points or more, according to the OddsShark College Basketball Database, but one of those wins came in the last round when the Seminoles defeated No. 1 Xavier as 5.5-point underdogs.
March Madness Sweet 16 Odds
Kentucky (-5.5) vs. Kansas State
Gonzaga (-5.5) vs. Florida State
Michigan (-2.5) vs. Texas A&M
Nevada (-1.5) vs. Loyola-Chicago
For more odds information, betting picks, and a breakdown of this week’s top sports betting news check out the OddsShark podcast with Jon Campbell and Andrew Avery. Subscribe on iTunes or listen to it at OddsShark.libsyn.com.
