NCAA Basketball Tournament 2017: Sweet 16, Elite 8 Schedule, Odds and Picks

The Sweet 16 of the 2017 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament should be competitive this year. Per the spreads provided by OddsShark, only two teams are favored by more than five points (Arizona and UNC), and the average spread is 3.81 points. Furthermore, three margins are either by one or two points.

If the sportsbooks prove to be prophetic, then fans are in for a great slate of Sweet 16 games this year.

Here's a look at the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight schedules (the latter's matchups won't be finalized until Friday night), as well as the latest odds for each game.

Then, we'll offer some quick picks for the Thursday and Friday games and also look ahead at some Elite Eight scenarios that could play out this weekend.

Bracket

Schedule information via NCAA.com. Odds via OddsShark.

Sweet 16 Schedule

Thursday, March 23

Matchup	Regional	Odds	Time (ET)	Television	Location	Prediction
No. 3 Oregon vs. No. 7 Michigan	Midwest	Michigan (-1)	7:09 p.m.	CBS	Kansas City, Missouri	Michigan
No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 4 West Virginia	West	Gonzaga (-3)	7:39 p.m.	TBS	San Jose, California	Gonzaga
No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 4 Purdue	Midwest	Kansas (-5)	9:39 p.m.	CBS	Kansas City, Missouri	Kansas
No. 2 Arizona vs. No. 11 Xavier	West	Arizona (-7.5)	10:09 p.m.	TBS	San Jose, California	Arizona

Oregon vs. Michigan figures to be the closest game. The Ducks lost sophomore forward Chris Boucher for the season with a torn ACL, which hurts them, but they still have plenty of talent left on the roster (e.g. Dillon Brooks and Tyler Dorsey).

That being said, Michigan is playing well right now (winners of its last six and 12 of its last 14), and it's hard to pick against a team at its peak.

Gonzaga and West Virginia should be a close, low-scoring contest, but the Bulldogs' seven-foot bigs (freshman Zach Collins and Przemek Karnowski) will be too much for West Virginia's forwards.

Kansas should protect its (second) house, the Sprint Center in Kansas City, which is just 45 minutes away from Lawrence. Purdue should hang around thanks to sophomore forward Caleb Swanigan, who would get my vote for Naismith Player of the Year if I had one.

The only potential blowout on the list is Arizona over Xavier. The Musketeers have played well in this tournament, but one can't help but wonder if they benefitted from a favorable draw with two over-seeded teams in Maryland and Florida State.

Still, give credit to the Muskies for being the only double-digit seed in the Sweet 16.

Friday, March 24

Matchup	Regional	Odds	Time (ET)	Television	Location	Prediction
No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 4 Butler	South	UNC (-7.5)	7:09 p.m.	CBS	Memphis, Tennessee	UNC
No. 3 Baylor vs. No. 7 South Carolina	East	Baylor (-3.5)	7:29 p.m.	TBS	New York City	Baylor
No. 2 Kentucky vs. No. 3 UCLA	South	UCLA (-1)	9:39 p.m.	CBS	Memphis, Tennessee	Kentucky
No. 4 Florida vs. No. 8 Wisconsin	East	Florida (-2)	9:59 p.m.	TBS	New York City	Wisconsin

North Carolina is the only ACC team remaining out of the nine that made the NCAA tournament field. The Tar Heels were also close to getting knocked out themselves, but they survived a scare vs. Arkansas.

Those facts are hard to swallow when picking North Carolina, but expect UNC to right the ship and beat Butler thanks to its size advantage, which should help the Tar Heels on the boards.

Size is the name of the game for Baylor, too, as 6'10" junior forward Johnathan Motley will be too tough for South Carolina down low. Motley averages 17.3 points and 9.9 boards per game.

Kentucky vs. UCLA should live up to the hype. The bet is on the freshmen all coming out and putting on a show, with the first team to 90 points winning. The guess is that UK avenges an early-season loss to UCLA and beats the Bruins in the last minute.

Florida vs. Wisconsin should follow a similar path as Gonzaga vs. West Virginia. In this game, the first team to 60 might win. Both teams are stout defensively, but the edge goes to Wisconsin behind the hot shooting of senior guard Bronson Koenig.

Saturday, March 25

Matchup	Regional	Time (ET)	Television	Location
TBD	TBD	6 p.m.	TBS	TBD
TBD	TBD	8:30 p.m.	TBS	TBD

The matchups are not set in stone yet, but we do know that the winners of the Midwest Regional semifinals will play in one game, while the winners of the West Regional semifinals will face off in the other contest.

A KU-Michigan showdown would be fantastic to watch, featuring one of the best freshmen in the nation (guard Josh Jackson) and a Naismith Award finalist (senior point guard Frank Mason III) facing off against the smoking-hot Wolverines.

On the other side of the bracket, a hypothetical Elite Eight matchup Gonzaga vs. Arizona would be a rematch of the Zags' 69-62 win over Arizona in the regular season, but Wildcats leading scorer and sophomore guard Allonzo Trier did not play. With him in the mix now, how would Arizona perform?

Sunday, March 26

Matchup	Regional	Time (ET)	Television	Location
TBD	TBD	2 p.m.	CBS	TBD
TBD	TBD	4:55 p.m.	CBS	TBD

Like Saturday, we don't know the official schedule just now, but the East Regional semifinal winners will face off in the finals, and the South Regional semifinal winners will also play each other.

Wisconsin sophomore forward Ethan Happ could make a big difference this week. He was in foul trouble for much of the first two games but still performed well. If he stays out of foul trouble, a Final Four appearance isn't out of the question whatsoever for the Badgers.

Baylor men's basketball has one of the better stories in college sports, as it was not ranked in the Associated Press preseason poll. A Final Four appearance would mark a heck of a run.

North Carolina vs. either UCLA or Kentucky would obviously be the crown-jewel game of the weekend, although seeing Butler taking out UNC and then attempting to do the same against another top program would be interesting as well.