Written by Jonathan Lee

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March Madness Picks: Sweet 16

It’s time for the Sweet 16 picks, and our analyst has three picks against the spread. Two of these picks are for Thursday’s games, and one is for Friday’s games. As is usually the case, the first pick is free, but the next two are definitely only for members…so if you want to see the analyst picks: Sign in NOW!

Ohio State -3.5 vs. Arizona
Arizona will have the advantage in location with Los Angeles being far closer to Tucson than Columbus. The Pac-12 tournament also spent years in the Staples Center, and always drew a large Wildcat following. Still, I like the Buckeyes in this game mainly because of Aaron Craft and his advantage going up against Mark Lyons. Lyons proved throughout the Pac-12 regular season that he was not a point guard, and was really the main culprit in why Arizona underperformed finishing fourth in the conference. Neither Belmont nor Harvard could really challenge Lyons defensively as he scored a combined 50 points. Arizona also shot an unsustainable 18-37 from three in those two games. Craft is widely regarded as the best defensive guard in the country, and Lyons won’t have such an easy time creating offense in this game. That really spells trouble for the Wildcats as they spent most of the year underutilizing their post players. If Lyons is cut off as a source of big points, most of that burden falls to Solomon Hill. Ohio State has the better main scorer in Deshaun Thomas and a more reliable offensive supporting cast.

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Be sure to see all Sweet 16 picks against the spread and on totals on the College Basketball Expert Picks page.