Tonight’s NCAA Tournament schedule features four big-time Sweet Sixteen matchups: No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 4 Arkansas, No. 2 Villanova vs. No. 11 Michigan, No. 1 Arizona vs. No. 5 Houston and No. 2 Duke vs. No. 3 Texas Tech.
Ahead of these exciting contests, ESPN’s computer model has produced predictions for each game — including one major upset.
ESPN gives No. 5 Houston a 60.5% chance to take down No. 1 Arizona with a predicted point differential of 2.8.
Despite entering the tournament as a No. 1 seed, the Wildcats haven’t exactly looked like the team to beat so far. After taking down 16-seed Wright State by 17 in the first round, the 33-3 squad barely edged out No. 9 TCU with an 85-80 victory in overtime.
Houston on the other hand absolutely rolled through the first two rounds, pushing past No. 12 UAB in the Round of 64 and upsetting No. 4 Illinois with a big-time 15-point win.
THURSDAY’S SWEET 16 GAMES:
Gonzaga/Arkansas
Duke/Texas Tech
Arizona/Houston
Villanova/Michigan— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 24, 2022
Gonzaga is projected to have the largest margin of victory with a 13-point differential over Arkansas. The tightest game is predicted between Duke and Texas Tech with a one-point differential in favor of the Red Raiders.