2025 NCAAB Men’s Tournament Second Round - Best Bets & Betting Odds - March 23
All odds provided by Betway.
No. 1 Duke vs. No. 9 Baylor - East Region - Raleigh, NC @ 2:40PM
Duke beat the absolute breaks off of Mount Saint Mary’s in the First Round, and we don’t see how the Baylor Bears are going to stop the Blue Devils from continuing to roll here. First off, the game is being played in Raleigh, North Carolina, just a 30-minute drive from Duke’s campus in Durham.
Second, the Blue Devils have been especially good this season when they’re big favorites like they are here. They come in as 12-point favorites against the Bears here, the largest spread in the Second Round, but it doesn’t feel scary at all. Duke is 22-12 ATS this year as the favorite, and 17-8 ATS as a favorite of 10+ points. They are 7-1 ATS in their last eight such games.
Best Bet: Duke Alternative -9.5 Point Spread (-175)
No. 4 Maryland vs. No. 12 Colorado State - West Region - Seattle, WA @ 7:10PM
First Round upsets are the beating heart of March Madness, but they are a lot less common in the Second Round. Especially when that team is a double-digit seed like No. 12 Colorado State here. Over the last 10 years, only two of the 14 No. 12 seeds that advanced to the Second Round were able to win a second game to make it to the Sweet 16.
No. 12 seeds are 13-30 overall against No. 4 seeds in tournament history. Colorado State is also 4-8 ATS in non-conference games and just 5-7 ATS as the underdog this year. Maryland also wins big when they’re supposed to. They are 10-6 ATS as favorites of 7+ points (they are 7.5-point favorites for this at most betting sites) this year, including four straight covers in those situations. Only one of the last five No. 12 seeds to make it to the Second Round has won that game, with the other four losing by 11, 38, 5, and 28.
Best Bet: Maryland -7.5 Point Spread (-110)
No. 4 Arizona vs. No. 5 Oregon - East Region - Seattle, WA @ 9:40PM
We’re not going to go so far as to bet on Oregon’s underdog moneyline, but we love their spread in this situation. Arizona is uber-talented, but they’ve been very uneven recently, going 6-6 SU and 5-7 ATS in their last 12 games.
Meanwhile, the Ducks and their elite defense are 9-1 straight up in their last 10 and 5-2 ATS in their last seven. They have also dominated opponents from outside the Big 10, going a perfect 12-0 SU against non-conference opposition, just one of four teams to accomplish that feat this year. They are also 5-3 ATS as the underdog.
Arizona can’t hit the broad side of a barn from deep recently, so Oregon’s size on the defensive interior should pay big dividends as the Wildcats look to create offense in the paint. It probably doesn’t hurt the Ducks that this nearly a home game for them with the clash set to be played in Seattle just a few hours up the Pacific coast from their Eugene campus.
Best Bet: Oregon Ducks Alternative +4.5 Point Spread (-130)
