March Madness rolls on: Eagles to soar in the South

How are you feeling? Four straight days of non-stop college basketball sure can take it out of ya, and now we get a brief respite from the action before the Sweet 16 begins on Thursday. We're not so ready to jump back into any other sport, we've still just got eyes for the bracket, and it's there we go for the start of the week for a few region picks based on the draws we've got.

Re-picking some region winners

Marquette to win South Region (+220 DraftKings)

Our biggest reason for pause in advancing Marquette far in our brackets was the uncertainty surrounding their star guard Tyler Kolek. 

Well, so much for that, as Kolek has come back looking healthy and dominant, putting up back-to-back double-doubles to get his tournament started. Now Marquette will play the No. 11 seed NC State, which has been on an awesome tear of its own. The concern here for the Wolfpack is that this long break may fizzle out the magic after a long ACC tournament and then two wins this past weekend. We love DJ Burns and this NC State story, but with Kolek looking dominant, Marquette is the bet for us. Just knowing they have a relatively softer matchup compared to Houston vs. Duke makes this +220 price one worth grabbing.

Arizona to win West Region (+120 DK)

Arizona escaped the first weekend of the tournament to exorcise some of last year's demons, and now they're sitting relatively pretty for their next game. They're the second-largest favorites from the Sweet 16 slate over Clemson, and if we're betting region winner bets, we'd like to feel confident they can make it to the Elite Eight first (duh).

Clemson has looked good, but Arizona is still playing out West near its fans and the Wildcats are on the precipice of getting to play the Final Four and potential championship in their home state. That's something we'd like to back, and with the 'Cats playing well, they are our preference out of this region.

One of the bigger draws on Arizona prior to the tournament starting was some of the Wildcats' player transfers: Caleb Love and Keshad Johnson, who have advanced to an NCAA championship in the past two seasons with UNC (Love) and San Diego State (Johnson). It's time to tap into that experience from their older players to power a Final Four run.

And yeah, OK, we may have parlayed these two at +610 ...

In the news ...

Favorites rule the weekend to set up strong Sweet 16 — Those who opted for chaos in their brackets or love Cinderella runs might be upset, but it was the favorites running the Round of 32, winning 15 of the 16 games. That may be disappointing to some in the interim, but what it does is set up a terrific next round, with over half the games less than five-point spreads. UConn is still the favorite to win it all at +210, with a 2023 championship rematch on tap against San Diego State. Houston (+500) will play Duke, Purdue (+650) will square off against Gonzaga, and Arizona (+900) draws Clemson. The action is far from over!

USMNT wins third consecutive Nations League title — The United States Men's National Team is once again at the top of North American soccer, taking down Mexico 2-0 on Sunday. The win marks the USMNT's third consecutive CONCACAF Nations League trophy. The squad seemed energized and focused in their championship match, gaining much needed momentum that they can hopefully build on ahead of the World Cup coming to North America in 2026.

Patriots coach Jerod Mayo suggest No. 3 pick in the draft could be on the table — During the NFL league meetings this weekend, New England head coach Jerod Mayo suggested that the Patriots No. 3 selection in the draft could be up for grabs. Teams like Minnesota are clearly gearing up to try and move up in the draft, acquiring an extra first-round pick to help facilitate such a move. The current favorite to be taken third overall is Drake Maye at -150, followed by Jayden Daniels (+210) and J.J. McCarthy (+700). 

Today's Bark Bets is written by Griffin Carroll. Follow him on Substack: griffybets.substack.com.