NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 picks: College basketball expert reveals 2026 March Madness predictions

March Madness 2026 continues with the Sweet 16, starting on Thursday. We've seen mostly chalk thus far in the 2026 NCAA Tournament, as each region consists of three of the top four seeded teams, along with a lone outlier. The likes of No. 5 St. John's, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 9 Iowa and No. 11 Texas have already pulled off March Madness upsets, but will those trends continue in the Sweet 16 bracket? None of those four aforementioned teams have ever won a national title, which could add some extra motivation for them.

There are still heavy hitters to back with college basketball picks, including 1-seeds Duke, Arizona and Michigan. There is also 2-seed Houston, which will play the Sweet 16, and potentially Elite 8, just two miles from its campus, while the Big Ten has six teams out of the final 16. Who will survive and advance during the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament 2026? Before making any college basketball picks or filling out a 2026 March Madness Sweet 16 bracket, you NEED to see what red-hot college basketball expert Thomas Casale has to say. 

Casale, a veteran college basketball expert with decades of experience, joined SportsLine in early 2024 and went on an 89-53 roll on his college basketball picks. More recently, he's 34-25 on his CBB picks entering the Sweet 16. 

One of the Sweet 16 picks that Casale likes is No. 1 Michigan easily handling No. 4 Alabama on Friday. "This is the game where Alabama will really miss Aden Holloway. The Tide will likely need to score 90+ to win and I don't think they have the horses without Holloway. Michigan tops 100 and pulls away for an easy win," Casale told SportsLine.

Casale has also made his picks for the rest of the NCAA Tournament, including who advances to the Final Four and cuts down the nets. He is backing a major upset as he has a No. 1 seed failing to win its region and advance to the Final Four.

Who is Casale backing in the Sweet 16, and which 1-seed fails to survive this weekend? ... Join SportsLine right now to see Thomas Casale's best bets, all from one of the top college basketball handicappers in the nation!