{"id":212867,"date":"2026-03-20T12:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T12:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/212867\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T12:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T12:47:08","slug":"march-madness-2026-round-of-64-picks-odds-bets-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/212867\/","title":{"rendered":"March Madness 2026 Round of 64 picks, odds, bets Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\tGambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/betting-editorial-standards\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">editorial standards<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n<p>Akron and Texas Tech meet in one of the more interesting 5-12 matchups on the board, with the Red Raiders trying to avoid becoming the latest higher seed to get sent home early this <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/betting\/best-march-madness-betting-sites\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">March Madness<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Texas Tech still has the stronger resume and the higher ceiling on paper, but this is not a team <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/03\/16\/sports\/2026-march-madness-bracket-midwest-region-breakdown-prediction\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">entering the tournament<\/a> at full strength.<\/p>\n<p>The Red Raiders are still dealing with the massive loss of JT Toppin, who is out for the year with a torn ACL.<\/p>\n<p>He averaged 21.8 points and 10.8 rebounds per game, while also leading the team in steals and blocks.<\/p>\n<p>On top of the Toppin loss, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/03\/13\/sports\/big-12-abandoning-led-glass-court-after-christian-andersons-injury\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Christian Anderson left the Big 12 Tournament<\/a> with a muscle strain, while LeJuan Watts has also been dealing with a lower leg issue, although recent reports expect the pair to play Friday in this matinee clash.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s still not the situation you want to find yourself in against a feisty Akron team.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Zips bring a legit offense into this game.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38823032\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/akron-head-coach-john-groce-123606234.jpg\" alt=\"Akron head coach John Groce waves the net after Akron defeated Toledo in an NCAA college basketball game in the championship of the Mid-American Conference tournament, Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Cleveland.\" class=\"wp-image-38823032\"  \/>Akron head coach John Groce waves the net after Akron defeated Toledo in an NCAA college basketball game in the championship of the Mid-American Conference tournament, Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Cleveland. AP<\/p>\n<p>Akron ranks 54th in adjusted offensive efficiency at KenPom with strong shooting numbers across the board, including 50.3 percent overall and 38.5 percent from 3-point land.<\/p>\n<p>They have the depth to match up with the short-handed Red Raiders on the offensive side of the court \u2013 seven different zips have averaged at least seven points per game this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Betting on College Basketball? <\/p>\n<p>After three first-round losses during the John Groce era, this may be his best Akron team yet.<\/p>\n<p>Take the points in what will be one of the more popular upset picks of the first few days of the NCAA Tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The play: Akron +8.5 (-115, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/article\/betmgm-sign-up-offer\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BetMGM Sportsbook<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Why Trust New York Post Betting<\/p>\n<p>Dylan Svoboda is a versatile writer and analyst across many sports. He\u2019s particularly knowledgeable about the big three \u2014 MLB, the NFL and the NBA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5075,2692,22066,48876,80673,3112,154,5390,5958,27,29,28,415],"class_list":["post-212867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-betting","tag-college-basketball","tag-college-basketball-betting","tag-march-madness","tag-march-madness-2026","tag-ncaa-tournament","tag-sports","tag-sports-betting","tag-sports-picks","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-tech-red-raiders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}