Jay Bilas Puts Two College Basketball Powerhouses on Upset Alert in Sweet 16

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Spencer Ostrow | Last updated Mar 24, 2025 10:05 AM ET

The first weekend of the 2025 NCAA Tournament is in the books, and while only one double-digit seed—No. 10 Arkansas—punched its ticket to the Sweet 16, the opening rounds still brought plenty of excitement.

Now, the remaining teams are regrouping before heading to their regional sites for Thursday and Friday’s games.

Over in the East Region, ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas correctly predicted the Sweet 16 matchups in his bracket: No. 1 Duke vs. No. 4 Arizona and No. 6 BYU vs. No. 2 Alabama.

When filling out his picks prior to the Tournament, he also gave his thoughts on how likely an upset is to happen. For both of those East Region games, despite predicting the higher seed would win, he said, "High."

Here's what he said about Duke-Arizona:

"High. Duke beat Arizona on its home court in November, limiting it to only 55 points, so the Wildcats have incentive to avenge that loss vs. a young Blue Devils team. But Duke has Flagg and is more efficient at both ends."

And here's what he said about Alabama-BYU:

"High. Alabama and BYU will have a track meet. Neither team leads with defense, but Alabama is better at limiting 3s, and Nate Oats hates tater tots. What a buzzkill."

Both games will be played on Thursday night. Alabama-BYU will lead things off in Newark, New Jersey, at 7:09 p.m. ET on CBS. Then, at 9:39 p.m. ET, Duke will face Arizona. The two winners will then go head-to-head in the Elite 8, with a spot in the Final Four on the line on Saturday.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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