Bettors think the Midwest Region’s favorites will handle business during Friday’s Sweet 16 games

Bettors are placing money on the Midwest Region’s favorites.

The Sweet 16 is underway and four lucky teams have already made it through to the Elite 8, which will begin Saturday and run throughout the weekend. But only half of the spots are secured. The remaining four are up for grabs and will be decided on Friday evening as the Sweet 16 wraps. Two of those Elite 8 representatives will come from the Midwest Region.

One of Friday’s early games will take place in Chicago with a 1 vs. 4 battle between the Kansas Jayhawks and Providence Friars. The bets coming in at Tipico Sportsbook are indicating that this game will be a competitive one that features a lot of scoring.

Fifty-seven percent of tickets have the two conference tournament champions combing to go over the 141.5 points total. And while 66 percent of bettors expect the Friars to play well enough to cover the spread (+7.5), 75 percent of bet slips have the Jayhawks at the moneyline (-320).

Coverage for Kansas-Providence is set to begin at 7:29 p.m. ET on TBS.

Later Friday night, viewers will be treated to the unexpected 10 vs. 11 Sweet 16 matchup between the Miami Hurricanes and Iowa State Cyclones.

Iowa State’s five-point wins over No. 6 LSU and No. 3 Wisconsin are impressive, but apparently not impressive enough to win the hearts of bettors. At Tipico, 62 percent of tickets have Miami winning (moneyline) and 55 percent of tickets are on those Hurricanes covering the spread (-2.5). They’ll do it in an entertaining way, too, according to the 55 percent of bet slips that see this game hitting the over (132.5 points).

Coverage for Miami-Iowa State is set to begin at 9:59 p.m. ET on TBS.

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