March Madness Week 2 SmashCard Picks

Week 1 of the tournament is over and the field has culled from 68 teams down to 16. While the bracket was mostly chalky, there were still a few upsets in the fold along with some really fantastic games. #11 Texas made it from the First Four to the Sweet Sixteen as the only double digit seed. #4 Nebraska won their first EVER tournament game, then won again in the round of 32 to punch their ticket to the second round. And who are they facing? Fellow Midwest B1G #9 Iowa in a battle of the corn!

Now the games are tighter and the competition fiercer. So make sure you go and make your Sweet Sixteen (8 games) and Elite Eight (4 games) picks before games start at 7:10pm ET on Thursday.

Now, if you haven’t used up all your budget on SmashCards in Week 1 or just forgot and have your entire budget, there are fewer games but still some interesting opportunities in the 2nd round. You can see the full set of SmashCards by clicking here. We wanted to highlight a few matchups and cards that might be interesting if you still have budget.

Bracket Buster

Go Chalk

There’s only one matchup that you can play Bracket Buster on and that’s the #11 Texas vs. #2 Purdue game. If Texas wins, that’s a huge 50 point boost - so if you want to take a big swing - this is the game/card combo to play it on. That said, a lot of the Sweet Sixteen matchups are close and this is by far the biggest seed differential matchup - so if you think Purdue has a easier game on their hands than the other matchups, this would be a good one to play “Go Chalk” on as well.

Matador Defense

#1 Michigan vs. #4 Alabama could be a barn burner. Michigan has put up 101 and 95 points in their first 2 games while Alabama has put up 90 and 90. All 4 of those matchups in Week 1 would have hit for Matador Defense and betting on the highest scoring team in the country in the regular season in Alabama is not a bad risk to take for this card.

Stocks Stocks Stocks

I talked about how I really like this card in that it guarantees you points as opposed to some of the other cards that may get you 0 points. A good matchup on this might be #2 Houston vs. #3 Illinois. In the Round of 32, Houston had 11 stocks (steals + blocks), while Illinois had 10, so this could be a solid 20 point or so card in this matchup.

Bombing Threes

A lot of the matchups in the Round of 32 had teams that were close to that 50% threshold for 3 pointers attempted. My pick for this card for this round though would be #5 St. Johns vs. #1 Duke. Rick Pitino has repeatedly emphasized their need to shoot more 3s and given Duke’s size advantage and defensive strength in the paint, 3s may be the go to strategy for St. Johns as they look to pull an upset. Against Kansas, they shot 35 threes out of 69 total field goal attempts so this card would have hit on that matchup - and here they’re playing as a bigger underdog to Duke which bodes well them shooting more 3’s.

Maul Ball

This is an interesting one and #2 Houston vs #3 Illinois could be a good matchup for this. Both teams are great at getting to the line with Illinois shooting 17 free throws and Houston shooting 25 free throws in their Round of 32 game. Or you can always just go with the refs helping out Duke angle and play it on the Duke/St. Johns matchup!

Don’t forget to set your picks before games start at 7:10pm ET on Thursday and good luck!