Watching the Cleveland Browns is not always easy. Picking college basketball winners is no walk in the park either.
Just ask our Browns beat writer — and college basketball enthusiast (plus devoted Kentucky basketball fan) — Chris Easterling, who is making our NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament picks again this season.
The tournament resumes tonight with the first batch of four Sweet 16 games. It continues the next night with four more regional semifinals.
After a slow start, 10-10 through the First Four and Day 1 of his first-round predictions, Chris picked up the pace. He was 13-3 on Day 1 of the first round and 12-4 in the second round.
That means Chris brings a 35-17 record into the Sweet 16, a .673 winning percentage, just above the .639 winning percentage Kentucky coach Mark Pope recently touted but beneath the .698 winning percentage that got Hubert Davis fired from North Carolina.
Enough with the numbers, here’s his picks for the Sweet 16.
East regional semifinal predictions
- St. John’s over Duke
- UConn over Michigan State
West regional semifinal predictions
- Arizona over Arkansas
- Purdue over Texas
South regional semifinal predictions
- Nebraska over Iowa
- Houston over Illinois
Midwest regional semifinal predictions
- Michigan over Alabama
- Iowa State over Tennessee
The Akron Beacon Journal sports department can be contacted via email at bjsports@thebeaconjournal.com.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: 2026 NCAA Tournament bracket predictions, Sweet 16 picks