The NCAA Conference Tournaments are kicking off this week. Check out the favorites and sleepers!
March Madness is here but before we get to the NCAA Tournament, there are the conference tournaments to worry about before the brackets are set on Sunday night. We’ve listed all the big ones below along with the favorite, our sleeper pick and some other teams to keep an eye on. Many of these conference tourneys are wide open and we could see some real sleeper teams make it into the tourney by getting hot this weekend.
Conference Tournament Odds, Favorites and Sleepers
American Athletic Conference Tournament
Favorite: Houston Cougars -330
Sleeper: Temple Owls +5000
Houston is the No. 1 team in the final season rankings, is 29-2 and has a legitimate chance to play for a National Championship in front of its home fans in Houston in the Final Four. Their two losses came to No. 8 Alabama and at home against Temple, and they’re going to be a lot of people’s pick to win it all once the brackets come out on Sunday night. They’re also our pick to win the AAC tourney this weekend.
Temple is one of just two teams to beat the Cougars this season and they did it in Houston on Jan. 22. They also beat No. 16 Villanova in November and finished the season with a 16-15 record. If they could muster the strength to beat Houston once this season, I wouldn’t put it past them to do it again in this tournament. Temple is a bit of a swing-for-the-fences pick and a more conservative sleeper pick would be the 23-8 Memphis Tigers at +475.
ACC Tournament
Favorite: Duke Blue Devils +270
Sleeper: North Carolina Tar Heels +750
Duke got a big win over North Carolina on Saturday and might have knocked the Tar Heels right out of the NCAA tournament that day. But the Heels are still on the bubble and got hot at this time last season before going to the title game, so anything is possible. The Tar Heels were the preseason No. 1 and only lost one starter from last season’s Final Four team. They’ve been incredibly disappointing this season but they still have time to turn it around and shock the world. And winning the ACC Tournament would be a great place to start.
As for the 23-8 Blue Devils, the ACC has been a mess this season and it’s the first time many of us can remember Duke vs. Carolina games where neither team was ranked, and where people without skin in the game weren’t all that interested in the outcome. Duke went 2-4 against ranked teams this season, beating Ohio State (who was overrated at the time) and Miami at home, and losing at home to Kansas, Purdue, at Miami and at Virginia. The ACC is also one of the most evenly matched conferences in the country and any number of teams could win this tournament. If you don’t think the Tar Heels can do it but want to go with anyone but Duke, the Miami Hurricanes look like a nice choice at +350.
To see all of our Best Picks ahead of all of this week's action click here!
Big East Tournament
Favorite: UConn Huskies +220
Sleeper: Villanova Wildcats +1000
The Top 5 seeds all have a bye in this one and all are going to be in the NCAA Tournament. This is really anyone’s tourney, as UConn, Creighton, Marquette, Xavier and ‘Nova are all pretty good teams. Marquette won the regular-season title but is the third favorite in the eyes of Vegas, as UConn and Creighton are both slight favorites.
UConn went 24-7 and won their first 14 games, which included a win over Alabama. They lost at No. 22 Xavier on New Year’s Eve, at No. 25 Marquette on Jan. 11 and at home to No. 13 Xavier before getting a win at home against No. 10 Marquette on Feb. 7 to stop the bleeding. They then lost at No. 23 Creighton before beating No. 20 Providence at home and winning their last five games to end the regular season on a high note. They’ll open the tournament against Providence on Thursday and while they’re the favorites, it’s going to be a heck of a tournament with no clear favorite.
Villanova finished the season with a 16-15 record after losing five of their fist seven games but won six of their last eight to close out the regular season. They went just 2-7 against ranked teams this season but did look much better late in the year. There’s a reason they’re +1000. They open with Georgetown on Wednesday.
No. 1 seeded Marquette (+350), led by coach Shaka Smart, has never won the Big East Tourney and if they can pull it off, he’ll likely be named Coach of the Year.
Big Ten Tournament
Favorite: Purdue Boilermakers+145
Sleeper: Indiana Hoosiers+600
The Big 10 Tournament will have big bracket ramifications as Michigan, PEnn State, Wisconsin and Rutgers are all considered bubble teams at this point.
Purdue won the league by three games but Purdue certainly hasn’t looked like a potential No. 1 seed over the last several weeks. They won 22 of their first 23 games, the only mishap being a one-point loss at home to Rutgers in early January. Things started to go sideways for the Boilers with a loss at Indiana on Feb. 4 that started a stretch of four losses in six games. They lost at unranked Northwestern and Maryland and then fell at home to the Hoosiers, who swept the regular-season series. Purdue finished up with a win at Wisconsin and at home against Illinois, and spent a large chunk of the season ranked No. 1 overall. They’ll be counting on big man Zach Edey to lead them to the promised land after he averaged 21.9 points, 12.8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks and the Big 10 Player of the Year will likely come down to being either Edey or Indiana’s Trayce-Jackson Davis, who averaged 20.5 points, 11.0 rebounds and 2.8 blocks for the Hoosiers.
Indiana likely played their way into a No. 4 seed with the two wins over the Boilermakers this season and Jackson-Davis is a player no team is going to want to face in the Big 10 or NCAA Tournament. Indiana went 5-2 against ranked teams this season with wins over Purdue (twice), North Carolina, Wisconsin and Rutgers, and losses at home against Arizona and at Kansas in back-to-back games in December. We really like the makeup of Mike Woodson’s Hoosiers with Jackson-Davis leading the way, and guard Jalen Hood-Schifino, who exploded for 35 points in the win at Purdue.
If you don’t like betting on teams from Indiana, Michigan State is also +600 and is the second-favorite behind Purdue, with the same odds as the Hoosiers.
Big 12 Tournament
Favorite: Kansas Jayhawks +250
Sleeper: TCU Horned Frogs +800
No. 1 seeded Kansas won the league but this tournament is wide open, as several teams can win it. Four Big 12 teams are expected to be Top 3 seeds in the NCAA Tournament and Oklahoma State also has a chance to make the big dance. Kansas was 25-6 this season and was 7-6 against ranked teams this year. They beat No. 5 Texas, No. 9 Baylor and No. 24 TCU during a late seven-game winning streak but lost their finale at No. 9 Texas on March 4. Their Big 12 tourney starts on Thursday at 3 p.m.
The Horned Frogs were 20-11 in the regular season with big wins over Iowa, Baylor, Kansas State, Kansas and Texas, but also had losses to Iowa State, at Texas, at Kansas State, Baylor, at Iowa State and at Oklahoma to finish up the season. The fact they have wins over Baylor, K-State, Kansas and Texas says something though and makes them a reasonable sleeper pick this weekend. In a CBS Sports Big 12 Tournament preview all six of their experts took TCU as their sleeper, while four of the six are taking Kansas to win it.
Pac-12 Tournament
Favorite: UCLA Bruins +135
Sleeper: Washington State Cougars +2200
UCLA is the No. 1 seed here and could be named a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament over Purdue. Arizona’s the No. 2 seed and No. 3 USC is on the NCAA Tourney bubble. Washington State is hot with six straight wins to close out the season and makes for an interesting sleeper pick.
UCLA finished the season with a 27-4 record with big wins over Maryland, Kentucky and Arizona, and home losses to Illinois, Baylor, and at Arizona to finish 3-3 against ranked teams this year. The Bruins cruised to the regular-season league title with 10 straight wins to close out the season, including a big 82-73 win over No. 8 Arizona on March 4. Their tournament starts on Thursday at 3 p.m against a yet-to-be-named opponent.
The 16-15 Washington State Cougars played five ranked teams and went 1-4 against them but finished the season on a high note, winning their final six games, including at Stanford, Cal and Washington. They’ll open the Pac-12 Tourney against Cal on Wednesday at 5:30. Arizona is a fun pick at +180 if you want to fade the Bruins and don’t want to take a long shot like Washington State.
SEC Tournament
Favorite: Alabama Crimson Tide +150
Sleeper: Kentucky Wildcats +350
No. 1 seed Alabama won the SEC outright and finished 26-5 but they’re dealing with off-court distractions due to star Brandon Miller’s ties to the fatal shooting of Jamea Harris. They also lost their final game of the season to Texas A&M and lost at Tennessee on Feb. 10. They beat No. 1 Houston on the road back in December and finished with a record of 5-4 against ranked teams this season. They finished the regular season ranked No. 4 and it will be interesting to see how the Tide and Miller play in this tournament ahead of the Big Dance.
Kentucky finished the regular season with a 21-10 record and snuck into the Top 25 to finish No. 23 in the rankings. They’re the No. 3 seed in the SEC Tourney and are a sneaky pick after winning five of their last six games, including a win over No. 10 Tennessee on Feb. 18. But they’ve also lost four of their last 11 games falling at home to Kansas and Arkansas, at Georgia and suffering a two-point loss at home to Vandy on March 1. John Calipari’s team is still super talented and anything’s possible in this tournament. Guard Antonio Reeves blew up for 37 points in the season finale against Arkansas after averaging just 14.2 points on the season.
If you want to fade Bama and Kentucky, No. 17 Tennessee (+400) makes for an interesting sleeper pick, while Arkansas at +1500 is a fun swing-for-the-fences pick.
We’ll be back next week with a March Madness primer once the field of 64 is set on Sunday night.
