Geoff Clark
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March Madness officially begins this week with the conference tournaments followed by NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday. Sportsbooks are taking bets for most of the important conference tourneys.
I say “important” because three of the top-10 teams in the most recent AP Top-25 men’s college basketball poll are from non-Power 5 conferences.
Also, several smaller conferences began tourneys already. Check back this week for conference tourney previews and game-to-game handicaps.
2023 ACC Conference Tournament Odds
The top-four seeds in the ACC — Miami Hurricanes, Virginia Cavaliers, Clemson Tigers, and Duke Blue Devils — earned coveted double byes.
Miami clinched the 1-seed in the ACC tourney by beating the Pittsburgh Panthers 78-76 Saturday to win the 2022-23 ACC regular season championship.
According to KenPom.com, the ACC has the 7th-best adjusted net efficiency among all college basketball conferences.
2023 Pac-12 Tourney Odds
The UCLA Bruins cruised to a Pac-12 regular-season title thanks to an 18-2 conference record. Last year’s regular-season and Pac-12 tourney winner —the Arizona Wildcats — are the 2-seed in the Pac-12 tourney. The Pac-12 ranks 5th in KenPom.com’s adjusted net efficiency.
2023 SEC Tourney Odds
The Alabama Crimson Tide won the SEC regular-season title and will most likely be a 1-seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Alabama is struggling while dealing with star player Brandon Miller‘s off-the-court troubles.
Last year’s SEC regular-season champs (Auburn Tigers) and conference tourney winners (Tennessee Volunteers) both regressed this season. KenPom.com ranks the SEC 2nd in adjusted net efficiency as a conference.
2023 Big XII Tourney Odds
Even though the 1-seed Kansas Jayhawks won the Big XII’s regular-season championship, the 2-seed Texas Longhorns are the odds-on favorite to win the conference tourney.
Kansas split last year’s regular-season title with the Baylor Bears then went on to win the 2022 Big XII tournament. The Big XII is the top-ranked conference in college basketball per KenPom.com.
2023 Big East Tourney Odds
The UConn Huskies are a heavy favorite to win the Big East tourney despite being just a 4-seed and the Marquette Golden Eagles winning the regular-season crown by 2 games.
UConn ranked as high as 2nd in the men’s college basketball AP Poll and has a conference-best two All-Big East First-Team players. The Big East ranks 4th nationally in KenPom.com’s adjusted net efficiency.
2023 Big Ten Tourney Odds
- Purdue Boilermakers (+150)
- Indiana Hoosiers (+550)
- Michigan State Spartans (+600)
- Maryland Terrapins (+650)
- Northwestern Wildcats (+900)
- Illinois Fighting Illini (+1200)
- Rutgers Scarlet Knights (+2000)
- Iowa Hawkeyes (+2200)
- Penn State Nittany Lions (+2500)
- Michigan Wolverines (+2500)
- Wisconsin Badgers (+6000)
- Ohio State Buckeyes (+6000)
- Nebraska Cornhuskers (+25000)
- Minnesota Golden Gophers (+100000)
Purdue spent a majority of the season as the No. 1 ranked team in college basketball en route to a 2023 Big Ten regular-season title. Boilermakers big, and Naismith Award favorite, C Zach Edey leads the conference in points and rebounds per game.
Per KenPom.com, the Big Ten is the 2nd-best conference in college basketball based on adjusted net efficiency. Yet the Big Ten only has two teams ranked in the top-25 of net efficiency: Purdue and Maryland.
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