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The Big Ten Tournament kicks off today alongside other upper echelon conferences. The Big East, Big XII, Pac-12, and SEC all have their first sets of games going while the ACC started yesterday.
We’ve also got games in the hopper with no fans in the seats due to COVID-19, though the neutral site games between in the MAC & Big West tournaments don’t begin until tomorrow.
The 2020 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket is set. #B1GTourney pic.twitter.com/M2mVxPb7lD
— Big Ten Men's Hoops (@B1GMBBall) March 9, 2020
All lines courtesy of William Hill
As for the Big Ten, the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Northwestern Wildcats kick things off at 5:00p this evening in Indianapolis. With just Northwestern coming off a win against PSU (and giving Iowa a path to the 5 seed) while Daniel Oturu and company blew the brakes off of Nebraska. Minnesota’s beaten NW twice before by a combined 35 points. While +300 is always a tasty underdog bet, there’s a reason Minny beat them twice: they’re better. Minnesota -8
While we’re at it, let’s go ahead and take over 136. In the prior two games, they’ve combined for 145 and 140 points.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers are so depleted, they’re bringing football players on their trip to Indianapolis. The jokes write themselves at this point so I’m not even going to try. They’ll take on the Indiana Hoosiers at approximately 7:30p, depending on how many reviews and free throws are taken in the last couple minutes of the NW/Minnesota game. But Indiana laying 14 is a huge number for a team who’s won exactly 0 conference by that margin or more. Hold your nose and take Nebraska +14.
For the broader Big Ten, Michigan is the tastiest line at 10/1. In a vacuum. They’re 2-0 against Rutgers this season but scored 69 and 60 points in each of their wins. If we’re feeling crazy, a desperate Purdue squad at 28/1 but have to go through up to 3 top 10-ish KenPom teams in OSU (8), MSU (7), and Maryland (11).
Defense (#1 in conference) and 3-point shooting (#3) is the name of the game in Indy, which is why MSU is prohibitive favorites at +200. Wisconsin (+600) is the only team in the top 5 of both, with the #5 conference defense and #2 3-point shooting. But my betting morality keeps me from laying a penny on either of these two teams so let’s lean into the #9 (Michigan) & #10 (Purdue) seeds in the conference for combined 19/1 odds.
As for the rest of the games (and tournaments) today, my favorite bets are:
- Utah +130 (over Oregon State)
- Washington +200 (over Arizona)
- Oklahoma State -6.5 (over Iowa State)
- UNC 25/1 to win the ACC tournament
- Rhode Island +850 to win the Atlantic 10 tournament
- Butler +600 to win the Big East tournament
Stay safe out there.
The numbers alongside each team is their KenPom ranking. Games in bold are being played at the home team’s home arena. I’m like 90% sure I allocated ESPN+ games appropriately.
3/11 Conference Tournament Games
Away | Home | Conference | Time (CDT) | Channel | City, State | Arena |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Away | Home | Conference | Time (CDT) | Channel | City, State | Arena |
188 Sacramento St. | 272 Weber St. | Big Sky | 10:30 AM | Pluto TV | Boise, ID | CenturyLink Arena |
103 Miami FL | 74 Clemson | ACC | 11:00 AM | ESPN | Greensboro, NC | Greensboro Coliseum |
261 Saint Joseph's | 173 George Mason | Atlantic 10 | 12:00 PM | ESPN+ | Brooklyn, NY | Barclays Center |
108 Pittsburgh | 51 N.C. State | ACC | 1:00 PM | ESPN | Greensboro, NC | Greensboro Coliseum |
324 Idaho | 159 Southern Utah | Big Sky | 1:00 PM | Pluto TV | Boise, ID | CenturyLink Arena |
112 Utah | 87 Oregon St. | Pac-12 | 2:00 PM | Pac-12 Networks | Las Vegas, NV | T-Mobile Arena |
255 Fordham | 231 George Washington | Atlantic 10 | 2:30 PM | ESPN+ | Brooklyn, NY | Barclays Center |
295 Idaho St. | 212 Northern Arizona | Big Sky | 3:30 PM | Pluto TV | Boise, ID | CenturyLink Arena |
53 Washington | 20 Arizona | Pac-12 | 4:30 PM | Pac-12 Networks | Las Vegas, NV | T-Mobile Arena |
128 Northwestern | 29 Minnesota | Big Ten | 5:00 PM | Big Ten Network | Indianapolis, IN | Bankers Life Fieldhouse |
296 Texas A&M Corpus Chris | 285 Northwestern St. | Southland | 5:00 PM | ESPN+ | Katy, TX | Leonard E. Merrell Center |
346 Delaware St. | 276 North Carolina Central | MEAC | 5:00 PM | ESPN+ | Norfolk, VA | Norfolk Scope Arena |
63 Georgetown | 71 St. John's | Big East | 6:00 PM | Fox Sports 1 | New York, NY | Madison Square Garden |
89 Iowa St. | 52 Oklahoma St. | Big XII | 6:00 PM | ESPNU | Kansas City, MO | Sprint Center |
104 Georgia | 94 Mississippi | SEC | 6:00 PM | SEC Network | Nashville, TN | Bridgestone Arena |
142 Georgia Southern | 116 Georgia St. | Sun Belt | 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | Atlanta, GA | GSU Sports Arena |
176 Boston College | 60 Notre Dame | ACC | 6:00 PM | ESPN2 | Greensboro, NC | Greensboro Coliseum |
197 Florida Atlantic | 162 Old Dominion | C-USA | 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | Frisco, TX | Ford Center at The Star |
262 Manhattan | 148 Siena | MAAC | 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | Atlantic City, NJ | Boardwalk Hall |
196 Rice | 150 FIU | C-USA | 6:30 PM | ESPN+ | Frisco, TX | Ford Center at The Star |
167 Boston University | 118 Colgate | Patriot League | 6:30 PM | CBS Sports Network | Hamilton, NY | Cotterell Court |
172 Appalachian St. | 93 Texas St. | Sun Belt | 7:00 PM | ESPN+ | San Marcos, TX | Strahan Coliseum |
350 Howard | 286 North Carolina A&T | MEAC | 7:00 PM | ESPN+ | Norfolk, VA | Norfolk Scope Arena |
152 Nebraska | 39 Indiana | Big Ten | 7:25 PM | Big Ten Network | Indianapolis, IN | Bankers Life Fieldhouse |
260 McNeese St. | 247 Lamar | Southland | 7:30 PM | ESPN+ | Katy, TX | Leonard E. Merrell Center |
70 North Carolina | 56 Syracuse | ACC | 8:00 PM | ESPN2 | Greensboro, NC | Greensboro Coliseum |
92 Kansas St. | 83 TCU | Big XII | 8:00 PM | ESPNU | Kansas City, MO | Sprint Center |
171 California | 37 Stanford | Pac-12 | 8:00 PM | Pac-12 Networks | Las Vegas, NV | T-Mobile Arena |
96 DePaul | 43 Xavier | Big East | 8:30 PM | Fox Sports 1 | New York, NY | Madison Square Garden |
210 UTSA | 190 UAB | C-USA | 8:30 PM | ESPN+ | Frisco, TX | Ford Center at The Star |
168 Vanderbilt | 49 Arkansas | SEC | 8:30 PM | SEC Network | Nashville, TN | Bridgestone Arena |
221 Iona | 193 Saint Peter's | MAAC | 8:30 PM | ESPN+ | Atlantic City, NJ | Boardwalk Hall |
182 UTEP | 147 Marshall | C-USA | 9:00 PM | ESPN+ | Frisco, TX | Ford Center at The Star |
135 Washington St. | 32 Colorado | Pac-12 | 10:30 PM | Pac-12 Networks | Las Vegas, NV | T-Mobile Arena |