What Are The Best Bets For College Basketball Futures?

I saw these floating around on Twitter earlier this week thanks to my guy Matt so I figured let’s see what’s out there for some possible future bets. I mean I love future bets, you can’t be a loser until the event ends so you hold hope for as long as possible. It’s worked out well (Nova at 25/1 last year) and it’s worked out in heartbreak (Gonzaga at 55/1 the year before). So with it being a Friday and arguably the biggest mailtime Friday of the year, I figured let’s look at some future conference tournament odds. Obviously there’s a lot out there as we have no idea about injuries, suspensions, development, matchups, seeds, etc. So we’ll be going with value and teams that I think can win multiple games in consecutive days.

ACC

No surprise that Duke is the favorite here. I mean they are the best team in the country so it makes some sense. That said, Duke actually hasn’t been great in the ACC Tournament, winning just once in the last seven years. Obviously this team is on a different talent level, but it’s just something of note. I do think there’s some value out there with Duke being such a heavy favorite. I am still incredibly high on Virginia as they were my preseason pick to win the title. So I do like them at 5/1. If you don’t trust them because of UMBC, Florida State at 20/1 is pretty tasty. I think they are the 4th best team in the conference and they are getting better with Phil Cofer in the fold. Their defense can really give teams trouble and they are deep enough to play consecutive days.
Pick: Virginia 5/1

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Big EastA whole lot of value here because Villanova isn’t dominating the league this year. Throw in that this is one of the best conference tournaments – shout out Aeropostale and Madison Square Garden – and you have plenty of reason to watch here. This league is wide open as it’s been talked about since before the season started. I think you can cross off a couple teams in DePaul, Xavier and Georgetown. That leaves seven viable options to win a few games in a row. St. John’s does have an advantage of essentially playing home games and throw in that with the talent of Heron/Ponds and you see them as the second favorite. Creighton can shoot the ball good enough to win. That said, the team I like here is Marquette. Markus Howard has the ability to score 40 three times in a row. Their defense is average, which is all it has to be with that offense. I think they have the highest ceiling of any team in this conference.
Pick: Marquette 6/1

Big 10 

A couple of clear favorites here in Michigan and Michigan State. No surprise, everyone would agree they are the two best teams in the conference. More importantly, I’m just glad to see this tournament take place in Chicago and not Madison Square Garden. I hated that last year. The Big 10 should only be played in Chicago or Indianapolis. That said there is a group of next tier teams that are intriguing. By that I mean the likes of Nebraska, Indiana, Ohio State and Wisconsin. They are all going to be battling for the third spot and then after that Carsen Edwards might be talented enough to pull a Kemba.
Pick: Michigan 5/2

Big 12There’s no doubt that Kansas is always going to be the favorite here. I mean all they do is win the Big 12 regular season. But, we’ve seen them struggle this year despite the undefeated record. Texas Tech is going to be a popular pick thanks to Chris Beard and the defense – it currently has the best defense in the country. That said there’s a team in this conference I absolutely love that may not be talked about enough. That’s Iowa State. The Cyclones are a top-20 team on KenPom and only getting better with the addition of Lindell Wigginton, Solomon Young, Zoran Talley and Cameron Lard. Throw those guys in with Talen Horton-Tucker, Marial Shayok, Tyrese Haliburton and Nick Weiler-Babb and you have a team that should be playing in the Sweet 16. The defense has been improved this year thanks to the addition of Shayok and Haliburton is a steady hand at the guard spot.
Pick: Iowa State 5/1

Pac-12I guess we have to pick a Pac-12 winner. I mean this conference stinks. There’s no other way to put it. Yeah, I guess Arizona State looks okay and Oregon hasn’t been at full strength yet, same with USC, but this is a bad conference. I have no idea what to expect out in Vegas this year just because of how bad this conference is. It should be a fairly open tournament with all these teams being fairly equal. That said, I guess I’ll take Oregon. I expect them to turn into the best team in the conference with Louis King now playing and whenever Bol Bol gets healthy.
Pick: Oregon 3/1

SEC

It’s weird to see Kentucky as the third favorite in the SEC at 4/1 and I do think there’s some value there. We’ve seen Cal’s team get better as the year goes on, just look at last year when Kevin Knox looked the part following the West Virginia game and Shai turned himself into a lottery pick. That team won the SEC Tournament. Auburn being the favorite isn’t surprising as they have the guard play and depth to get there. I do think Jared Harper and Bryce Brown are good enough to win the SEC. That said, we’ve seen what happens if Auburn struggles offensively – the NC State game. Mississippi State could be a value pick as well as they have the talent to win the league but I don’t know how much I trust their consistent shooting. So with that I’ll go with Tennessee. This just seems to be their year in the SEC after losing in the title game last year. I do like their ability to go small or big and make themselves matchup proof.
Pick: Tennessee 3/1