Conference basketball tournaments are going to consume our lives for the next six days.

The ACC and Big 12 start their tournaments on Tuesday, while the Big East, Big Ten, and SEC get underway on Wednesday.

Duke, St. John’s, Auburn, Houston, and Michigan State come in as the top seeds, but it’s unlikely that all five regular-season champions double up with conference tournament wins.

Here’s a look at which top seeds have the best chances to win and which long shots could do some damage.

 


ACC 

First and foremost, the ACC tournament should always be played in Greensboro, not Charlotte.

Cooper Flagg and Duke were an absolute wagon in the ACC regular season.

There’s good reason why the Blue Devils are -320 to win the tournament. That’s consistent on PA sports betting apps. The odds have shown so much respect to Duke that no one in its half of the bracket is listed below +3000 to cut down the nets.

Louisville and Clemson, the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds, are the contrarian picks to Duke. Louisville lost a single game since December 21st, while Clemson suffered one defeat since January 11th and handed Duke its only loss in ACC play.

North Carolina and Wake Forest’s NCAA tournament hopes are both on life support. Their likely 4-versus-5 matchup in the quarterfinals will be an elimination game, but it’s hard to see either team beating Duke.

We’re probably not going to see a run through the ACC, like NC State had last season, and oh by the way, NC State didn’t even make the tournament this year.

Small rant incoming: If you’re going to expand to 18 teams, you should have enough arena space for all 18 teams to play in a conference tournament, no matter how ugly those games may be.

 

Big Ten

Michigan State and Maryland are the top dogs in the Big Ten.

Michigan is the No. 3 seed, but the Wolverines are a little inconsistent and have the seventh-best odds to win the tournament at +1200.

The Wolverines are in the weakest part of the Big Ten bracket. They lost three in a row to end the regular season, Purdue dropped five of its last seven, Rutgers has been super disappointing with a pair of top-five picks and USC has two wins since February 1st.

You have to like Maryland’s chances to make it to the final because of the slop fest in the bottom part of the bracket. Illinois is interesting at +750 because it’s on a three-game winning streak, but also lost to Maryland by 21 points.

Michigan State has a really tough matchup in the quarterfinals against either Oregon, who is on a seven-game winning streak, or Indiana, a desperate team trying to get off the bubble.

Oregon is fascinating at +2800 because of how hot the Ducks are, and Dana Altman is one hell of a coach. I’m not saying the Ducks will run the table, but you’d be hard pressed to find a team in its form at that number across the power conferences.

 

Big East

No pressure here, St. John’s, but this is your tournament to lose.

The Red Storm were the class of the Big East regular season and they have an outside chance to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

The diehard college basketball fan in me is desperate to see St. John’s and UConn on Saturday night at MSG with both Rick Pitino and Danny Hurley losing their ever-living goddamn minds at every turn.

The basketball gods deserve to give us this.

Sorry, Marquette, Creighton, and others, but that scene would be just too good to pass up.

Creighton is probably the team to bet outside of St. John’s and UConn, but I mean, come on, that would be an all-time Big East tournament final if the Johnnies and Huskies are involved.

 

Big 12

Full disclosure: I love the way Houston and Texas Tech play basketball.

It’s not for everyone because they are two really good defensive teams, but if you’re looking for teams outside of Duke and Auburn to win the natty, they are two of the favorites on that list.

Texas Tech is very intriguing at +450 because of how strong it has been this season.

BYU is on an eight-game winning streak, but it has to face Houston in the semifinals and Houston beat BYU by 31 points on January 4th.

Iowa State and Arizona both faded toward the end of the regular season and Kansas isn’t the Kansas of old.

It really does feel like it’s a two-team race between Houston and Texas Tech, and quite honestly, that would be one hell of a final.

 

SEC

The SEC is the best conference in college basketball.

There are so many ways you can bet the SEC tournament.

Auburn is the top seed, but it just lost two games in a row to end the regular season.

Sure, Auburn can rebound from those defeats and win in Nashville, but if you don’t like the +150 price, there are plenty of other options.

Florida (+270) is fighting for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, Alabama (+425) is so tough to beat when it makes its shots and Tennessee (+600) has one of the best defenses in the country.

If there is a long shot worth backing, it might be Kentucky at +1900. The Wildcats won three of four to close the regular season and they can score with anybody.

If Arkansas didn’t have to win five games in five days, I’d look into the Hogs, but I think that’s too far for them to go.