Ahead of March Madness, conference tournament season officially begins with college basketball action starting Monday and opening games beginning through Friday, March 3. A total of 15 conference tournaments tip off ahead of the major conferences that start next week. That includes the West Coast, Sun Belt, Missouri Valley and other conference tournaments with odds and betting information to keep you engaged and entertained.
Here is some of the betting action and highlights from leading online sportsbook operators including Caesars Sportsbook, which operates in 13 states and provides a mobile app for ease of betting and use.
2023 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament Schedules and Brackets
You can follow all the conference tournament action with brackets, schedules, odds and scores. The one-bid leagues are intense tournaments as the players, coaches and teams pursue their dreams of winning a conference tournament and advancing to the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Odds to win for conference tournaments, courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.
West Coast Conference
March 2-7 in Las Vegas, NV
Favorites: Gonzaga (-130), St. Mary’s (+115)
Dark Horses: Santa Clara (+2400), BYU (+3100), Loyola Marymount (+3500), San Francisco (+4500)
In college basketball tournament action starting this week, the West Coast Conference is the only conference tournament featuring top-25 teams - No. 10 Gonzaga and No. 17 St. Mary’s headline an intriguing field.
Perennial West Coast conference champion Gonzaga leads the lopsided betting action to win the WCC tournament. As of Tuesday afternoon at Caesars Sportsbook, Gonzaga has commanded 49.4% of the tickets and 92.0% of the handle among all WCC tournament bets, whereas St. Mary’s has collected 15.6% of the tickets and a meager 3.3% of the handle.
“I think Gonzaga and St. Mary’s are closer this year than they’ve ever been, and this is why it’s the shortest price Gonzaga has been in a long time,” said Adam Pullen, Assistant Director of Trading at Caesars Sportsbook. “The numbers mandate it, they split the season series with St. Mary’s and they lost at home to Loyola Marymount. But Gonzaga has the long-term credibility, so I’m not too surprised by how lopsided the action has been for this tournament.”
Gonzaga is one of four current odds-on favorites among the 11 conference tournaments tipping off between Tuesday and Friday. They’re joined by Colgate (-250 for Patriot), Oral Roberts (-180 for Summit) and Charleston (-110 for Colonial). There was a fifth that opened up as an odds-on favorite, however Merrimack has seen its Northeast Conference tournament odds swing from -150 to +105, per Caesars sportsbook.
NCAA Tournament printable bracket and schedules for March Madness
Sun Belt Conference
Feb. 28 to March 6 in Pensacola, FL
Favorites: Marshall (+230), James Madison (+320), Louisiana (+340)
Dark Horses: Southern Miss (+550) South Alabama (+850), Troy (+1700), Old Dominion (+2600)
Another conference tournament where the favorite hasn’t been getting that much action is the Sun Belt. Marshall is on top of the odds board but dropped a bit, however the Thundering Herd are also fifth in handle at 2.4%. South Alabama leads the way in handle at 39.0% and tickets at 48.0%, with its odds moving from 10/1 to +850. James Madison at 38.5%, Southern Miss at 12.6% and Louisiana at 3.6% also have drawn more money to win this conference tournament than Marshall.
“South Alabama has a high power rating regardless of what their seeding is,” Pullen said. “They’re one game over .500, but they played a lot of teams tough early in the season including Alabama, Oklahoma and New Mexico. They also played well down the stretch, and they’re definitely a solid team. On paper, the Sun Belt looks like a wide-open tournament and I can see this going in a bunch of different directions.”
Ohio Valley Conference
March 1-4 in Evansville, IN
Favorites: Morehead State (+130), Tennessee Tech (+340)
Dark Horses: UT Martin (+800), Tennessee State (+800), SIU-Edwardsville (+850)
Besides South Alabama, the other potential sleeper that has brought in the most tickets and handle to win their respective conference tournament is SIU-Edwardsville for Ohio Valley. SIUE is down to +850 after opening at 11/1 and getting to as high as 12/1. The Cougars, though, have seized 59.4% of the tickets and 48.9% of the handle, with OVC favorite Morehead State (+130) coming in second for handle at 32.2%. Tennessee Tech (+340) is the other favorite while UT Martin and Tennessee State are competitive dark horses.
Missouri Valley Conference
March 2-5 in St. Louis, MO
Favorites: Bradley (+160) and Drake (+170)
Dark Horses: Indiana State (+700), Southern Illinois (+800) and Belmont (+1100)
Only one conference tournament has seen the favorite change, and it’s the Missouri Valley. Drake was originally on top at +150, with Bradley right behind at +180. Now Bradley has taken over the pole position at +160, with Drake pushed out to +170. Drake has captured 41.7% of the tickets and 13.1% of the handle, but Bradley has corralled 12.5% of the tickets and 60.7% of the handle.
“This is another tournament where I can see any of the top-5 teams winning it,” Pullen said. “There’s been a lot of movement in this conference, with Belmont and Murray State coming over from the OVC. The top-2 teams are understandable, but I can see Southern Illinois making some noise and Belmont is a tournament-tested team. Arch Madness is always one of the conference tournaments I look the most forward to.”
Horizon League
Feb. 28 to March 7 in Indianapolis, IN (semis and championship)
Favorites: Youngstown State (+155), Northern Kentucky (+380), Write State (+550)
Dark Horses: Cleveland State (+600), Milwaukee (+950), Robert Morris (+1200), Detroit (+1400)
The two teams that have gotten the most tickets so far for any of the 11 upcoming conference tournaments are both in the Horizon League. Horizon favorite Youngstown State (opened +190, now +155) takes the crown, with the Penguins attracting 37.4% of the tickets and 45.5% of the handle. But Antoine Davis and Detroit (opened 25/1, move to 20/1 and now 14/1) aren’t too far behind in tickets at 28.7% and rank third in handle at 10.9%—Wright State (opened +750, now +550) is at 17.4%.
Colonial Athletic Association
March 3-7 in Washington, DC
Favorites: Charleston (-110), Hofstra (+175)
Dark Horses: Towson (+750), UNC Wilmington (+1400)
The team that has drawn the most money to win its respective conference tournament is Charleston, keyed by a Caesars Sportsbook bet in Colorado ($11,000). The Cougars have reeled in 96.0% of the handle to win the Colonial conference tournament, making them the most lopsided conference tournament bet too.
Big South Conference
March 1-5 in Charlotte, NC
Favorites: UNC Ashville (+260), Longwood (+250)
Dark Horses: Gardner Webb (+450), Radford (+500), Winthrop (+1000), South Carolina State (+1500), Campbell (+1700)
Big Sky Conference
March 4-8 in Boise, ID
Favorites: Montana State (+115), Eastern Washington (+250)
Dark Horses: Montana (+450), Weber State (+1100), Sacramento State (+2000)
Southern Conference
March 3-6, Ashville, NC
Favorites: Furman (+125), UNC Greensboro (+250), Samford (+380)
Dark Horses: Chattanooga (+1900), East Tennessee State (+2300), Wofford (+2300)
Summit League
March 3-7 in Sioux Falls, SD
Favorites: Oral Roberts (-175), South Dakota State (+340)
Dark Horses: North Dakota State (+800), St. Thomas (+900),
The remaining conference tournaments this week are all at campus sites of the higher seeds - ASUN, American East, Northeast, Patriot League.
In the countdown to the NCAA Tournament, Gonzaga is the only team playing this week that is projected as a top-16 seed. Gonzaga is projected as a No. 3 seed while St. Mary’s is No. 5. That of course can change with results and another Gaels win over the Bulldogs if St. Mary’s and Gonzaga meet in the West Coast Conference championship game.
Joe Lunardi and ESPN’s NCAA Tournament Bracketology currently has the following conferences and leagues with multi-bids into the 2023 NCAA Tournament. A total of 68 teams are slotted into the bracket, of which 32 will qualify automatically through automatic bids from conferences. So ahead of the major conference tournaments, 23 conferences are projected to only send the conference tournament champion to the Big Dance.
Conference Breakdown
Betting Strategy and March Madness Props
The most exciting and most bet games of the college basketball season have arrived with conference tournament action followed by the NCAA Tournament and March Madness.
You can bet on it.
