Basketball Betting: Conference Tournament Previews - Part Two

Big 12 (March 10-13 at Kansas City) Top-ranked Kansas (-300) is a heavy favorite to prevail in this week's tourney after winning the regular season title by four games. Six other schools from the Big 12 are expected to garner NCAA bids in a deep league. Kansas State is the next choice in the field at +350 followed by Baylor (+500). The Texas Longhorns (+650) and Oklahoma State Cowboys (+1000) are among the other conference schools that are capable of making a run this week in Kansas City. Texas A & M (+1200) and Missouri (+1500) should be in the NCAA field as well regardless of what happens in the Big 12 tourney. Big East (March 9-13 at New York City) With eight conference teams likely to get into the NCAA tournament, the Big East tourney should be highly competitive. Regular season champion Syracuse is a +185 favorite to come away with this week's title. Pittsburgh (+300), West Virginia (+300) and Villanova (+350) will all be major threats to the Orangemen at Madison Square Garden. In addition to the eight clubs that have all but secured NCAA bids, there are four others that are hanging around the NCAA bubble. Connecticut (+2500) is the most intriguing of these squads but the Huskies may need to win the Big East title to get into the dance after posting a disappointing 7-11 conference mark. Pac 10 (March 10-13 at Los Angeles) This tournament should be one of the most interesting ones of the week. Heading into the tourney, regular season champion California (+160) is the only school from the league that is an NCAA lock. In a huge down year for the league, Washington (+200) and Arizona State (+350) are the only other schools in the conference with a chance to land an NCAA at-large bid. Both schools are squarely on the bubble heading into this week's action at the Staples Center. SEC (March 11-14 at Nashville) Regular season champion Kentucky (-250) could still land an NCAA regional top seed without winning the SEC tourney. Tennessee (+300) and Vanderbilt (+350) will have plenty of home area support as the next biggest threats to Kentucky this week. While these three clubs are NCAA locks, three others from the SEC are riding the NCAA bubble. Entering the tournament, Florida's (+1000) overall season is just ahead of Mississippi's (+800) and Mississippi State's (+1000) among the three conference schools that may need a strong showing this week to get an NCAA invite on Sunday.