Big East Tournament Odds

The Big East Tournament is heading to Madison Square this week, and unless you happen to hail from the great state of Connecticut, much of the intrigue surrounding the Big East Tournament odds is going to be off the court. BetRivers.com is proud to provide a wide variety of Big East Tournament odds, game lines, props, teasers and futures.

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On the Mainline, Villanova is as banged up as any team in college basketball this season. The status of Justin Moore is up in the air. The status of Collin Gillespie is not. In Omaha, Creighton is dealing with all kinds of drama as Greg McDermott dropped some racially-tinged terminology in the locker room after a loss to Xavier last weekend. And once you get past the top three, is there actually a team worthy of playing in the NCAA tournament in this conference?

I’m not so sure. So let’s break it down. Click here for the full list of Big East Tournament odds.

The Big East Tournament takes place at Madison Square Garden and begins on Wednesday, March 10. The Big East Tournament finished up on Saturday, March 13 with the championship game.  The Big East Tournament will be broadcast on FS1 and Fox Sports Go for the first round, quarterfinals, and semifinals, with the championship game being held at 6:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 13, and will be broadcast on FOX.

TOURNAMENT PREVIEWS: ACC | Big Ten | Big 12 | Pac-12 | SEC

BIG EAST TOURNAMENT ODDS

  • #3 UConn (+210)
  • #2 Creighton (+250)
  • #1 Villanova (+350)
  • #7 Xavier (+470)
  • #5 Seton Hall (+775)
  • #4 St. John’s (+2000)
  • #6 Providence (+3000)
  • #9 Marquette (+6000)
  • #8 Georgetown (+6000)
  • #10 Butler (+8000)
  • #11 DePaul (+30000)

BIG EAST TOURNAMENT ODDS: Betting Trends

Villanova is the top-seed and backed by 50% of all Big East bets and 39% of the total Big East handle. But a season-ending MCL injury to PG Collin Gillespie in the final week pushed the Wildcats out of the driver’s set in the eyes of the bookmakers. No 2 seed Creighton was likely to enter the tournament as the odds-on favorite, but an indefinite suspension to head coach Greg McDermott dropped the odds on the Bluejays from +200 to +235. Creighton is backed by the second most bets (18%) and the third-largest percentage of the total handle (15%). But it’s the No. 3 seed UConn Huskies that enter the tournament with the best odds. UConn has a healthy Ryan Bouknight and are backed by the third-most Big East bets and the second-largest percentage of the total handle (17.4%). St. John’s, the Big East’s hottest team in February, is backed by 6.1% of total bets and 10.9% of the total handle, good enough for fourth-most in both categories.

THE FAVORITE: UConn

Let’s ignore the fact that I may have a few UConn biases in my locker. I grew up in the state. I have been a UConn fan since I was old enough to understand what basketball is, but it’s hardly a hot take that the one team in the conference that is fully healthy, both physically and from a team dynamic, and playing their best basketball of the season is the favorite to win the league, especially when the best player in the conference is on their roster.

James Bouknight missed a month of action after undergoing surgery on his elbow. UConn went 4-4 without him. They are 10-2 with him healthy, and those losses came in overtime against Creighton at Villanova when the Wildcats were at full strength and Bouk’s legs weren’t under him yet. They’ve won their last four games by an average of 14.5 points, they’re defending as well as they have all season long and they have as much athleticism on their roster as anyone. The emergence of RJ Cole and Jalen Gaffney down the stretch of the season has taken pressure off of Bouknight and Tyrese Martin as playmakers. This is a second weekend NCAA tournament team with the talent to make a run to the Final Four if the stars align for them. They’re the only team in the Big East that we can say that for.

THE CASE FOR: Creighton

The big question that I have right now is whether or not the Bluejays are going to have Greg McDermott coaching them in the NCAA tournament. He was suspended for Saturday’s game against Butler after some turmoil within the locker room. Star guard Marcus Zegarowski backed him publicly in the postgame press conference afterward. That matters.

But this is still a fractured locker room. While there are certain members of the team that are willing to forgive him for what he said, there are a couple of players on the roster that are not. I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that McDermott’s suspension coincided with Creighton putting together their best performance in three weeks. This is something to monitor moving forward.

THE CASE AGAINST: Villanova

Without Collin Gillespie, the Wildcats do not have a point guard on their roster. Without Justin Moore, they don’t have their emergency point guard on the roster. After Moore sprained his ankle on Saturday — an injury Jay Wright dubbed as “serious” — the Wildcats were forced to play 25 minutes with Chris Arcidiacono at the point. Prior to Saturday’s loss, he had played 35 minutes combined in his two-year career. I was already jumping off of the Villanova bandwagon before the injuries started piling up, and while I do trust Wright to find a way to get creative this week, losing a senior leader and All-American before his final March run in the middle of a year that has been this trying is not going to be easy to overcome.

THE SLEEPER: St. John’s

Most people are going to love Xavier here, and I get it to a point. The Musketeers are dangerous given their ability to shoot, they are playing for a chance to get an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and they get an easy first round draw. The problem? They are playing in the Wednesday games. Not only will they have to win four games in four days, but they are also likely going to have to get through Creighton and UConn just to get to the title game. That’s gross.

So I’ll take St. John’s, who will be playing in their second home. Their pressuring style should wreak havoc on a pair of teams that don’t have great point guard play in Seton Hall and, presumably, Villanova, and once they get to the final, all they have to do is win one game. That (+2000) price is too high and worth rolling the dice.

BIG EAST TOURNAMENT ODDS 2021: SCHEDULE

First Round (Wed. 3/10)
3pm: #8 Georgetown vs. #9 Marquette
6pm: #7 Xavier vs. #10 Butler
9pm: #6 Providence vs. #11 DePaul

Quarterfinals (Thurs. 3/11)
12pm: #1 Villanova vs. 8/9 Winner
3pm: #4 St. John’s vs. #5 Seton Hall
6pm: #2 Creighton vs. 7/10 Winner
9pm: #3 UConn vs. 6/11 Winner

Semifinals (Fri. 3/12)
6pm: QF1 Winner vs. QF2 Winner
9pm: QF3 Winner vs. QF4 Winner

Championship (Sat. 3/13)
6:30pm: SF1 Winner vs. SF2 Winner