Big Ten Tournament Odds 2021

The Big Ten is just absolutely loaded this season, and their conference tournament is going to be the most entertaining of any league in the country, which makes for some wildly intriguing Big Ten Tournament odds. BetRivers.com is proud to provide a wide variety of Big Ten Tournament game odds, props, teasers and tournament futures.

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We have Iowa and Ohio State making their final push to try and earn a No. 1 seed. We have Illinois seeing if they can leapfrog Michigan into the No. 3 overall seed. What have Purdue playing like the best team in the conference for the last month. We have Rutgers, and Maryland, and Michigan State all fighting to make sure that they end up on the right side of the bubble.

Oh, and that’s before the drama of finding out whether or not Richard Pitino or Archie Miller will be returning for next season.

There are going to be a million storylines involving the teams in this conference this week. I, for one, cannot wait for it. Click here for the full list of Big Ten Tournament odds.

The Big Ten Tournament begins on Wednesday, March 10 and concludes on Sunday, March 14 with the Big Ten championship game. The Big Ten Tournament will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network and will be available for streaming on the BTN+ app. The Big Ten Championship game is set to tip off at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 14 and will be broadcast on CBS.

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

Big Ten Tournament Odds:

  • #1 Michigan (+175)
  • #2 Illinois (+375)
  • #3 Iowa (+425)
  • #4 Purdue (+500)
  • #5 Ohio State (+685)
  • #6 Wisconsin (+1100)
  • #7 Rutgers (+2500)
  • #9 Michigan State (+5000)
  • #8 Maryland (+6500)
  • #10 Indiana (+8000)
  • #13 Minnesota (+10000)
  • #12 Northwestern (+15000)
  • #11 Penn State (+20000)
  • #14 Nebraska (+100000)

BIG TEN TOURNAMENT ODDS: Betting Trends

Michigan is the top seed, odds-on favorite, and public favorite to win the Big Ten Tournament, backed by 38.5% of Big Ten bets and 29% of Big Ten handle. The Iowa Hawkeyes enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed with the third shortest odds, but the second most bets (18.2%) and handle (28.1%). No. 6 Wisconsin is responsible for the third-largest percentage of total handle (15.1%) while No. 9 seed Michigan State is backed by the third-largest percentage of total bets (10.5%). No. 2 seed Illinois, is backed by the fourth largest percentage of both bets (7.1%) and handle (5%)

THE FAVORITE: Illinois

Yes, I’m calling Illinois the favorite to win the Big Ten tournament — there are some injuries, I’ll get to that in a minute — but I think the bigger point to make here is that Illinois, without a doubt, my favorite bet heading into this tournament. There really is no reason that they should be sitting at (+375) while Michigan is (+175).

The Illini have the most clutch player in college basketball on their roster in Ayo Dosunmu. Their five, Kofi Cockburn, is a monster in the paint that has slowly developed the ability to defend against ball-screens. They adjusted to Ayo’s absence earlier this year by having Andre Curbelo move into the full-time point guard role, and that led to Curbelo having his best game of the season — 19 points, six assists, five boards — in Ayo’s first game back. The best teams in college basketball have two playmakers in their backcourt, and Illinois can now claim as much.

I’m all in on the Illini right now.

THE CASE FOR: Purdue

I’m not sure there are ten teams in the country that are playing better basketball that Purdue in 2021. The Boilermakers have won five in a row to close out their season, a winning streak that caps off a run where they went 11-3 in their final 14 games. They finished all alone in fourth place in the Big Ten, something I don’t think anyone predicted coming into the season. Trevion Williams has been awesome and Eric Hunter is a terrific leader at the point, but the story here has been the development of their freshmen class. Zach Edey, Jaden Ivey, Brandon Newman, Mason Gillis. As the saying goes, in March, freshmen become sophomores, and that crop has proven themselves ready.

I think Purdue is going to enter next season as a preseason top ten team. If that’s the case, then shouldn’t we be on them at the end of this season?

I am somewhat worried about their draw, but Ohio State has lost their last four games, and Michigan has lost two of their last four and might be without some key players, depending on injury status. I don’t think it’s as bad as it looks at first glance.

THE CASE AGAINST: Michigan and Iowa

Saturday was something of a bloodbath for Big Ten teams on the injury front. Eli Brooks left after five minutes and did not return in Michigan’s loss to Michigan State. Franz Wagner was limping pretty heavily as the buzzer sound as well, and I’m not sure what incentive the Wolverines have to play those guys in Indy this week when the tournament that they truly care about starts next week.

Along those same lines, Joe Wieskamp hurt his ankle in the first half against Wisconsin and did not come back in the game. C.J. Frederick is already banged up for the Hawkeyes, and given how much wear and tear is possible playing as many as three games in three nights, I’m not sure I see how it makes sense to do so if there is any chance of an injury lingering into the first weekend of the tournament. No one will remember getting bounced out of the Big Ten tournament. Everyone will remember a run to the Final Four, and given that we don’t know how these coaching staffs are going to play this out, it’s not worth the risk for me at current price levels.

THE SLEEPER: Michigan State

The Spartans are a different team when Aaron Henry and Rocket Watts play the way that they did on Sunday.

Now, we’ve come to expect this out of Henry. He’s been unbelievable in the last three weeks, the biggest reason that Michigan State has turned their season around and put themselves in a position to get into the NCAA tournament. Watts, however, is erratic and inconsistent and, in my mind, the biggest reason the Spartans have been so disappointing this season.

But MSU is unquestionably peaking right now. They’ve beaten Ohio State, Illinois, and Michigan in the last 13 days. They are up to the No. 9-seed, meaning that they get Maryland and then a banged-up Michigan should they win their first game. At 50:1 odds, they are worth rolling the dice on.

Big Ten Tournament Odds 2021: Schedule

First Round (Wed. 3/10)
6:30pm: #12 Northwestern vs. #13 Minnesota
9pm: #11 Penn State vs. #14 Nebraska
Second Round (Thurs. 3/11)
11:30am: #8 Maryland vs. #9 Michigan State
2pm: #5 Ohio State vs. 12/13 Winner
6:30pm: #7 Rutgers vs. #10 Indiana
9pm: #6 Wisconsin vs. 11/14 Winner
Quarterfinals (Fri. 3/12)
11:30am: #1 Michigan vs. TBD
2pm: #4 Purdue vs. TBD
6:30pm: #2 Illinois vs. TBD
9pm: #3 Iowa vs. TBD
Semifinals (Sat. 3/13)
1pm: QF1 Winner vs. QF2 Winner
3:30pm: QF3 Winner vs. QF4 Winner
Championship (Sun. 3/14)
3:30pm: SF1 Winner vs. SF2 Winner