by Ben Perks
The Baylor Bears and Kansas Jayhawks are joint favorites to win the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament. The prestigious event at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, from March 9-12 will help determine the seeding for March Madness. Get betting insights and view the odds for the Big 12 Conference Tournament.
Big 12 Conference Tournament: How it Works
The Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament is a single-elimination tournament of four rounds. This year, not all teams will participate in the competition because Oklahoma State must serve a postseason ban as a result of a 2017 FBI bribery investigation. The top seven of the remaining nine teams in the Big 12 receive a bye, with the bottom two finishers playing each other in the first round to determine the final eight teams.
As the tournament winner receives the Big 12 Conference automatic bid to the NCAA Championship tournament, each team will be giving it their all to help their March Madness chances.
The Big 12 Tournament Favorites
Although some betting sites have Baylor as the lone frontrunner on the odds table, online sportsbook Bovada has the Bears and the Kansas Jayhawks as +200 joint favorites to win the Big 12 Tournament. Because Baylor is the second-best team in the country and will likely win the regular-season conference championship, Vegas oddsmakers favoring the NCAA champions is unsurprising. However, as a few of Baylor’s stars are injured (Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, LJ Cryer, Langston Love), Bovada has given the Jayhawks an equal chance of winning the competition. As for Kansas, it owes its favorite tag to having a top-five offense.
No. 21 Texas Longhorns (+450)
If you’re looking for a larger potential return on your futures bets, the Longhorns look like a solid option at +450. Although Texas is not the most impressive team at both ends of the court, they have managed some big wins this season, including one over Kansas a few weeks ago. Yet, it’s also worth pointing out that the Longhorns have lost twice against the Baylor Bears and would therefore be big underdogs if they face them for the third time.
Still, Texas is a legitimate top 15-20 team in the country that can cause problems for quality opposition.
No. 12 Texas Tech Red Raiders (+350)
At +350, the Raiders will attract some action, and rightly so. Texas Tech has had a great season mainly due to its quality defense – only San Diego State ranks ahead of the Raiders in adjusted defensive efficiency this year. What’s more, they have beaten Baylor twice this season and Kansas once. In those three games, Texas Tech held their opponent to 73 points or fewer. Therefore, the Raiders have got what it takes to go all the way in the Big 12 Conference Tournament.
Check the latest odds for upcoming NCAAB games.
Ben is a sports journalist & part-time trader with a passion for finding +EV bets. Ben lives in Madrid, Spain where he enjoys the live poker scene, and sunshine where he covers UFC, MLB, NHL, NBA, as well as tennis betting.
