It is Championship Week in college basketball, which means mulligans across the board for men’s teams in pursuit of NCAA Tournament berths.
Heading into tonight’s start of a heavy dose of conference tournaments, only one college team from Texas earned a regular-season title _ Stephen F. Austin, in the Southland Conference _ and projects as a favorite to win its league tournament as well. So we’ll eliminate the Lumberjacks (26-3) from this discussion. And we’ll ask this question:
Of all the college teams from Texas scrambling for a back-door route into the NCAA field, which ones have the best chance of capitalizing on the opportunity?
Based on odds released today by Bovada Sports Book (www.Bovada.lv), the teams to watch are UTEP (6/1) in the Conference USA Tournament, Baylor (10/1) in the Big 12 Tournament and UTA (12/1) in the WAC Tournament.
No other Texas schools were given better odds than 33/1 to squeeze into the NCAA Tournament field. And those odds went to Texas (Big 12) and Houston (CUSA).
Texas A&M received 300/1 odds in the SEC Tournament, while both TCU and Texas Tech were assigned 500/1 odds to run the table in the Big 12. Both the Red Raiders (10-19) and Horned Frogs (11-20) begin play tonight in the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Mo. Tech meets West Virginia (13-18) at 6 p.m. and TCU plays Texas (15-16) at 8:30 p.m.
Both SMU (66/1) and Rice (750/1) qualify for longshot status in the CUSA event. The same is true in the WAC Tournament for UTSA (100/1) and Texas State (250/1).
Below is a look at Bovada’s odds for teams to prevail in multiple conference tournaments, including some that have no Texas teams in the mix:
Odds to Win the Big 12 Post Season Tournament
Kansas 5/7
Oklahoma State 9/2
Kansas State 5/1
Iowa State 8/1
Baylor 10/1
Oklahoma 12/1
Texas 33/1
West Virginia 75/1
Texas Tech 500/1
TCU 500/1
Odds to Win the SEC Post Season Tournament
Florida 2/5
Missouri 11/2
Kentucky 7/1
Ole Miss 10/1
Tennessee 10/1
Alabama 30/1
Arkansas 50/1
LSU 200/1
Georgia 200/1
Vanderbilt 200/1
Texas A&M 300/1
South Carolina 750/1
Mississippi State 750/1
Auburn 750/1
Odds to Win the WAC Post Season Tournament
Denver 2/3
Louisiana Tech 3/1
New Mexico State 5/1
Utah State 8/1
UT Arlington 12/1
Idaho 33/1
Seattle 100/1
UTSA 100/1
Texas State 250/1
San Jose State 250/1
Odds to Win the Conference USA Post Season Tournament
Memphis 10/13
Southern Miss 2/1
UTEP 6/1
Tulsa 18/1
East Carolina 20/1
Houston 33/1
UAB 40/1
Tulane 40/1
Marshall 40/1
Southern Methodist 66/1
Rice 750/1
Odds to Win the ACC Post Season Tournament
Duke 10/11
Miami Florida 3/1
North Carolina 11/2
North Carolina State 9/1
Virginia 9/1
Maryland 33/1
Florida State 66/1
Georgia Tech 75/1
Clemson 75/1
Boston College 150/1
Virginia Tech 250/1
Wake Forest 300/1
Odds to Win the Atlantic 10 Post Season Tournament
Virginia Commonwealth 9/5
Saint Louis 2/1
Temple 13/2
La Salle 7/1
Butler 9/1
Saint Joseph's 25/1
Richmond 25/1
Dayton 25/1
Massachusetts 30/1
Xavier 30/1
George Washington 75/1
Charlotte 150/1
Odds to Win the Big Ten Post Season Tournament
Indiana 3/2
Ohio State 3/1
Michigan State 4/1
Michigan 5/1
Wisconsin 7/1
Minnesota 28/1
Iowa 30/1
Illinois 66/1
Purdue 75/1
Nebraska 500/1
Northwestern 500/1
Penn State 750/1
Odds to Win the Big West Post Season Tournament
Pacific 5/2
Long Beach State 11/4
Cal Irvine 17/4
Cal Poly SLO 9/2
UC Davis 10/1
Hawaii 12/1
UCSB 15/1
CS Fullerton 15/1
Odds to Win the PAC 12 Post Season Tournament
Arizona 19/10
UCLA 4/1
Oregon 5/1
California 5/1
Colorado 7/1
Stanford 10/1
Washington 18/1
Arizona State 33/1
Washington State 33/1
USC 50/1
Utah 100/1
Oregon State 100/1
Odds to Win the Big East Post Season Tournament
Louisville 7/5
Georgetown 17/4
Pittsburgh 19/4
Syracuse 5/1
Marquette 10/1
Notre Dame 18/1
Connecticut 22/1
Villanova 25/1
Cincinnati 28/1
Providence 60/1
St. John's 75/1
Rutgers 250/1
Seton Hall 350/1
South Florida 250/1
DePaul 750/1
Odds to Win the Mountain West Post Season Tournament
UNLV 7/4
New Mexico 11/4
Colorado State 3/1
San Diego State 5/1
Boise State 8/1
Air Force 30/1
Fresno State 50/1
Wyoming 50/1
Nevada 75/1
_ Jimmy Burch
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