Kansas and Baylor split the Big 12 regular-season championship, but that doesn’t tell the entire story of the conference this year. All year, the schools were locked in a vicious battle for seeing that made the league fun to watch on a night-to-night basis. Only four teams — Kansas, Baylor, Texas, and Texas Tech — were able to win ten or more conference games.
The next five teams, including Oklahoma State, which is ineligible to participate in this year’s tournament due to an NCAAB Tournament ban, were all separated by two games. The Longhorns, who are seeded fourth this year, won the championship last season by taking down another surprise team, the fifth-seeded Cowboys, to win the title.
While Texas isn’t the betting favorite to repeat, the Longhorns have the fourth-shortest betting odds at +500 to win the title.
Let’s go over all of the available sport betting information and try to find the best NCAAB expert picks to bet on.
Big 12 Conference Tournament Betting Analysis
Defending champs look to start their momentum
Baylor Bears, which is ranked No. 3 nationally and are the defending national champions, looked destined for another deep run until January hit. The Bears then started to hit some adversity when it lost home games to Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. Baylor, which is 26-5 overall and 14-4 in the conference, have since settled down and started to look like a title contender.
The Bears, who are +225 to win the tournament, are 18-0 this season when scoring more points in the paint than their opponents. Baylor is also 17-1 when committing fewer turnovers. Shooting from the outside has been a headache for the Bears’ opponents.
Baylor only allows its opponents to make 29.2 percent of its 3-point attempts, which ranks 12th nationally. The Bears also have a strong offense, scoring 76.8 points per game. Adam Flagler leads Baylor in scoring by averaging 13.8 points per game.
We are fine without you
Texas Tech basketball hasn’t suffered too much in the absence of Chris Beard, who is now leading rival Texas. The third-seeded Red Raiders, who are +250 to win the tournament, finished ahead of Texas in the regular season and swept the season series. Texas Tech is entering the conference tournament on a bit of a cold spell, losing two of its last three games to TCU and Oklahoma State.
However, the Red Raiders have plenty of punch featuring four players who average in double-figure scoring. Texas Tech is led by Bryson Williams, who averages 14.0 points per game. The Red Raiders, however, have been devastating because of their efficiency on both sides of the floor.
Texas Tech ranks 41st nationally by making 41 percent of its field goals. The Red Raiders also rank 10th nationally in field goal percentage defense and 14th in scoring defense.
Rock Chalk
It’s hard to make heads or tails of tournament favorite Kansas, which is a +200 NCAAB odds favorite to win the event and last won it in 2018. The Jayhawks are an excellent team and may have the best player in the tournament. However, Kansas has struggled outside of Allen Fieldhouse.
The Jayhawks are 25-8 overall but were 6-5 in true road games and 3-1 in neutral games. Kansas’ Ochai Agbaji was selected as an All-American following a season where he shot 41.1 percent from the 3-point line and averaged 19.8 points per game. The Jayhawks also have three other players who average in double figures.
Kansas ranks 29th nationally in scoring offense, scoring 78.6 points per game, while the Jayhawks shoot 48 percent from the field, which ranks 23rd nationally.
Rest of the field
Defending champion Texas has had a solid first season under Beard and will be a tough out. The Longhorns did struggle against the three times above them in the standings. Texas split with Kansas but was 0-4 against Texas Tech and Baylor.
Jamie Dixon and TCU Horned Frogs, which are +1700 to win, finished fifth but struggled in the final week of the season, falling to Kansas and last-place West Virginia. The Horned Frogs, who are 19-11, will want to win at least one game in the tournament to help give their NCAA Tournament a much-needed boost after a lackluster effort against the Mountaineers.
Big 12 Conference Tournament Betting Prediction
This tournament is capable of producing some chaos, so take some extra time analyzing the teams when making your NCAAB betting picks.
The nine-team field will have more than half the field desperate to pile up some more wins to improve their NCAA Tournament seed. Some of those teams will also want to impress the committee to make sure they aren’t on the outside looking in.
Baylor fell short of winning the Big 12 last season on its way to its first national championship. This year, the Bears will remedy that by winning the crown and establishing themselves as a top seed for the big dance. Baylor won’t find the road there easy, as this will be a highly-competitive field full of potential hurdles.
If you love sports and want more sports betting information follow us as @InsidersBetDig on Twitter and sign up to our mailing list for free betting picks.