What with a damn near exasperatingly-fun weekend of college hoops winding down this Sunday evening, we’ll see several teams punch their tickets to the Big Dance and brace for Selection Sunday. Other conference tournaments, however—especially for some of the major-market tables—don’t tip off until March 10th or later. I decided to create a cheat sheet/one sheet/betting guide (pick your flavor) for the big-boy tournaments this week, with all eyes towards March Madness just around the corner. But first: today’s best bets for conference championship week.
I’ll be picking individual games throughout the week, with plenty of coverage here on DraftKings Network. Follow my handle @dansby_edits for more to-the-minute, point-of-need analyses and plays throughout conference tournament week.
Let’s call it a Lapsed Fan’s Guide to College Hoops Conference Championship Week 2025, shall we?
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Best bets for major conference championship winner
Mountain West
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Really, this feels, to me, like a two-leg race between Richard Pitino’s Lobos and Jerrod Calhoun’s Aggies. The Lobos have Donovan Dent, whose deadly ability to attack the rim can swing a low-possession ballgame with gymnastic touch. While Colorado State’s deadly backcourt makes them an intriguing fringe team to make a run, I don’t think shots will fall for them as often as they did in their regular-season closer against Boise State. Speaking of the Broncos, at +425, they’re an interesting bet, what with their massive conference-play win streak just before this past weekend’s Colorado State loss. They won’t be as fatigued coming into the tournament.
Prediction to win: Utah State Aggies (+330)
Team to watch: Boise State Broncos (+425)
SEC
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Let’s begin here: the SEC is slated to break the record with total tournament bids for a conference with 13, potentially 14 in 2025. It feels dangerous to count Tennessee out of this tournament altogether, but their inconsistencies this season in road games against teams they’d played before makes me trepidatious. They’re an interesting bet at +600 to win, as they’d be much more heavily-favored in other conferences where that loss to Ole Miss isn’t under such a microscope. And folks will tell you that Ole Miss is the team to watch; they made a lot of noise this past weekend. But I don’t believe in Chris Beard’s squad relative to the rest of this conference. My outside shot to win this conference is Mark Pope’s Kentucky Wildcats, whose win at Missouri in Columbia felt, to me, like the advent of this team’s tournament quality. At +1900, they’ll be my team to watch.
My prediction to win, however, is the Florida Gators. They beat Alabama, who stunned odds-favorite Auburn in the Jungle on Saturday. Folks who’ve been following my game columns (we’re on a 6-0 run, baby!) know how much faith I have in Alex Condon’s presence in this Gators frontcourt. Their trio of senior guards in the backcourt are lethal, led by Walter Clayton Jr. They don’t get into foul trouble much, but could be better at the free throw line. Still, Gators to win.
Prediction to win: Florida Gators (+270)
Team to watch: Kentucky Wildcats (+1900)
Big Ten
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It’s 2025, and I’m still saying to myself: never discount Tom Izzo in March. The odds say so, too: Sparty is the short-odds favorite to win, and they’ve looked fantastic over their last eight games, particularly in the second halves. It might not be wise to shy away from them at +250 to win the tournament.
And yet, I can’t stop talking about the Maryland Terrapins. They’re in such elite company—one of only five teams ranked in the top 20 at KenPom for both offensive and defensive efficiency, and the only representative from the Big Ten. The Terps boast a balanced attack, ranking 18th nationally in offensive efficiency, while allowing just 63.4 points per game. Depth is not their strength, but their starters are elite together. With seven losses by an average of just 3.9 points, closing games has been their Achilles’ heel—but with their postseason hopes on the line, now is the time to change that, especially at +350.
And I know they just got embarrassed by State, but the Michigan Wolverines have been playing incredible defense of late. Keep an eye out for them; they could make a run if they establish a rhythm and force opponents to play into their traps.
Prediction to win: Maryland Terrapins (+350)
Team to watch: Michigan Wolverines (+1200)
Big 12
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Barring devastating injuries in 2022 to Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark, and an even more heartbreaking one to Jamal Shead in the Final Four of last year’s tournament, March Madness might have been Houston’s bracket to lose. For years now, Kelvin Sampson has had this team more prepared, more disciplined, and more composed than their Big 12 counterparts. LJ Cryer—a NCAAM scoring staple for three years now—has never looked so good, nor so confident. He wasn’t quite right in last year’s tournament, by my estimations. With a healthy JoJo Tugler and J’Wan Roberts (who missed a few tournament games in 2024), this is Houston’s conference to lose. Though, they did just suffer quite a scare from the Baylor Bears, who are +5000 to win, and a dark-horse favorite.
Mine, however, is more conservative: I think the only other team who, at their best, can slug it out with Houston is T. J. Otzelberger’s Iowa State Cyclones. The road to the Big 12 goes through Houston, and I think the only team who can match Kelvin Sampson’s brand of basketball and elevate their scorers to transcend it is the ‘Clones, so give me a sprinkle of a ticket on them at +600.
Prediction to win: Houston Cougars (-105)
Team to watch: Iowa State Cyclones (+600)
ACC
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Cooper Flagg is indeed “The Maine Event” for the Duke Blue Devils, who are an unbettable -320 to win the ACC this year. It’s all for good reason. Flagg is already being touted as, perhaps the best one-and-done college basketball player of all time. And he hasn’t even gotten to his conference tourney yet. Duke will get scared and tested in this tournament—they need to, re. March Madness—but they’ll win it at -320, so this one’s boring as far as the bracket.
It might, however, just be one of the most-watched. Don’t sleep on how fun Cooper Flagg will be to watch in every single game, and make sure to keep an eye on his rebounds prop in every game. His gravitational pull to the ball is tidal. As far as the team to watch? Not many, because an upset over Duke would likely collapse the globe in on itself. The only team to whom Duke’s allowed over 70 points since conference play began was Clemson, when they lost in Clemson 77-71. So give me them to repeat? I don’t know. North Carolina played them tough for a half, I guess.
Prediction to win: Duke Blue Devils (-320)
Team to watch: Clemson Tigers (+700)
Big East
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Dan Hurley’s world no more. After running the table last year, the UConn Huskies aren’t even the second-shortest odds favorite to win the Big East—that’s Creighton. St. John’s is the favorite for the Big East this year, and, especially after that OT buzzer-beater win at Marquette on Saturday, it’s for good reason. Rick Pitino’s squad is quite exceptional this year after showing fringe signs of being on-the-rise last year. They’re sitting at +155 to win the tournament, and
Can never count out UConn, and it’d certainly create a narrative throughline between 2024-2025, so I thought about them as my team to watch. And, at +425, it’s hard not to see UConn as a value. Though, I would like to note, Virginia Tech (+25000) is likely to be playing with their hair on fire, as they’re sitting right on the bubble for the tournament this year.
Prediction to win: St. John’s Red Storm (+155)
Team to watch: UConn Huskies (+425)
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