NCAA Basketball: 2023 Sun Belt Tournament preview and best bets
By Brian Emory
Best bets for picking a Sun Belt champion
If reading this article has you ready to watch some Sun Belt hoops and have some skin in the game this weekend, there are two bets on the table I would recommend tossing some cash on.
Marshall +225: These odds understandably may not be what you’re looking for when betting conference tournaments, because these tournaments can present the opportunity to cash on some serious long-shot tickets. The Thundering Herd might feel like a boring, safe play but every metric/model suggests that this is the best team in the conference. Taevion Kinsey should be the best player in Pensacola, and the conclusion of his career feels incomplete without a trip to the Big Dance. The Herd also enter the tournament in great form, only losing twice since the start of February.
South Alabama +750: Alright, to those of you degenerates looking to cash a serious lottery ticket this weekend, maybe this play looks a bit more appetizing. The Jaguars are simply red hot right now, even I can’t resist sprinkling half a unit on them at this number. Not only does the team enter the tournament off a great run of play, it is not difficult to talk yourself into this team’s path to the final. South Alabama starts with an Appalachian State team it beat by 17 on February 11. If the Jaguars beat the Mountaineers again, they’ll play a Southern Miss squad they throttled by 31 on February 16th.
Next. 3 teams to watch in first week of conference tournaments. dark
The favorable path to the semi-final is staring you right there in the face, and once you make it that far anything can happen in these tournaments from that point forwards. This is probably one of the more intriguing long-shot plays across the entire mid-major landscape this weekend.