Big 10 Tournament Betting Advice and Analysis

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Big 10 Tournament Betting Advice and Analysis
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There are several contenders to win the Big 10 tournament and it will be the one of the most unpredictable conference tournaments in recent memory, playing into the March Madness excitement.

The First Round Matchups

Nebraska is the 13 seed and it will take on 12-seeded Northwestern at 6 p.m. ET today at Indianapolis. The Wildcats are 5-point favorites and the game total is 144 points.

Nebraska comes into this game as winners of three straight games and covered the spread in all of them. It is riding a four-game against the spread win streak and is one of the hotter teams coming into the tournament.

The Wildcats stumbled down the stretch, winning five of their last seven games and covering the spread in just two of those.

I think Nebraska wins and covers the spread to advance to a second-round date with the 5-seed Iowa Hawkeyes, who are one of the hottest teams in the nation right now.

The second game pits the 14-seed Minnesota against the 11-seed Penn State, a 3.5-point favorite in this matchup. The total opened at 125 points and reflected the slower-paced style of both teams.

I think the Nittany Lions get the win, cover the number and will look to the second round to take on 6-seed Ohio State.

Who Are the Favorites to Win the Tournament?

Purdue, despite being the 3-seed, is the +225 to win the Tournament as offered by BetMGM Sportsbook.

Top-seeded Illinois is priced at +300, 5-seed Iowa is +400 and Wisconsin, co-Big 10 regular season champs, are +650.

I am going with Iowa at +400 to win the tournament. Keegan Murray ranks second nationally in scoring at 23.27 points per game and has played a team-high average of 31.4 minutes per game.

Iowa achieved the highest neutral court ranking in the conference and ranks second nationally among the 358 Division I programs.

Over their Past five games, the Hawkeyes rank No. 1 nationally in my power ratings. They are 14-8 against the spread when coming off a win this season.

There are two sleepers I think can make a run. Penn State at +8000 and Michigan State at +1300 as offered at BetMGM.