Paul Rami's Championship Week Winner's (Mens Basketball)
- Paul Rami
- 7 minutes ago
- 8 min read
I'd like to preface this write up by saying that during these tournaments, we will be going for value and not betting all favorites to win here. So subscribe and continue on to see where we find some great spots in these tournaments to really turn March into a profitable month. All picks will be for .25 Units of our bankroll so keep that in mind as well when placing these wagers. All lines will also be the current odds on Kalshi.
BIG EAST TOURNAMENT
Rankings & Odds (via Kalshi)
St John's (+185)
UConn (+104)
Villanova (+809)
Seton Hall (+1328)
Creighton (+3233)
DePaul (+9900)
Marquette (+4900)
Butler (+9900)
Providence (+9900)
Xavier (+9900)
Georgetown (+4900)
The reality is, for this tournament, there are really only 2 clear winners here in the Big East. Obviously if a team like Creighton or Seton Hall can steal a bid, that would make some noise, but not likely.
St John's with only 1 loss since its January 3rd loss to Providence has really looked dominating which can be expected as long as Rick Pitino is coaching. Not quite the same defense as last year but still a top 30 rated defense in all of college basketball. The main stats that we continue to look at especially when it comes to tournament time will always be free throw shooting percentage, 3 point field goal percentage, and turnovers. When it gets down to these close games, you always want to be on the side of a team that can hit a 3 if needed, but also make free throws in key situations when leading to maintain that lead or if trailing and needing to score while the clock is stopped. We have seen in the past that teams with inferior guard play struggle which is a weakness here for the Red Storm. They move the ball incredibly well with 16.5 assists per game but will need more than that offensively if they want a chance against the favorite UConn.
UConn has the much easier road to victory here in the Big East as facing Xavier or Marquette in the first Quarterfinals will be a walk in the park. After getting through and most likely taking on Villanova, UConn will have another semi easy job as they have had Villanova's number all season and beating them twice in both matchups 73-63 on February 21st, and 75-67 back on January 24th.
As boring and anti climactic as this pick is, there is really no reason to bet on any other schools here to win the Big East. If you are looking to get the juices flowing and take a flyer, the play would be Seton Hall at +1566. With the ability to keep it close against the top schools here in the Big East, they have the defense and free throw shooting to give themselves a chance, but if they get behind, kiss them goodnight as their poor 3 point shooting won't be able to save them. We will have better spots of other schools to take a better number later on in this post.
Big East Tournament Winner
UConn (+104) .25 Units
