Mid February Update
The Big East’s regular season outcome was not worlds off of what oddsmakers expected heading into the season. Although the order of the teams was not exactly correct, the group of teams expected to be in contention was mostly spot on.
Creighton and Villanova were the preseason favorites. Villanova has been a disappointment, but Creighton is within striking distance in the Big East regular season standings. They trail the pleasant surprise of Marquette by a game and a half. Tied with Creighton are Providence and Xavier in the conference. UConn, Seton Hall and Saint John’s are out of conference contention, but are teams set up with remaining NCAA tournament hopes.
Despite Marquette being the favorite to take the Big East regular season championship, it is Creighton that has the lower +3000 odds to be national champions. Marquette sits at +3500 and these two teams are the only two Big East squads within the top 20 of national champion odds offerings.
Wager For Conference Winner
The standings may be a bit deceiving for who to back to take down the regular season Big East championship. With just four or five games left to play, depending on which team, Marquette is favored in the -150 to -180 range. This seems low considering a game and a half lead with so few games remaining. We will tell you why the line is so low, and ultimately why it should not be.
Note: Xavier and Providence each play a more difficult remaining schedule than the other two teams, and their matchup with each other will remove one team from contention, so we are not considering them for a wager.
Marquette still has to play a game at Creighton. Oddsmakers are likely projecting a win for Creighton on their home floor, so that would close the lead to just half a game. If both teams win out, Creighton, having an additional game remaining would move into a tie with Marquette atop the standings. Again, this is assuming Creighton beats Marquette and both teams win all of their remaining games, as will be expected via points spread.
Giving Creighton the benefit of the significant doubt that they win out and create a tie at the end of the season, tiebreaker rules would come into effect. This is where Marquette has a significant edge. They won the first matchup with Creighton, so following Big East tiebreak procedures we would find ourselves in a coin flip tie break scenario.
A coin flip is generally not where we want to find ourselves with wagers, but we have to consider this is likely the worst case scenario for Marquette. Creighton needs everything to go perfectly to get to the coin flip scenario, while the margin for error is significantly wider for Marquette. We will lay the -150 on them with the expectation that the coin flip is a worst case scenario.
Big East Conference Betting Odds
Preseason Look
The Big East regular season is going to be chaotic as four of the 11 teams could win this league. Creighton is the slight favorite over Villanova as the Bluejays are ready to welcome their best team in school history.
UConn and Xavier are also expected to make some noise as they are both right there with less than 6/1 odds to win the conference.
St. John’s, Seton Hall, and Marquette could be dangerous and will upset some of the top teams, but it would be a surprise to see them make any noise come March.
In the national championship picture, Creighton is the highest Big East team (10th) and Villanova (17th) is the only other conference member in the top 20.
Big East Conference History
The first Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament took place in 1980. Since then, the conference has gone through many changes with the most notable one coming a few years ago when it was split into the “new” Big East and the AAC. As it stands, the Big East has 11 teams in it who play a regular-season schedule before competing in the Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament.
As with the other conference tournaments, the winner of the Big East tournament wins their spot in the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball tournament. Georgetown and UConn pace the Big East with seven championships each while Villanova has five.
The Big East is going to have a fun regular season, but it remains to be seen if they can get their first national championship since Villanova in 2018.
Other College Basketball Conference Odds
- AAC Conference
- ACC Conference
- A-10 Conference
- Big 10 Conference
- Big 12 Conference
- SEC Conference
- Pac-12 Conference
- Mountain West Conference
- West Coast Conference
Win Count All-Time in The Big East Tournament
| Wins | Big East Team | Last Yr Won |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Connecticut | 2011 |
| 7 | Georgetown | 2007 |
| 6 | Villanova | 2021 |
| 5 | Syracuse | 2006 |
| 3 | Seton Hall | 2016 |
| 3 | Louisville | 2013 |
| 3 | St. John’s | 2000 |
| 1 | Providence | 2022 |
