This week (in fact, this afternoon) the major conference tournaments kick in as the massive, 5-day, 16-team Big East tournament kicks off.  And what a week it is.  There are more games this week than there are in the NCAA tournament, NIT, and CBI combined.  For basketball bettors it is a huge week.  Let’s take a look at five things that you should be thinking about as you play the college conference tournaments, a time of year where motivation and matchups are the two key handicapping factors. .

1. These tournaments mean different things in different leagues.  The importance of the Big East and ACC tournaments are ingrained in the culture in those leagues, and bragging rights from bringing home the title in front of frenzied crowds is important.   In the Big 12 and Pac 10 there is less focus on the tournament.  Powerful teams are more likely to mail one in and move on to the NCAA’s.

2. But things can change on a year to year basis.  With none of the “powerful teams” mentioned in item 2, the Pac Ten tourney is more important than usual.   The league is way down this year and there is a chance for this to be a one-bid league.  But some bracket analysts believe that if Arizona State meets Washington in the semi-finals, that might be close to a “play-in” game for one of those teams.

3. Some conference tourneys mean a lot in settling NCAA bids.  Some don’t.  While there are 4 or even 5 teams in the Atlantic 10 tournament who could play their way on or off the bubble, the opposite is true in the Big 12. The top 7 Big 12 are universally accepted to be locked in to their bids.  The bottom 5 Big 12 teams are universally accepted to be out of the tournament barring some sort of miracle run.

4. Motivation and matchups based on this year’s teams matter.  Live in the present.  Past history doesn’t matter a whole lot in a season where 14-loss UConn is the 12th seed in the Big East Conference tournment, 17-loss UCLA had a losing record in the Pac Ten, 15-loss North Carolina humiliated themselves weekly in the ACC, and 20-loss Indiana lost 11 Big 10 games by 13 or more.  

5.  There are a lot of hidden factors in each conference tournament that you need to spend time making yourself aware of.  For instance, the Conference USA tournament is finally in a city other than Memphis this year.  It is in Tulsa, but it is not on Tulsa’s home court, so don’t give Tulsa a full home-court edge, but a modest one instead.   In years that Syracuse doesn’t have much of a shot in the NCAA’s, Jim Boeheim takes a big shot in the Big East tournament.  But in years where he sees his team as a major NCAA threat, his teams are less liketly to go to the wall with top effort.   In fact, Boeheim has told people he may rest Wes Johnson this week in an effort to get his hand healthy.  While following through on resting Johnson would be a surprise, Boeheim may simply be prepping for the NCAA’s. 

This is annually our most active week of the year, and often one of our most profitable ones.  And you can get all of our conference tournament action for free when you sign up for our NCAA tournament package.  Additionally, you’ll get the rest of the NBA for free as well.  In the closing weeks of the NBA we get active with a number of late-season strategies that have done well for us in the past.   

The end result is you get all of our remaining college basketball and NBA regular season for less than $9 per day.  For details or more information call 770-649-1078.  If there’s no answer (during prime ‘capping time the phone doesn’t always get answered) just leave a message and I’ll call you back personally.    

Good luck in the conference tournaments, and be careful.