Pac-12 Tournament Odds – One to Buy, One to Sell at BetRivers

I’m wondering BetRivers Sportsbook linemakers didn’t make the regular season champion UCLA Bruins heavy favorites to win the conference tournament as big a steaming pile of cow dung the conference proved to be over the course of the regular season. As it stands right now, only three of 12 reps find themselves in the Field of 68 – them being UCLA, Arizona, and USC. According to the most recent installment of Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology, Arizona State is on the first cut line while Oregon is on the second. While that should bring extra drama to the T-Mobile Arena when the teams go at one another in the Pac-12 Tournament, I’m not sure any of them have what it takes to be the last team standing. Their odds aren’t nearly attractive enough to fade the two top dogs either, so here’s my take on one to buy and one to sell when attacking the futures odds.

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BUY: Wazzou Cougars +2000

According to the most up to date Pomeroy Ratings, Washington State is the fifth best team in the Pac-12 behind Oregon, USC, Arizona, and UCLA. Even so, Kyle Smith’s squad can’t even sniff a bid to the Dance after going 16-15 overall and 11-9 in conference play. That’s how bad the Pac-12 has been as a whole to this point of the season. Even so, I think TJ Bamba and his mates are worth a dart throw at this price offering. The Cougars closed the season playing an extremely confident brand of ball evidenced by winning their final six games which included their last three on the road at Stanford, Cal, and Washington (2-1 ATS).

While the offense is a bit too reliant upon the 3-ball dropping to put points on the board (No. 55), thankfully the offense ranks out as the No. 50 ranked long range shooting team in the country. Their ability to light it up from deep paired with a lock down defense that concedes just over 65.0 points per game and hits the glass has me bullish on Wazzou possibly opening up some eyes over the next week. It swept Cal and split with Oregon in the regular season. Should it reach the semis, it’ll either get Colorado, UCLA, or Washington. It swept the Huskies, and stands 0-3 SU but 2-1 ATS versus the Buffs and Bruins. It’s likely a waste of money, but I think the Cougars are worth a small beer money flier.

SELL: Oregon Ducks +1000

The Oregon Ducks have a rich history of competing well in this tournament under Dana Altman’s watch having cut down the nets three times since 2013. This year’s squad looks to be a different beast however. It’s not that the talent isn’t there with Will Richardson running the point and N’Faly Dante tearing things up in the paint, but the complimentary pieces just don’t seem to be up to snuff in my opinion. This is a team that dropped six games in front of the hometown faithful and only managed a 4-7 record playing away from Matthew Knight Arena. While the 87-68 smashing of Arizona at home was impressive, it amounted to being one of only two Quad 1 wins registered through 10 overall tries.

Scoring the basketball has been incredibly tough for the Ducks all season. It’ll invade Sin City owners of the 190^th ranked scoring offense that averaged a paltry 71.0 points per game. On top of that, it’s wretched from beyond the arc (No. 285) making it paramount to do damage close to the rack (No. 50). Colorado and UCLA sport solid 2-point defenses in their bracket with the bottom half sporting teams like Arizona, USC, ASU, and Utah who rank out amongst the country’s best in that stat category. The Ducks certainly have the wherewithal to ugly it up enough to be a factor in every game played throughout this tournament, but I’m not sold on the offense being able to come up with the big shots when needed to allow it to secure the auto-bid. Unfortunately, it looks like an NIT showing is in store for the Quack Attack.

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