2011 Big East Championship Odds

Starting this Tuesday, March 8 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the Big East Conference will hold their annual men’s basketball tournament. The action should be fast and furious as the there could be a record number of teams earning a place in the field of 68 for this year’s NCAA Men’s Tournament depending on the outcome of these games.

First round action consists of the bottom six seeds with No.9 Connecticut vs. No.16 DePaul, No.10 Villanova vs. No.15 South Florida, No.11 Marquette vs. No.14 Providence and No.12 Seton Hall vs. No.13 Rutgers.

Wednesday’s games pit No. 5 St. John’s against the 12/13 winner, No.6 West Virginia against the 11/14 winner, No.7 Cincinnati against the 10/15 winner, and No.8 Georgetown against 9/16 winner. The top four seeds in the conference; No.1 Pittsburgh, No.2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Louisville, and No.4 Syracuse will face the winners of the second round games on Thursday, March 10 in the quarterfinals.

Sportsbook.com has opened No.1 seed Pittsburgh and No.2 seed Notre Dame as the co-favorites at +200 to win this tournament. The Panthers come in as the No.5 team in the country and would be a lock to earn one of four No.1 seeds for the NCAA Tournament with a strong showing over the next few days. They finished the regular season 24-7 straight-up and 14-12 against the spread. Pitt went 15-3 SU in Big East play which was good enough to win the regular season title.

Led by junior guard Ashton Gibbs’ team-high 16.4 points and senior guard Brad Wanamaker’s 11.9 points, 5.2 assists, and 5.3 rebounds, the Panthers are averaging 74 points a game and ranked sixth in the nation in rebounds with 40.

Notre Dame’s senior leadership has guided the Irish to a No.7 ranking in the Coaches Poll and an overall record of 25-5 SU (15-10 ATS) which happens to include a 56-51 victory over Pitt on Jan.24 as a 10 ½-point road underdog. They ended up one game in back of the Panthers in the final Big East standings with a record of 14-4 SU.

Ben Hansbrough and Tim Abromaitis have provided the majority of the offensive production for Notre Dame this season. Hansbrough leads the team in scoring with 18.5 points a game and is also first in assists with 4.2, while Abromaitis is second on the team in points (15.2) and rebounds (6.2). The Irish are shooting 46.4 percent from the field and averaging 76 points a game.

The next favorite is No.4 seed Syracuse at +250. The Orange finished the regular season on a strong note with five straight victories including a 58-51 win over Georgetown on Feb.26 in a game that closed as a ‘pick’. They have an overall record of 25-6 SU (13-16 ATS) and went 12-6 SU in conference play.

Syracuse boasts a trio of talent in Kris Joseph, Rick Jackson, and Scoop Jardine. Joseph leads the team with 14.2 points a game and is second in rebounds with 4.9. Jackson is averaging a team-high 10.7 rebounds a game and Jardine leads in assists with six.

The value pick for this tournament could be No.3 seed Louisville at +450. The Cardinals closed out the regular season with a tough 72-70 loss to West Virginia as a 3 ½-point road underdog, but they posted wins over both Pitt and Syracuse and lost to Notre Dame in overtime. Louisville is currently 23-8 SU overall (17-10-1 ATS) and 12-6 SU in the Big East.

Senior guard Preston Knowles is the team’s leading scorer with 14.5 points a game but is shooting just 37.9 percent from the field. The Cardinals are shooting 45.5 percent as a team and averaging 75 points a game.