As the final holiday tournaments approach and the conference begins, let’s take a look at some betting news and trends around the league. The Wooden Award race has a new name in the mix as the Big 10 has become one of the deepest conferences in the country. Thanks to a hot start, the Arizona State Sun Devils have put themselves in a good position to make some noise in the Big 12 and advance into the Big Dance, and of course we have to take a look at “Nobody U.” Let’s see what’s going on across the country.

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Wood award update

As things stand, Johni Broome is the favorite to win the Wooden Award with odds of +130. His running mate Cooper Flagg is right behind him at +135. However, there is another name that has joined the party as Marquette’s Kam Jones is closing in on the two favorites. Jones currently has the third-best odds at +430. Broome has been the obvious leader for the second-place Auburn Tigers, as he leads the team in points (18.1 PPG), rebounds (11.5 RPG), assists (3.5 APG) and blocks (2.7 BPG) while making a Shot rate of 55.3% from the floor. His 11.5 RPG ranks fifth nationally, while he also ranks in the top 10 in BPG. As for Flagg, he leads the Blue Devils in points (16.6), rebounds (9.0 RPG), assists (3.6 APG), blocks (1.4 BPG), but also in turnovers (2.3 TO ). Enter Jones, who leads his Golden Eagles team in points (20.3 PPG) and assists (6.3 APG) while shooting 55.6% from the floor and 37.9% from distance. As a group, Jones leads the trio in scoring, FG% and 3P%, but Broome leads in every other major category. Broome also plays for the top-ranked team of the trio and competes in the toughest conference in the country. Auburn will face many other ranked teams throughout the conference schedule, and if Broome continues to perform as well as he did in the first half of the season, he will win this award fairly easily. However, he only had a shoulder injury that could bother him. So don’t overlook Jones’ ability to score, and Flagg is also an all-rounder. When healthy, Broome easily wins this award, but if injuries limit his time on the floor or production, this is a three-horse race.

Breakthrough of the Sun Devil

Arizona State has done well in its first Big 12 football season, and so far the basketball team has played really well. The Sun Devils are getting some votes in the AP poll, having started the season with an 8-2 record and a +63 point lead. Their two losses came against ranked opponents No. 6 Gonzaga and No. 9 Florida. The Sun Devils haven’t exactly blown away their competition so far, but they’ve proven they have what it takes to win close games, and they’ve had impressive ones Wins against St. Mary’s and Grand Canyon. Thanks to their solid start, and perhaps aided by their friendly Big 12 conference schedule, Arizona State has become a fringe tournament team. They currently have a +140 chance of winning the 68-team tournament in March. Now the Big 12 is a gauntlet of a conference and the Sun Devils will take some hits, but they only play once against Iowa State, Kansas, Houston and Cincinnati, the only teams in the Big 12 currently ranked. Iowa State, the top-ranked Big 12 team, and Houston both have to travel to Tempe. The Sun Devils boast a +7.7% 3P% differential, which is the third-best mark in the conference, and they shoot over 38% from deep as a team. Joson Sanon is one of the best players that no one talks about because he is the biggest threat from distance as he shoots a team-best 52% from distance and is ranked seventh nationally. With solid three-point ability and a proven ability to win close games, these Sun Devils are a bubble team that will enter the tournament in March.

B1O fight

Entering the season, Purdue was ranked and appeared to be the only Big 10 team that had the potential to make a reasonably deep run in the postseason. The Boilermakers looked like the leaders of what was expected to be a mediocre conference. The media was wrong as the conference now has five teams, Purdue is not the top-ranked team, and five other teams receive votes in the AP poll. Oregon is the top-ranked Big 10 team as it is ranked 10th nationally, followed by Purdue (16th), UCLA (18th), Michigan State (20th) and Michigan (24th). Michigan is the +380 favorite to win the conference, with UCLA (+450), Michigan State (+500), Purdue (+650) and Illinois (+800) rounding out the top five. Oregon has a +1000 chance of winning the conference, and that may be the best in the country. Oregon already has wins over No. 20 Texas A&M and No. 9 Alabama, and their only loss came by two points to the now-ranked UCLA Bruins. The Ducks currently have by far the best record of anyone in the Big 10, despite having the seventh-best odds to win in the conference. Despite not being part of the SEC, the Big 10 has become perhaps the second toughest conference in the basketball landscape and may be the deepest conference of all.

Nobody U

Over the last week, college basketball fans have become familiar with the term “Nobody U.”, created by Doug Gottlieb. If you’re unfamiliar, Gottlieb was essentially talking about expanding your non-conference schedule and avoiding games that don’t exactly boost your resume. And he’s right, the best teams in the country fill their non-conference schedules with solid programs because to be the best, you have to beat the best. However, “Nobody U” gained its fame through a negative light. Gottlieb is the head coach of the Green Bay Phoenix, and they are coming off an embarrassing two-point loss to Michigan Tech, a Division II program. Now Gottlieb has received his share of barbs, so there is no longer a need. However, the term “Nobody U” actually applies to his Phoenix team. Nobody should bet on the Phoenix. Their loss to Michigan Tech is their eighth straight and their 11th of the season. They currently hold a -137 point lead over last year and both of their wins have come against the likes of SIU Edwardsville and Western Illinois. Green Bay is also 4-8 ATS this season and doesn’t move much with their overall performance in the game, as they are almost 50/50 in over-performing and under-performing. Among Horizon League teams, Green Bay ranks last in PPG allowed and is one of only 20 teams (out of 364) that allow more than 80 PPG. They also rank last in the Horizon in exit RPG differential with an average RPG of 8.9 and the Phoenix rank last in the country in offensive rebounding as they average just 5.9 in offensive RPG have. It’s been an ugly season for the Phoenix and no one, not even U, should bet on the Phoenix this season.

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