Big South Tournament Betting Odds—Who Are The Best Bets?

• The Big South is the first conference to tip off its conference basketball tournament.
• The tournament begins at 7 p.m., with oddsmakers heavily favoring Winthrop and Radford.
• The Big South is very top-heavy, but Gardner-Webb could be an intriguing underdog pick.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Big South Men’s Basketball Tournament will be the first college basketball conference tournament to start when it tips off at 7 p.m. EST tonight. The top two teams in the conference, Radford University and Winthrop University, are overwhelming co-favorites to win.

The Big South is traditionally a “one-bid” league, in which only the winner of the conference tournament makes the NCAA Tournament’s field of 68.

As a whole, the Big South struggled to get consistent quality play from its middle-of-the-pack teams during the 2019-2020 season, with only three of 11 teams posting a conference record above .500.

Radford and Winthrop were the two exceptions, with each team winning at least 20 total games and 15 conference games.

Whoever wins the Big South tournament is likely to be either a 15 or 16-seed in the NCAA Tournament but in a year of college basketball with as much parity as this one, an upset win wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility.

Who Is The Best Bet To Win The Big South Tournament?

Winthrop and Radford really are a cut above the rest of the field. The two teams split their regular-season series, with the two games being decided by a combined nine points. A third matchup in the Big South Championship Game would be a compelling end to the Big South season.

Between the two, Winthrop looks to have a slight edge. The Eagles rank 151st in the NCAA’s NET rankings, versus 177th for Radford. Basketball-Reference’s Simple Rating System has a similar disparity—Winthrop is 160th and Radford is 197th.

Winthrop also has the single best win of any Big South team this year—a 61-59 win on the road Saint Mary’s (CA), who has a NET ranking of 31. Radford’s best win came at home against Richmond, who ranks 48th.

Gardner-Webb stands as the best dark horse team in the conference, with a decent NET ranking of 214 and head-to-head wins over both Radford and Winthrop in February.

The Bulldogs had easily the worst loss of any Big South team earlier this year when they lost by 16 points to Kennesaw State—Kennesaw’s only win of the season. Still, Gardner-Webb appears to be getting hot at the right time, posting a 7-3 record and a .579 effective field goal percentage in February.

The rest of the league combined for only two wins against Radford and Winthrop, neither of which came on the road.

Anyone betting on the Big South tournament would likely be wise to restrict their bets to those top three teams, but small conference tournament games tend to be breeding grounds for crazy results, so there could be value in betting on a poor performing team with high upside, like USC-Upstate.

Big South Conference Tournament Schedule and Game Lines

First Round – Tuesday, March 3, 2020, on ESPN3 (All times are Eastern Standard)

• No. 11 Campbell at No. 6 UNC-Asheville (-1.5) at 7 p.m.
• No. 10 High Point at No. 7 USC-Upstate (-4.5) at 7 p.m.
• No. 9 Presbyterian at No. 8 Charleston Southern (-4.5) at 7 p.m.

Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 5, 2020, on ESPN3

• Game 1 - No. 7/No. 10 Winner vs. No. 2 Winthrop at 12 p.m.
• Game 2 - No. 6/No. 11 Winner vs. No. 3 Gardner-Webb at 2 p.m.
• Game 3 - No. 8/No. 9 Winner vs. No. 1 Radford at 6 p.m.
• Game 4 - No. 5 Hampton vs. No. 4 Longwood at 8 p.m.

Semifinals - Friday, March 6, 2020, on ESPN+

• Game 5 - Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner at 6 p.m.
• Game 6 - Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner at 8 p.m.

2020 Big South Conference Championship Game - Saturday, March 7, 2020, on ESPN

• Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner at 1 p.m.