Conference tournament season keeps heating up Tuesday as some of the bigger leagues begin their postseason runs. The ACC, Big 12, and Big Ten all get started, with plenty of teams hoping to string together wins and steal an automatic bid to the Big Dance.
There aren’t any Top 25 teams on the board tonight, which means the real betting value comes from digging a little deeper into the matchups. I’ve got three best bets lined up for Tuesday night. We start in the America East with the conference’s top team looking to keep rolling in a matchup they’ve controlled all season. Then it’s off to the ACC where two evenly matched teams meet, but the edge sits on the perimeter. Finally, we wrap up with a Northeast Conference title game that looks much closer than the line suggests.
All odds are from DraftKings Sportsbook and are subject to change. DraftKings does not sponsor this content.
UMBC Retrievers -7.5 (-105)
The Retrievers earned the No. 1 seed after going 14-2 in conference play while leading the league in both offense (75.8 points per game) and defense (67.2 allowed). They’ve already dominated UMass Lowell twice this season, winning by 23 and 24 points. The River Hawks can score, ranking second in the conference, but their defense is the biggest issue, allowing a league-worst 75.8 points per game. UMBC enters the tournament red-hot, winning 10 straight and covering nine of those games. The Retrievers also boast the best three-point shooting in the conference, led by DJ Armstrong Jr., who hit 40.3% from deep and scored 31 points combined in the two meetings with UMass Lowell.
Virginia Tech Hokies -2.5 (-115)
The Hokies split the regular-season series with Wake Forest but covered in both games, including a 19-point win on Feb. 21 as 3.5-point home favorites. Virginia Tech also finished the regular season strong, covering four of its last five games against teams like Virginia, North Carolina and Miami. These teams are fairly even in overall scoring, but the edge shows up from the perimeter. The Hokies shoot better from 3-point range and defend it more effectively. Virginia Tech also still has NCAA Tournament hopes and likely needs a few wins in this event, giving the Hokies extra motivation in this spot.
Mercyhurst Lakers +6.5 (-110)
The Lakers beat LIU 91-83 outright as 3.5-point underdogs in their last meeting and have covered the last three head-to-head matchups between the teams. LIU won the first meeting earlier in the season, but only by two points on its home floor. Mercyhurst has also been a strong betting team lately, covering 14 of its last 19 games. Defense has been a key factor, with the Lakers allowing just 67 points per game, the second-best mark in the NEC. Meanwhile, LIU hasn’t looked particularly sharp in the tournament, committing costly turnovers against Chicago State and shooting just 13% from three-point range against Wagner. In what feels like a coin-flip matchup with an NCAA Tournament bid on the line, taking the points with Mercyhurst makes sense.
