Hoops with lunch as conference tournaments explode

Most of college basketball's small and mid-size conferences have already begun and even finished their conference tournaments, but things really get interesting this week when the big boys from the Big East, the Big Ten, the Big 12, and elsewhere get their postseasons started.

Which makes for great day-long college basketball betting fun at oddsmaker.ag.

The Big East meets at Madison Square Garden with nine teams ranked in the latest Top 25, and another couple of teams with good chances of squeezing into the NCAA Tournament. Opening-round action begins Tuesday, followed by four second-round games Wednesday. Seeds five through eight get byes into Wednesday's play, and the top four seeds - Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Syracuse, and Louisville - get byes into Thursday's quarterfinals. Wednesday 8th-seeded Georgetown takes on either Connecticut or DePaul (noon Eastern); 5th-seeded St. John's plays either Seton Hall or Rutgers (2 pm Eastern); 7th-seeded Cincinnati goes against either Villanova, one of those bubble teams, or South Florida (7 pm Eastern); and 6th-seeded West Virginia plays either Marquette, the other Big East bubble team, or Providence (9 pm Eastern). Of course, the ESPN family of channels will carry the entire Big East tournament.

The Big 12 heads into its tournament at the Sprint Center in Kansas City with just three ranked teams, but a couple others have pretty good chances to make the NCAA field and a couple more still harbor hopes. Wednesday 8th-seeded Nebraska, which went 7-9 in conference play but has 19 wins, takes on 9th-seeded Oklahoma State (12:30 pm Eastern); 5th-seeded Colorado, 8-8 in the Big 12 and 19-12 overall, plays 12th-seeded Iowa State (3 pm Eastern); 7th-seeded Baylor goes against 10th-seeded Oklahoma (7 pm Eastern); and 6th-seeded Missouri, 8-8 in the conference but 22-9 overall, gets 11th-seeded Texas Tech, which will be playing under its just-fired head coach (9:30 pm Eastern). The winners of those games advance to Thursday to play, respectively, top-seeded Kansas, 4th-seeded Kansas State, 2nd-seeded Texas, and 3rd-seeded Texas A&M. Early-round action can be seen on ESPN's family and the Big 12 Network.

Two NCAA automatic bids will be decided Wednesday. In the Northeast top-seeded Long Island hosts 3rd-seeded Robert Morris (7 pm Eastern, ESPN2); and out in the Big Sky either two seed Montana or three seed Weber State will meet either top-seeded Northern Colorado or 4th-seeded Northern Arizona, at UNC (9 pm Eastern, ESPN2).

Of course, this is just a taste of tournament week action at oddsmaker.ag, as many other leagues decide their automatic invitations for the Big Dance. And bettors might want to take time now to check out Oddsmaker's updated NCAA championship betting board, for prices on what looks like a wide-open field.