Big East Tournament Preview For March Madness 2008 Betting

The Big East has five teams ranked in the Top 25: Georgetown Hoyas, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Louisville Cardinals, Connecticut Huskies, and whatever the Marquette Warriors are now called. Two more teams have 22 wins: West Virginia Mountaineers and the Pittsburgh Panthers.

To say the least, the 2008 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament should be one of the most hotly contested ever. This is perhaps why the Vegas odds are so close. John Thompson Jr. and the Georgetown Hoyas, led by Roy Hibbert and Jonathan Wallace, are the favorites at 3/2.

However, Louisville is very close behind at 5/2 and Connecticut and Notre Dame are 5/1. Rick Pitino and his Cardinals have very much rebounded from early season injuries that saw David Padgett miss 10 games, Juan Palacios out for nine and Derrick Caracter have some off court distractions.

Marquette and Pittsburgh are both fairly long shots at 12/1. Pitt though won 3-of-4 to enter the postseason after a midseason conference swoon. Marquette has only one conference tournament win in six years and stumbled across the finish line.

The once highly regarded Villanova Wildcats can be had at 15/1. Bob Huggins current team, the West Virginia Mountaineers are at 15/1 and the team he made his name with, the Cincinnati Bearcats are 30/1, the same odds as Seton Hall. The Providence Friars backed into the tournament, but with a recent win to Connecticut, perhaps the 40/1 odds a bit steep.

Though most sportsbooks have posted the March Madness tournament lines, these quoted odds are courtesy of NewBodog