The NCAA basketball regular season is quickly winding down with only a handful of games left before the postseason starts with conference tournaments across the country. Those will help pave the road to march madness betting, but a number of teams need to boost their NCAA tournament resume in the final weeks of the schedule if they want to avoid missing out on the Big Dance.
That added motivation to move up the rankings can be a great way to spot betting value in the nightly NCAA basketball odds. Here are a few teams on the tournament bubble who may be worth a bet over the next month.
Oklahoma Sooners (16-8 SU, 11-13 ATS)
The Sooners are trying to climb their way up the stack Big 12 standings and have a great chance to punching their ticket to the Big Dance with a win over Kansas this weekend. Oklahoma has been playing great basketball in recent outings, winning three of its last four while covering the pointspread in each of those games.
Beyond the Jayhawks, the Sooners have chances to pick up marquee wins over Baylor and (another over) West Virginia before the end of the regular season and also has a home stand with Texas Tech. Oklahoma has been defending well during this ATS run, limiting opponents to only 38% shooting, and proved it can pile up the points with a 90-point explosion versus Iowa State.
Purdue Boilermakers (14-11 SU, 11-13-1 ATS)
Purdue has been a March Madness mainstay in recent years but is firming planted on the NCAA bracket bubble heading into this weekend and the home stretch of the Big Ten schedule. The Boilermakers missed out of an opportunity to score a win over a ranked foe against Penn State on Tuesday and looking down their remaining games, Iowa sticks out as the lone Top-25 opponents.
Purdue can pull ahead of the middle of the pack in the Big Ten with matchups against Ohio State, Wisconsin and Michigan. The Boilermakers are sound defensively, ranked 23rd in points allowed and limiting opponents to less than 30% shooting from beyond the arc, but they’ll need to stir up some scoring – especially on the road where they score 17 points less per game than compared to home.
Syracuse Orange (14-10 SU, 10-14 ATS)
The ACC may only send three teams to the NCAA tournament and there are a number of outlying programs trying to push their way into a possible fourth bid. Syracuse is amongst those bubble teams in need of a strong finish to the schedule. The Orange have an opportunity versus Florida State this weekend but also meet up in Louisville for their next game. A win in either of these could be the tipping point.
Syracuse followed a string of six straight pointspread paydays with three ATS losses in a row. The fabled zone defense is doing enough to keep SU competitive, but the offense needs to turn up the intensity and a groin injury to top scorer Elijah Hughes could stunt that growth. The Orange play five of their final eight games away from the Carrier Dome which could be a good thing for NCAA basketball bettors, with Syracuse owning a 5-1 ATS mark as a visitor this season.