The Big Ten Odds Tracker as of February 10, 2020

Jan 18, 2021 8:39 AM ET | By: matan

Big Ten Odds Report: Maryland is in First, But Should You Bet on Them?

Another crazy week of Big Ten basketball has come and gone and

the 9th ranked Maryland Terrapins (19-4, 9-3 B10) have unseated Michigan State at the top thanks to their wins over Rutgers and then ranked No. 20 Illinois.

The Terps have won six straight games and now sit at the top of the Big Ten standings all by themselves.

This week Maryland hosts a struggling Huskers team before a much-anticipated game against a Michigan State Spartans team in need of a win.

Oddsmakers presently have the Terps listed at +400 to win the Big Ten Tournament in March, with their odds to get a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament listed at +250.

If you want to lay a futures bet on the Terps to win the National Championship, they’re currently priced at +2000.

Maryland should not get very comfortable at the top however, as five teams are within a game and a half of them in the conference standings, shaping up a very close race for the regular season championship and what should be an incredible conference tournament.

Best Sports Books 2020

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The Big Ten Odds for the Trio of Ranked Teams

Penn State (18-5, 8-4 B10) is expected to be a power in football, not basketball, but the Nittany Lions are white hot right now – winners of six straight games.

The Nittany Lions are coming off a pair of wins last week against then ranked No. 16 Michigan State and Minnesota.

The wins catapulted Penn State up the polls all the way to No. 13 this week, and a strong finish to the season has Penn State potentially thinking of capturing a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

This week, Penn State faces Purdue (Feb. 11) in a tough road test before hosting lowly Northwestern on Saturday (Feb. 15).

From a bettors perspective, the Nittany Lions have been a fantastic 14-8-1 against the spread this season, and if you fancy their chances to win the Big Ten Tournament, they are currently listed at +500 to do so.

The Iowa Hawkeyes (17-7, 8-5 B10) fell four spots in the rankings this week following last week’s performance that found Iowa getting torpedoed 104-68 by Purdue before thumping a bad Nebraska team by 24.

A pair of games could not describe the Hawkeyes any better.
Outstanding at home. Not so good away from there.

Nonetheless, the Hawks are 8-5 in the best conference in college basketball this season and they have the Wooden Award favorite Luka Garza to thank for that. Garza has been phenomenal all season, averaging 23 points and 10 rebounds per game.

Because of his play, the Hawkeyes are a team to be taken seriously. Oddsmakers agree as Iowa is listed at +500 to win the Big Ten Tournament and offers enticing +6000 sleeper odds to win the NCAA Tournament.

The Illini took a small step back last week, dropping both matchups against No. 18 Iowa and No. 9 Maryland.
Yet, despite two losses Illinois (16-7, 8-4 B10) only dropped from 20 to 22 in the rankings.

Such is life in the Big Ten Conference this season.
The Illini face another difficult week of basketball this week when they host Michigan State on Tuesday (Feb. 11) before playing at a very good Rutgers team on Saturday (Feb. 15).

Currently, one of the biggest surprises in the conference is slowly but surely making believers out of oddsmakers. Illinois is now listed at +500 to win the Big Ten Tournament.

Have We Mentioned the Big Ten is Really, Really Good?

Michigan State began the season as the #1 team in the land. This week they are unranked.

Rutgers is 17-7, 16-0 at home and in sixth place!

Michigan and Ohio State were both ranked in the Top 5 at one point this season, and now are both unranked and sub .500 in conference – yet each are still +1000 to win the Big Ten Tournament.

As of this writing, the only teams unlikely to get into the NCAA Tournament from the Big Ten are 7-16 Nebraska and 6-16 Northwestern.

The rest of the conference may get into the field of 68.

That’s 12 teams out of 14, and that’s the depth of this conference.

If you’re just transitioning over to college basketball after a long football season, you’re going to want to watch as many Big Ten games as you can – the conference is that good this year.