Big Ten Title Odds Favor Iowa; Is There Value on a Longshot?

• Big Ten Conference play kicks off on December 13th, 2020
• All 14 teams will play 20 conference games (plus up to seven non-conference games)
• Iowa is the current favorite, but there is some great future values for bettors further down the board

Last season, three teams ended the year as regular-season champions of the Big Ten. Michigan State, Wisconsin and Maryland each finished 14-6 in conference play before the nationwide pandemic shut down games in March prior to the start of the conference tournament and NCAA tournament. 

Michigan State has been the class of the Big Ten the last three seasons, winning the title back in 2018 (going 16-2), 2019 with Purdue (each team going 16-4), and sharing the title in 2020 with Wisconsin and Maryland.

While Michigan State may have been at the top the last three seasons, this year Iowa is the early favorite at +265 to win the title.

Wisconsin, which ended the 2020 campaign on an eight-game win streak, is listed at +350, while Illinois is at +355. 

Michigan State isn’t far behind, as they sit at a +360 to repeat as conference champions.

Odds to Win Big Ten 2020-21 Regular Season Title

Odds as of Nov. 23rd at DraftKings.

The Buckeyes Have Great Preseason Value

One team that could be of value in the odds this season is Ohio State, which went 11-9 in conference play last season, going an impressive 16-2 at home and 21-10 overall.

The Buckeyes are listed at +1000 to win the Big Ten this season.

Good morning. Duane Washington and THE Ohio State buckeyes play basketball in 7 days. #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/DyEkTtorm5

— Brodie 4-0 🏈Beat Illini 0-0 🏀Beat Illinois State (@GarrettGoated) November 18, 2020

A quartet of transfers will help Ohio State in Seth Towns, Justice Sueing, Abel Porter and Jimmy Sotos.

Chris Holtmann will enter his fourth season as the coach of the Buckeyes. He’s been impressive taking over for Thad Matta, going 66-34 in three seasons (.660 winning percentage), and 34-24 in conference play.

Before the NCAA Tournament was cancelled last season, the two seasons prior the Buckeyes made it to the second round of the tourney before bowing out.

If the transfers coming to Ohio State can help the team, there’s no question that this team can make an impact in the conference.

One thing that the Buckeyes have to be this season to make a big impact is more consistent. That may not always be easy without the services of the Wesson brothers (Kaleb and Andre), both whom were major players on the roster the last few seasons.

Three other players that are gone from the Buckeyes roster are DJ Carton, Alonzo Gaffney, and Luther Muhammad.

Ohio State’s opener will be on November 25th as they get ready for conference play with a non-conference game against Illinois State at home at 2:00 pm ET.

Their conference opener will be a matchup with the Purdue Boilermakers on December 16th on the road.

Don’t Count Out the Wolverines

Michigan, which went .500 in the conference at 10-10 and 19-12 overall, is also on the upswing in terms of value for this season, sitting at +1100.

With Juwan Howard at the helm, the Wolverines have been solid when it comes to recruiting, and could be a darkhorse for the conference as well as once the NCAA Tourney starts in March.

#Michigan Basketball is back THIS WEEK! #GOBLUE!! pic.twitter.com/NFDipz8a3j

— Wolverines on SR (@SRWolverines) November 23, 2020

Howard was impressive in his first season at the helm for the Wolverines, taking on the nation’s toughest schedule and going seven games over .500.

Can he and the team repeat in the upcoming season is a major question that remains unanswered.

The club already has some players that will lead the way in Zavier Simpson and Jon Teske. They also have some young players that should contribute in Isaiah Livers and Franz Wagner.

Livers was hurt in the middle of the season which hurt the team, but he’s back and the club should be able to get right back on track.