MEAC Tournament 2023 Schedule, Predictions & Odds
- The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament tips off on Wednesday, March 8th
- Finishing with the second-best conference record, North Carolina Central is a solid +120 favorite
- See the MEAC tournament odds for each team below as well as our best bet
Competition should be pretty fierce for the MEAC tournament title, with four squads carrying odds of +600 or shorter to take the conference crown. First round action begins on Wednesday, March 8th and all games will take place at Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.
Online sportsbooks have pitted North Carolina Central, a team tied that finished with the 2nd best conference record as the favorites, while the league’s regular season winners, the Howard Bison, own the 3rd shortest odds to cut the nets down in Virginia.
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament Odds 2023
| Team | Odds |
|---|---|
| North Carolina Central | +120 |
| Norfolk State | +250 |
| Howard | +300 |
| Maryland Eastern Shore | +600 |
| Morgan State | +2500 |
| South Carolina State | +5000 |
| Coppin State | +9000 |
| Delaware State | +10000 |
Returning a veteran team, back-to-back defending conference champion, Norfolk State, were the preseason chalk to once again represent the MEAC in the March Madness bracket. With odds of +250 they are the 2nd betting favorite, after finishing tied for 3rd in the conference standings.
North Carolina Central rolls into this event with the most confidence having won seven straight. During that streak, they defeated both Howard and Norfolk State, the two teams right behind them in the odds to win it all. Howard own +300 odds to follow their 1st place regular season finish with the tournament title.
Odds as of March 6th at FanDuel. Claim the FanDuel Sportsbook promo code.
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament Format
Conference tournaments don’t get much simpler to follow than this one. All eight teams will face off in a standard bracket with the highest seed facing the lowest seed, the second-highest facing the second-lowest, and so on. No teams are receiving byes.
#MEACMBB Men’s Bracket Set for 2023 @MEACSports Basketball Tournament #MEACPride https://t.co/8Xi7Oletcq
— Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (@MEACSports) March 3, 2023
Howard went 11-3 in MEAC play to clinch its first regular-season title since 1991-92 – and the Bison (19-12) will be in search of their first tournament crown since 1992.
Tournament play begins on Wednesday, March 8th with a couple of quarterfinal matchups to be followed by the other four teams pairing up on Thursday. Both semifinals will take place on Friday, with the tournament championship being televised on ESPN 2 on Saturday, March 11th at 1:00 pm ET.
MEAC Tournament Betting Trends
Although they’re not playing in their own arena, the two-time defending champs from Norfolk State do have a “home court” advantage with all games being held in their city. The Spartans lost just two games at home this season, with one of those losses coming to Howard, the only conference squad they failed to beat this year.
So why are the regular season champs sporting just the 3rd shortest odds to capture the conference title? According to KenPom, the Bison own the 3rd best overall ranking in the MEAC and are comparatively closer in efficiency margin to Maryland Eastern Shore, than they are to the top two contenders.
"Congratulations to the Howard Bison, the 2023 MEAC Regular Season Basketball Champions! A job well done from the KRSB Network to the entire Howard U. team. Keep up the great work! #HBCUMadnessChallenge #KRSBNetwork #MEACHoops 🏀🏆🎉" pic.twitter.com/X270Sx79XW
— KRSB Network Inc (@KRSBroadcast) March 3, 2023
The Bison don’t have one player who really carries them, with Elijah Hawkins leading the way on offense, scoring 13.4 points per game.
Where they truly stand out is with their three point shooting. Draining 38% of their triples, the Bison rank 18th in the entire nation from beyond the arc.
2023 MEAC Top-4 Teams KenPom Ratings
| Team | Adjusted Efficiency | Adjusted Offense | Adjusted Defense |
|---|---|---|---|
| Howard Bison | -5.31 (231st) | 104.0 (210th) | 109.1 (254th) |
| North Carolina Central | -1.64 (195th) | 101.3 (264th) | 103.0 (112th) |
| Norfolk State | -2.16 (204th) | 108.8 (113th) | 111.0 (291st) |
| Maryland Eastern Shore | -6.55 (249th) | 95.1 (343rd) | 101.7 (96th) |
As opposed to the chalk from North Carolina Central, the Bison suffered a number of blowout losses to non-conference foes earlier in the season which contributes to their lower efficiency metric. Nonetheless, they only have to worry about their league rivals in this tourney and they’ve had significant success against those sides.
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament Predictions
On the heels of seven consecutive wins, it appears NC Central has garnered appreciation from the oddsmakers. However, they also lost to each of the other top three teams in the conference. They’ll likely have to defeat two of those sides back-to-back to gain a berth to the big dance.
Understandably, it’s difficult to side with a Howard outfit that relies so heavily on the three-ball, although those are the types of squads that throw fear into the teams that are favored in the NCAA Tournament odds.
At +300, our prediction is that Howard double down on their first place regular season finish with a tournament title. They’ve already beaten Norfolk State at home this year and have the easiest path to the final out of the best teams in the conference.
Pick: Howard Bison (+300)
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George has had a lifelong love affair with sports and studying sports statistics since he was a kid. He graduated from Ryerson University with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism and has worked in the sports & media industry ever since in various roles from writer to producer.
