It's officially college basketball conference tournament week! Well, the week of "major" conference tournaments to which fans, and more importantly sports bettors, pay attention.
While this weekend will certainly attract plenty of casual betting action as conference tournaments come to a close ahead of Selection Sunday, recreational bettors aren't overly eager to get down on one of the 15 random, small conference tourney games on a Monday.
Remember, most of the betting public wagers on nationally televised, high-profile matchups that they'll also be watching. Sharps, however, focus solely on betting value. And if that means getting down hard on a random Monday game being ignored by casual bettors, then so be it.
Tonight's slate of college hoops action doesn't offer much for the casual fan and bettor, and the low bet ticket counts confirm that.
However, professional money has already moved a handful of Monday's college basketball lines, including Western Michigan-Central Michigan.
Oddsmakers opened the CMU as 10-point favorite against the Broncos and 68% of early spread wagers have come in on Central Michigan.
However, 68% of the money has taken Western Michigan, indicating that the bigger bets have taken the points.
Sports Insights' Bet Signals — which track professional betting action — concur, triggering a Steam Move at Broncos +9.5, explaining that larger wagers coming from respected bettors are the reason for the line move to Western Michigan +9, and even +8.5 in some spots.
Tonight's slate may not be the most exciting for the majority of bettors, but that's not stopping pros from grabbing as much value as possible.
