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College basketball betting: North Texas aims for back-to-back C-USA titles

Nick Bromberg
College football and motorsports writer
·3 min read

The Conference USA tournament is one of the most unique in sports. Both the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments happen at the same time at the Ford Center at the Dallas Cowboys’ Star facility in Frisco, Texas. Games happen simultaneously at the center and you can walk from one game to another as they happen.

On the men’s side, North Texas is the team to beat again after upsetting Purdue a year ago as a No. 13 seed. The Mean Green lost in the second round to Villanova and came back this season to post a 16-2 record in conference play to clinch the No. 1 seed in the west.

Every other team in C-USA lost at least four conference games. With seven teams in each division, the bottom two teams on each side play each other on Tuesday. Those games set up cross-division matchups on Wednesday with the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 seeds before the top two seeds in each division take the court on Thursday. The championship game is 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 12 and televised by CBS Sports Network.

East

1. Middle Tennessee (13-5 in C-USA) [+900 to win tournament]

2. Western Kentucky (11-7) [+950]

3. Florida Atlantic (11-7) [+1800]

4. Charlotte (10-8) [+4000]

5. Old Dominion (8-10) [+5000]

6. Florida International (5-13) [+20000]

7. Marshall (4-14) [+25000]

West

1. North Texas (16-2) [+185]

2. UAB (14-4) [+150]

3. Louisiana Tech (12-6) [+800]

4. UTEP (11-7) [+3500]

5. Rice (7-11) [+10000]

6. UTSA (3-15) [+50000]

7. Southern Miss (1-17) [+50000]

WICHITA, KS - DECEMBER 18: Tylor Perry #5 of the North Texas Mean Green drives to the basket against Dexter Dennis #0 of the Wichita State Shockers, during the first half at Charles Koch Arena on December 18, 2021 in Wichita, Kansas. (Photo by Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images)
North Texas and Tylor Perry are looking to make the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season. (Photo by Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images)

The favorites

  • North Texas: The Mean Green have five players who average at least 10 points per game and have been extremely fortunate with injuries all season. Six of the team’s top seven players have played in all 28 games and leading scorer Tylor Perry (13.7 PPG) missed just one game. Perry shoots 43% from behind the arc and Thomas Bell grabs nearly seven rebounds a game. Before losing at UTEP on Saturday to end the regular season, North Texas had won 15 consecutive games. We think they’re more than capable of putting together another run this week.

  • UAB: Before UTEP beat North Texas, the Blazers were the last team to do it. Jordan Walker averages over 19 points per game and shoots over 40% from three as UAB shoots nearly 47% as a team. The Blazers are one of the best offensive teams in the country and average 80 points per game despite having an adjusted tempo ranking at KenPom.com outside the top 90. They also rank outside the top 300 in luck at KenPom and if that luck reverses for a few days, the Blazers could be dancing.

A long shot to consider

  • Louisiana Tech: Yeah, we think the conference champion is going to come out of the West this year. And no, Louisiana Tech is not a long shot but we're putting them here anyway. Three of the four best teams in the conference are in that division. The Bulldogs’ six conference losses all came to teams with records above .500 in conference play and Tech will draw either UTSA or Southern Miss in the first round. A win against either one of those moribund teams sets up a matchup with a Western Kentucky team that the Bulldogs beat by one earlier this year. We’re also big fans of freshman forward Kenneth Lofton. He averages a double-double.