Big Ten Tournament Predictions, Betting Odds & Favorites: Four Former Pac-12 Members Join Big Ten in 2024-25

• Oregon, Washington, UCLA, and USC join the Big Ten to form an 18-team league beginning in the 2024-25 regular season.

• After losing two-time Wooden Award winner Zach Edey to the 2024 NBA Draft, the Purdue Boilermakers will not be nearly as dominant as they have been in the past two seasons.

• Indiana, Purdue, UCLA, Ohio State, Maryland, and Rutgers have all been listed on ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings throughout the spring.

With four former Pac-12 members, including the Oregon Ducks, UCLA Bruins, Washington Huskies, and USC Trojans, jumping from their sinking ship to a sturdy conference, it will be even more challenging to win the Big Ten Tournament than ever before!

There will not only be more teams in the Big Ten this season, there will also be more parity since Zach Edey will be drafted into the NBA. A handful of teams could win the Big Ten Tournament this season, with Indiana, Purdue, UCLA, Rutgers, Maryland, and Ohio State as the obvious early-season favorites.

Big Ten Tournament Odds 

While the Big Ten Tournament odds won’t be out until a few weeks before the 2025 Big Ten Tournament, we have listed our favorites below, including an analysis and why we believe they can win.

Big Ten Tournament Predictions - Big Ten Favorites to Win 

The Big Ten has 18 teams, which means that it will be more difficult than ever to win the conference tournament. Which teams are our favorites to run through the conference gauntlet next March? Let’s break it down below!

Indiana Hoosiers

Things looked bleak for the Indiana Hoosiers after they lost eight of their ten games between January 16th and February 24th. However, Indiana had a solid end to its 2023-24 campaign, even though it failed to make the NCAA Tournament and, ultimately, underwhelmed fans and their expectations.

It did not seem like the Hoosiers were going to retain much of their talent, with Kel’el Ware destined to declare for the 2024 NBA Draft and several other players projected to transfer out of the program in the off-season. Even 5-star forward Liam McNeely de-committed, leaving Indiana in dire need of talent.

But head coach Mike Woodson pulled several proverbial rabbits out of the hat by keeping Mackenzie Mgbako, Malik Reneau, Trey Galloway, Jakai Newton, Gabe Cupps, and Anthony Leal. 

He didn’t stop there, either, signing 5-star wing Bryson Tucker, and hitting the transfer portal harder than any other school. In fact, the Hoosiers have the top-ranked incoming transfer class after securing Myles Rice (Washington State), Luke Goode (Illinois), Kanaan Carlyle (Stanford), and Oumar Ballo (Arizona). 

Few teams in the nation have eight or nine players that are as talented as this Hoosiers core, but head coach Mike Woodson’s ability to adapt to modern college basketball and the team’s 3-point shooting are concerns that need to be addressed before the beginning of the season.

Still, there are not any Big Ten teams that have this amount of talent. This team’s future will be up to an improvement in coaching, shooting, and chemistry.

Bet on Indiana Husiers at DraftKings

Rutgers Scarlet Knights

After making back-to-back NCAA Tournaments in 2020-21 and 2021-22, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights have since been shut out from March Madness. Rutgers had also put together four consecutive winning seasons under head coach Steve Pikiel before failing to eclipse the .500 mark (15-17 record) last season.

However, things are looking up for Pikiell’s Scarlet Knights. They were able to bring in their best recruiting class in program history, signing the No. 2 (Ace Bailey) and No. 4 overall (Ron Harper Jr.) players in the class! Pikiell did not stop there, either, adding three 3-stars, Lathan Sommerville, Bryce Dortch, and Dylan Grant.

Talented guard Jeremiah Williams, last year’s best player, will also join Bailey and Harper. Between these three players, the Scarlet Knights have one of the best trios in the nation.

Further, despite being one of the worst offensive teams in a power conference last year, Rutgers was able to remain relatively competitive with the fifth-ranked adjusted defensive efficiency.

The loss of Clifford Omoruyi to the transfer portal stings; there is no doubt about that. But this is Rutgers’ most talented team in quite some time. If Pikiell can get his incoming players to defend how previous teams have, then this team is downright dangerous on a national level, let alone a conference one.

Bet on Scarlet Knights at DraftKings

UCLA Bruins

Like Rutgers, the UCLA Bruins had an underwhelming 2023-24 campaign, missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2018-19 season. The difference is that the Scarlet Knights have not been known as a basketball powerhouse, while UCLA has the most National Championships in college basketball history and is considered a “blue blood.” 

However, here is the good news: the Bruins are returning Dylan Andrews, Lazar Stefanovic, and Sebastian Mack, three of the top four scorers from last year’s team. They will also have the former 5-star center, 7-foot-3 Aday Mara, back in Westwood, who can only improve after a rough freshman season. 

Those four players alone will not catapult this team into contending status, though, and head coach Mick Cronin knows that. So, Cronin also hit the transfer portal extraordinarily hard, snagging Kobe Johnson (USC), Skyy Clark (Louisville), Eric Dailey Jr. (Oklahoma State), Tyler Bilodeau (Oregon State), Williams Kyle III (South Dakota State), and Dominick Harris (Loyola Marymount). 

Those acquisitions give UCLA the ninth-ranked transfer portal class in the country. The Bruins also signed Eric Freeny, a 4-star guard recruit, who likely won’t see many minutes but could add more depth to an already deep squad.

UCLA head coach Mick Cronin has this Bruins team in great shape heading into next season. 

Bet on UCLA Bruins at DraftKings

Maryland Terrapins

It is hard to qualify or quantify just how huge Derick Queen’s commitment was to the Maryland Terrapins program. Queen, a 5-star forward/center and No. 13 player in the 2024 class, according to 247 Sports, will join Julian Reese in what will be an exceptionally talented frontcourt.

Former Belmont sharpshooter Ja’Kobe Gillepsie, who averaged more than 17.2 points, 4.2 assists, and 3.8 rebounds on roughly 56% shooting from the field, 39% from 3-point land, and 83% from the charity stripe, will also join Queen, Reese, Jordan Geronimo, and DeShawn Harris-Smith to form a talented unit.

Maryland also picked up a few more talented transfers in the portal besides Gillespie. The Terps snagged Rodney Rice from Virginia Tech and Selton Miguel (14.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game in 2023-24) from South Florida.  

Maryland will again have a stifling defense, similar to last season when it spent most of the year in the top ten in adjusted defensive efficiency, but the offensive output will be the question. If Queen, Rice, Gillespie, and a few others contribute offensively, this team could be a Big Ten Tournament favorite!

Bet on Maryland Terrapins at DraftKings

Who Will Win the Big Ten Tournament - My Pick 

Indiana Hoosiers

At the beginning of May, Tony Adragna decided to see just how incredible the Hoosiers’ portal season had been (and they still have two scholarships left). Adragna found that Indiana had the most Power 6 production (total points per game) returning or incoming of any team in the nation. And that does not include incoming 5-star forward Bryson Tucker.

It will take a bit of time for this Hoosiers team to adjust to one another, as there are many newcomers, plenty of scorers, and only one ball to go around. However, the talent on this team is incredible and could put Indiana back on the map as a contender.

Bet on Indiana Husiers at DraftKings

Who Won the Big Ten Tournament in 2024

The two-seeded Illinois Fighting Illini secured the Big Ten Tournament championship in 2024, avoiding the top-seeded Purdue, who fell to Wisconsin by one point in the semifinals. Illinois leaned heavily on Terrence Shannon Jr. throughout the conference and NCAA Tournaments. In fact, he averaged 31.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists on a 53/41/82 shooting split in three Big Ten Tournament games and the first two NCAA Tournament games before being shut down by UConn, the eventual National Champions.

Big Ten Tournament History

The Big Ten Tournament was originated in 1998 and has been held every season since, with the exception of 2020 due to the COVID-19 virus. The Michigan Wolverines were the first Big Ten Tournament winner in 1998, with Robert Traylor winning the first Most Outstanding Player in the tournament’s history.

The United Center and Gainbridge Fieldhouse (formerly named Conseco Fieldhouse and Banker’s Life Fieldhouse) have each hosted the Big Ten Tournament 11 times, while the Verizon Center, Lucas Oil Stadium, and Madison Square Garden have held the tournament once apiece. This season (2024), the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota will be the host venue.

As a No. 8 seed, the Michigan Wolverines won the Big Ten Tournament in 2017, becoming the lowest seed to win the tournament.

Past 15 Big Ten Tournament Winners

Below is a look at all of the past 15 Big Ten Tournament champions, beginning with the most recent winners. Take a look.

How to Choose the Best Sportsbook for Betting on the Big Ten Tournament

It might seem like merely a decision rooted in personal preference or brand awareness but choosing the best sportsbook to sign up with can be one of the most important decisions a bettor makes. Some bettors have multiple sportsbooks so that they can shop odds between them and get the best value for their bets, but if you are a casual bettor and are only interested in one sportsbook, then this is a huge decision.

There are a number of things to consider when choosing a sportsbook, including the welcome bonus, user interface, functionality, withdrawal options and timing, and more. Check out the table below to see which sportsbook you want to bet on for the Big Ten Tournament:

How to Read Big Ten Tournament Winner Odds

For new bettors, the display of odds can be overwhelming and confusing when they are starting out, so we will explain this concisely. If listed odds have a minus sign (-) in front of them, it means that team/player/etc… is a favorite. For instance, if Purdue is a -150 odds favorite to win the Big Ten Tournament, then you would have to bet $150 to win $100. That is the same case for any bet that has odds with a minus sign in front of them.

If a bet has a plus sign (+) in front of its odds, then it is an underdog, meaning that you have to bet $100 to win that number. For example, if the Northwestern Wildcats are +500 to win the Big Ten Tournament, then you would only have to bet $100 to win $500 because they are much less likely to win than other teams.