The SEC Tournament starts today, and there was a time in the not so distant past that Vanderbilt would be playing today in the first round. Not this year! Vanderbilt doesn’t play until Friday as the 4-seed.
So what are the odds that Vanderbilt wins this thing? Well, let’s consult FanDuel for the SEC Tournament odds.
Florida, at -180, is the heavy favorite to win the thing. That… makes sense? Florida won the SEC’s regular season title by three games with a 16-2 record and enters the tournament on an 11-game
winning streak. But that’s also terrible value, since you’d have to bet $180 to win $100… which is a lot for asking them to win three games in three days.
Arkansas and Alabama also would have to win three games to win, and their odds are +600 and +750, respectively. (In gambling terms, that means for Arkansas you’d need to bet $100 to win $600.) Vanderbilt, the 4-seed, has +1200 odds. I actually like Vanderbilt as a value pick here: a 12-times payout seems like quite a bit for the 4-seed, particularly since KenPom’s numbers actually have the Commodores as the second-best team in the conference.
Fifth-seeded Tennessee, whom Vanderbilt might play on Friday, is next at +1700. Seventh-seeded Georgia is +3600. Ninth-seeded Kentucky, who would have to win five games in five days, is +4500 and that almost feels like they’re trying to account for the fact that a lot of Jamal Mashburn Wedding Jerseys are going to bet on them winning five games in five days. Sixth-seeded Texas A&M is +5000 and eighth-seeded Missouri is +10000 in spite of only needing to win four games.
The rest of the teams playing Wednesday have negligible odds to win: tenth-seeded Texas is +10000; 11-seed Oklahoma is +12500; 12-seed Auburn is +15000. LSU, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State are all +30000, reflecting the fact that they’re bad teams who would also need to win five games in five days.
South Carolina… is off the board? Weird. I did find another sportsbook that lists them at +30000.
