It is obviously important to make sure you are betting into the right market. With these conference champion bets however, it's not always obvious whether it is for the regular season or for the winner of the conference championship game. All the bets referred to here are for the regular season conference champs NOT the conference championship tournament which is a very different bet as a tournament is much more random than the results of playing an entire conference schedule. Generally these bets are for the regular season champion only but not always. Be sure to always check your book for rules and definitions to make sure you are betting into the right market and that you know what happens if an event is cancelled or season shortened ect.

Here are three teams that I like to win their respective conference championships. They are all from smaller conferences which I really like to focus in on as the larger conferences are often priced much more efficiently.

MAAC Champion

Iona -155

The Gaels are getting much more attentions these days with Rich Pitino as their head coach but their dominance of the MAAC conference over the past few years really stands out as well. Iona has gone to six consecutive NCAA Tournaments and they are poised to be right back in the dance come March.Over the last 10 years they've been to 9 MAAC Tournament Finals, winning six titles during that time. -155 seems a bit steep but I think the number should be north of -200 and will get their very soon once the season gets going.

The Gaels lost a few pieces last year but they have a lot of solid production still on the team. Forward Nelly Junior Joseph is a force and will be in the running for both Offensive Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year for the conference. Walter Clayton Jr will also be a standout, he was listed on the preseason All MAAC team. The Gaels also return Berrick JeanLouis, a defensive specialist that had been integral in each of the last two seasons, as well as starter Quinn Slazinski and 7-foot center Osborn Shema. They welcome seven newcomers, a group of five freshmen and two transfers highlighted by Daniss Jenkins. Jenkins, a former junior college All-American, has stood out so far.

The Gaels took down a top 10 team last season and they will most likely be a trendy upset pick come March. They run this conference though and they should run away with the MAAC down the stretch. This is a number that I expect to go up to -200 quickly and one that will probably get out of control at some point, even at -155 it has some great value.

Mountain West Champion

San Diego St -105

San Diego St is deep, they really go 12 deep and will be able to rotate in a ton of players and keep everyone fresh. They had impressive results in the transfer portal as theuy brought in guard Darrion Trammell who averaged 17 pts and 5 assists last seaon at Seattle, TCU Transfer transfer 6-foot-9 Jaedon LeDee who will be a menace on defense and a beast on the boards, and Micah Parrish who is a left handed sharp shooter with length who can play solid perimeter defense.

They bring back a lot of returning players as well including all-conference guard Matt Bradley and Mountain West defensive player of the year Nathan Mensah. The top nine players are all juniors or seniors. Mensah and Aguek Arop have been in the program for five years, Adam Seiko for six. Even the scout team is stocked with seniors. They are an experienced team with a deep roster and a superstar in Matt Bradley who can get buckets with the best of em.

There are a couple of nice teams in the Mountain West that could give the Lobos a run for their money. namely Wyoming and Colorado State, those are really the only two teams that I can see actually challenging SDST for a conference championship. Wyoming plays good defense and has nice upside on offense, they lack the consistency and don't have a real playmaker that you can rely on to get you points down the stretch. Colorado State had a really good team last year but they their leading scorer and rebounder from a year ago to NBA in David Roddy who really was the backbone of their team. Outsider of those two there really isn't another team that can consistently win enough games to challenge the Lobos.

San Diego State comes into the year ranked 19th in the AP Poll and this is a team that could realistically see itself on the 3 line come March if they're able to dominate this conference and rack up a lot of wins. They play a tough non conference schedule as well which should give them a leg up on their competition once they get into conference play. With the lack of challengers in the conference, their overall team depth, defensive culture, and Matt Bradley's ability to take over a game this is a team that I really like to win the Mountain West Conference.

Written by Travis Gillmore