posted March 3, 2008 at 17:46 in NCAA B Articles

The BetUS.com NCAA Basketball Betting Community will be treated to several exciting conference championships that kick off this week – and some – like the Atlantic Coast Conference and Pac-Ten Conference – that will begin next week and end prior to the NCAA’s annual Selection Sunday that will take place on March 16.

College hoops bettors should look at these conference tournaments as an excellent wagering tune-up opportunity for the national title tournament that now begins in less than two weeks as bettors will be able to gauge just how each tournament team has played just prior to the start of the annual tournament.

Each conference tournament will also feature more than its share of excellent games that offer bettors maximum value for their respective betting bucks.

Though the majority of the major conferences will kick of their respective tournaments next week, several conferences in the BetUS.com Sportsbook, will begin their tournaments this week, including the Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Missouri Valley, Ohio Valley and Patriot League.

The annual ACC Tournament will run from March 13-16 while the Pac-10 Tournament will start on March 12 and run through March 15.

The ACC Tournament, which will be held at Charlotte Bobcats Arena in Charlotte, N.C., features two of the nation’s top teams in top-seeded North Carolina, (27-2, 12-2 ACC) and Duke, (25-3, 12-2 ACC) leading the way.

Though several ACC games, including an intense meeting this coming Saturday with North Carolina traveling to Duke, still need to be played prior to the tournament, college basketball bettors should still expect the Tar Heels and Blue Devils to be the top two teams in the conference tournament.

Clemson, (9-5 ACC), Virginia Tech, (8-6 ACC), Maryland, (8-7) and Miami, (7-7), currently occupy spots three through six in the ACC, but that could change with this week’s matchups.

The Pac-10 Tournament also features some legitimate title hopefuls in conference leader, UCLA, (26-3, 14-2 Pac-10), followed by other nationally ranked teams in Stanford, (24-4, 13-3 Pac-10) and Washington State, (22-7, 10-7 Pac-10).

With two regular season games remaining for UCLA and one left for Washington State, nothing is etched in stone in the Pac-10 for any team. Arizona State, Arizona, Washington and Oregon will battle it our for the conference’s final two spots.

Looking at the past few NCAA Champions, it’s easy to see that, though while several won their respective conference championships, such as Florida the last two seasons, numerous past NCAA champs didn’t win their conference tournaments but played extremely well in them before bowing out.

2005 NCAA Champion North Carolina didn’t even reach the conference final that year before winning six straight games to take the national title.

2004 National champion UConn did win the Big East conference title that year and 2003 national champion Syracuse reached the conference final before losing to Pittsburgh and then catching fire in the NCAA Tournament.

2002 National champion Maryland failed to reach the conference title game that season, but 2001 champion Duke did win the ACC title that season as did 2000 Big Ten winner Michigan State.

With the precedence already etched in stone that wagering on conference tournaments is always a good way to gauge how teams will perform in the NCAA National Championship Tournament, it’s time to get ready for some serious college hoops wagering in the BetUS.com Sportsbook.

Check out all the latest NCAA Basketball wagering information in the BetUS.com Locker Room and BetUS.com Sportsbook.

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