2021-22 Big 12 Basketball Betting Preview
Big 12 Basketball Preseason Predictions
WagerTalk college basketball handicapper Adam Trigger offers his thoughts on the upcoming 2021-22 Big 12 Basketball season. Which teams are being underrated by the betting market? Which teams should you stay away from? Check out Adam’s Big 12 Basketball betting preview.
The 2021-22 college basketball season tips off on Tuesday, November 9th, and Adam Trigger wants to introduce himself with a big discount! For a limited time, you can get the opening seven days of the college hoops season for ONLY $39, giving you access to ANY college basketball selections played during opening week, including ANY 5% Best Bets on the hardwood! Stay on top of the latest College Basketball updates direct from Las Vegas!
Big 12 Basketball Betting Preview
I’ll continue to work my way West to East and that brings us to our second “power conference” as we land in what is year in and year out one of the most powerful of them all. The Big 12 produced last year’s NCAA Champions as Baylor cut down the nets in Indianapolis. Kansas, Texas and Baylor seem to be the consensus Top 3 here but one will be a “bet against” for me and there are others down the list that I expect to make some noise come conference play.
Big 12 Basketball ‘BET ON’ Teams
Oklahoma State Cowboys – The Cowboys may have lost one of the most talented individuals to ever step foot on campus in Stillwater in 2021 #1 overall NBA draft pick Cade Cunningham but everyone else is back and I think this might be a better team without him. Cunningham is an outstanding player but I felt like he played too much as an individual at times and didn’t get the maximum out of what is a really good ‘Pokes team he had around him. Cunningham missed three games last season and Oklahoma State went 2-1 with wins over West Virginia and Iowa State and a competitive loss to Baylor so there’s already precedent for this Oklahoma State team being fine without him. Oklahoma State has a young team but all of these players played key minutes last year, Kansas transfer Bryce Thompson should make an immediate impact and the Cowboys should be right in the mix despite very little hype heading into the season.
Cunningham was one of the top scorers in the country averaging 20.1 points per game but I think Oklahoma State has enough shooters to replace his individual efforts. Avery Anderson managed 12.2 points per game last season despite Cunningham taking the majority of the shots and Thompson should put up far better offensive numbers than he did at Kansas with increased playing time. Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe and Kalib Boone give Oklahoma State one of the most athletic frontcourts in the conference and Memphis transfer Moussa Cisse will come off the bench to bolster Oklahoma State’s interior defense. Oklahoma State has a veteran point guard in Isaac Likekele who is also an excellent rebounder from the guard position and the Cowboys have depth so I expect this to be a deep, athletic Oklahoma State squad that can get it done in a number of different ways. Cunningham is viewed as a massive loss which is why Oklahoma State isn’t cracking anyone’s Top 25 but, again, I really do believe this Oklahoma State TEAM is a better TEAM than they were last year. Oklahoma State is getting overlooked, that’s a mistake and I expect to be backing the ‘Pokes against the number plenty this season.
TCU Horned Frogs – You won’t find TCU ranked higher than 8th in any Big 12 basketball preview but that’s because the top seven in the Big 12 are among the Top 50 teams in the country. TCU has been in a rebuild since making the NCAA Tournament back in 2018 but Jamie Dixon has brought in a bunch of promising transfers and when added around sophomore guard Mike Miles this could be a Horned Frogs team that’s competitive sooner than anticipated and should be excellent against the number. Dixon is now in his sixth year at TCU, he’s been to 12 NCAA Tournaments in his coaching career and, at this point, he knows how to manage a Big 12 basketball schedule.
Dixon learned that he’s not going to be able to organically build a team that can compete with the teams in the upper half of this conference so he went out and brought in a slew of transfers that didn’t catch on other places but that he feels will catch on in Fort Worth. Dixon also has Mike Miles, he’s an NBA caliber talent and had he blossomed sooner he would probably be at a Kansas or a Texas, not at TCU. Miles is as good of an individual backcourt player as there is in the Big 12 and if Dixon got it right with the transfers like I think he did TCU could be much better than anyone expects them to be this season.
Big 12 Basketball ‘BET AGAINST’ Team
Baylor Bears – Yet another example of one of my “bet on” teams from last season becoming a “bet against” this year I’ll be looking to fade the defending champion Baylor Bears. I was on Baylor right out of the gate last year, I gave them out before the season and again before the NCAA Tournament and Baylor rolled to their first title in program history. Scott Drew is a fantastic coach and he has a capable group again this season but I just don’t see Baylor contending for another NCAA title and I’ll be surprised if they can keep pace with Kansas and Texas in the Big 12 this season. Baylor loses an “all time” trio in Davion Mitchell, Jared Butler and MaCio Teague, all of which could score and were menaces on the defensive end of the floor. Baylor also loses stud freshman Langston Love as he tore his ACL in a scrimmage and will miss the entire season.
Baylor brings in James Akinjo who is now on his third school and can score but Akinjo can’t do what any of those guys did one the defensive end of the floor. Baylor doesn’t return anyone that averaged double figures on last year’s NCAA Championship team and, while Akinjo will probably lead the team in scoring, I don’t know that I see Adam Flagler or Matthew Mayer as a lights out #2 scoring option. Baylor has another big time freshman in Kendall Brown who will likely start but he’s also not even close to as good defensively as who he will be replacing. Baylor has size in Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua and Flo Thamba so the interior defense should be solid but it was the perimeter defense up and down the floor that made Baylor a title contender last year. Scott Drew has proven to be a fantastic coach and he has absolutely reloaded in Waco but that was truly a team effort from Baylor last year and one that took multiple years to build. Baylor will still be in the mix in 2021-22 but I don’t have the Bears as a Top 10 team, I do expect they will be priced as such and I think fading Baylor against the number will prove profitable this season.
Other College Basketball Conference Previews
West Coast Conference Preview
WAC Conference Preview
Big Sky Preview
Mountain West Conference Preview
Pac-12 Conference Preview
Big West Conference Preview
Summit League Preview
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— Adam Trigger (@TopFlightSI) October 21, 2021
Conference Tournament Betting
The 2021-22 Big 12 Basketball Tournament is a long way away, but it’s never too early to sharpen up some of your betting skills. Minty Bets sat down with Marco D’Angelo and Ralph Michaels to discuss some college basketball conference tournament betting tips, and how those games are different than regular season contests.
2021-22 NCAA Basketball National Championship Odds
The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook has just released their updated 2021-22 NCAA Basketball National Championship odds, and Gonzaga remains the 6-to-1 favorite, followed by Texas (10-to-1), Kansas (12-to-1) and UCLA (12-to-1). Once the season tips off, WagerTalk’s live odds screen will feature up-to-the-minute betting lines from a variety of offshore and domestic sports books.
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