Big Ten Championship Contest Pits Minnesota Against Ohio State

The Minnesota Golden Gophers have two reasons to beat the Ohio State Buckeyes when the two Big Ten rivals battle at Conseco Fieldhouse today at 3:30 PM ET.

A win in today’s conference title tilt would give the Golden Gophers not only the Big Ten Championship, but also a berth in the annual national championship tournament.

Sunday, March 14, 3:30 PM ET
NBA Betting Odds: Ohio State -4
(O/U) 129.5
TV: CBS

Minnesota (21-12 SU, 17-15 ATS, 12-9 CONF)
Ohio State (26-7 SU, 16-17 ATS, 16-4 CONF)

Here is a look at the key head-to-head trends surrounding today’s Big Ten Championship contest.

Favorite is 8-0 ATS in the last 8 meetings.
Under is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings.

Minnesota 411
Golden Gophers are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record.
Golden Gophers are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall.
Golden Gophers are 8-1 ATS in their last 9 games following a SU win of more than 20 points.
Golden Gophers are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games as an underdog.

Minnesota has knocked off the second and third seeds in the Big ten tourney and shocked Purdue on Saturday, handing the Boilermakers an emphatic 69-42 loss in their Big Ten semifinal showdown to reach today’s title game.

Minnesota placed just two players in double figures in scoring but limited the Boilermakers to a pitiful 27.6 percent shooting mark in the win to cash in for college basketball betting aficionados as a 2.5-point underdog to move to a perfect 4-0 ATS over the last four games and 8-1 ATS over their last nine games overall.

Ohio State 411
Buckeyes are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning percentage above .600.
Buckeyes are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record.
Buckeyes are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 neutral site games.

Ohio State kept its dreams of a No. 1 seed alive by beating the Fighting Illini 88-81 in double-overtime in their semifinal showdown on Saturday. The Buckeyes got a game-high 31 points from Big Ten (and likely national) Player of Year Evan Turner but failed to cover the NCAA basketball odds as a 7.5-point favorite to fall to 0-2 over the last two games and 1-3 ATS over the last four games overall.

Analysis: These two teams spilt their two regular season meetings with Minnesota winning 73-62 on Jan. 9 as 4-point home favorites and Ohio State extracting their revenge by recording an 85-63 win as 7-point favorites on Jan. 31.

I’ll keep this pick short and sweet by simply saying, I like the Minnesota Gophers to cover the NCAA basketball betting odds in this contest based on the fact that they have played better basketball than any team in the conference during the tourney, including Ohio State, which needed a last-second 40-foot three-pointer in order to beat mediocre Michigan in the quarterfinals.

I’ve always loved Tubby Smith and think he’s one of the finer head coaches in the country. The Golden Gophers have the athleticism to matchup up with Ohio State very well and I believe their confidence level will be soaring after beating Michigan State and Purdue in their last two games.