Big East Tournament Betting Preview: Villanova, Xavier, Butler Odds, Analysis

Two teams that met in their conference championship game a year ago are the top two seeds and favorites on the odds to win the Big East tournament in 2016, with both also ranked among the top five programs in the country.

The top-seeded Villanova Wildcats (27-4) routed the second-seeded Xavier Musketeers (26-4) at Madison Square Garden 69-52 as 7.5-point favorites in 2015, and they have split two meetings this season, with each winning on their home courts.

Villanova is +115 (bet $100 to win $115) to repeat as Big East champs at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

The Wildcats are ranked third nationally and went 16-2 in conference play during the regular season, losing to the fourth-seeded Providence Friars (22-9) at home and the Musketeers on the road. They were ranked No. 1 in the country for three weeks before falling 90-83 at Xavier as one-point road favorites on February 24.

Villanova closed out the regular season by failing to cover the spread in four of its last five games and 10 of 15, although the last two saw the team come within one point of the closing number.

The Musketeers are +250 to win the Big East tournament on the college basketball odds and ranked fifth overall after going 14-4 in conference games. They closed out the regular season by winning five of their last six, suffering the lone loss during that stretch 90-81 to the third-seeded Seton Hall Pirates (22-8) as two-point road favorites on February 28.

That setback snapped a four-game winning streak for Xavier both straight up and against the spread. Seton Hall went 12-6 in the Big East and is the +900 fourth choice to win the conference tournament.

The third choice, though behind the Wildcats and Musketeers at +500, is the fifth-seeded Butler Bulldogs (21-9) after they were 10-8 in the Big East along with the Friars, who are +1400 to win the tourney.

Butler has covered the spread in five straight games, going 4-1 SU, and eight of nine, according to the Odds Shark College Basketball Database. Providence is 3-0 SU and ATS in its last three games after failing to cover six in a row and winning only one time over that period.