Arizona favorite in Pac-12, Boise State in Mountain West

Vegas Madness will hit full stride Wednesday, when the Pac-12 and Mountain West men’s tournaments tip off.

The Pac-12 will showcase two of the top teams in the country at T-Mobile Arena in Arizona and UCLA. The Wildcats are the -160 favorites at the Westgate SuperBook to win the tourney. The Bruins are the +260 second choice. Southern California is the 8-1 third pick. The rest of the field is 16-1 or higher.

The Mountain West is wide open, with Boise State (+240) and San Diego State (+275) leading a pack of seven teams with odds of 12-1 or less to win the event at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Colorado State is 4-1, Wyoming 7-1, UNLV 8-1, Fresno State 10-1 and Utah State 12-1.

“Seven teams have a realistic chance to win out of 12 in the conference. That’s as wide open a tournament as I can remember,” SuperBook vice president of risk Ed Salmons said. “These teams are all so close. The top three are separated by two or 2½ points on the point spread.

“The hardest thing to handicap is what kind of home presence does UNLV get. There was a time their home court really meant a lot.”

The Rebels play Wyoming in the quarterfinals Thursday. Salmons projects the Cowboys to be about a 1-point favorite in what Goldsheet.com handicapper Bruce Marshall said might essentially be an NCAA Tournament play-in game for Wyoming.

“That’s probably the most important game of this whole tournament, as far as the NCAA Tournament is concerned,” he said. “Wyoming is kind of right at the edge of the field. They might be a play-in game team anyway right now. They could have something to worry about if they lose that game to UNLV.”

The Rebels beat the Cowboys 64-57 last week at the Thomas & Mack. Marshall likes UNLV to win again.

“UNLV has been playing better lately at home,” he said. “Wyoming is a little vulnerable here. I can almost see UNLV favored there.”

Salmons said the SuperBook took a sharp bet on Boise State at +275 to win its first MW tourney title.

San Diego State is the league’s top team in the SuperBook power ratings. Professional sports bettor Paul Stone likes the Aztecs to win the event.

“UNLV is my darkhorse pick. Bryce Hamilton can keep the Rebels competitive against almost anyone,” said Stone (@PaulStoneSports). “But if I have to take one team, I’m taking San Diego State. They’ve been pretty salty away from home this season. They’ve already defeated UNLV once this season at the Thomas and Mack.”

The SuperBook took a notable bet on Arizona State to win the Pac-12 tourney at 80-1. The Sun Devils are now 40-1 long shots to win the event, but Salmons doesn’t see that happening.

“Arizona State played really well at the end of the year, but they beat up on bad teams in the Pac-12,” he said. “Unless Arizona and UCLA lose their focus and don’t care, they are by far the best two teams in the conference. It’s not even close.

“The only other team that could’ve contended is USC but they’ve slipped. And a week ago, I would’ve said Oregon, but they were blown out twice by really inferior teams (in Washington and Washington State).”

Marshall said UCLA is the only team he can see beating Arizona. Stone said he likes the Bruins to win the tourney in a mild upset.

“The Bruins split with the Wildcats in the regular season. They beat them by 16 at home,” Stone said. “In the rematch in Tucson, UCLA was within three with under four minutes to go.”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.