Men's college basketball best bets for Champ Week: ACC, MAC and more - ESPN

Champ Week is loaded with excitement and surprises, and finding betting value in conference tournament futures can sometimes be tough.

Lower-seeded teams know it's likely their only shot to punch a ticket to the dance, while bubble teams need wins of any kind and don't care about by how much.

The best of the best just want to cut down the nets, because no one wants to go into the NCAA tournament with a bad taste in their mouth.

Every team's motivation is unique and there will be some upsets. Here are my best bets for conference championship week.

If you like the idea of your bet being a «sweat,» well, get ready. The Cardinals bring the type of volatility that could have them lose their first game or win the whole darn thing! The bad news for Louisville is that it missed out on a top-4 seed and a bye into the quarterfinals, so the Cardinals have to play an extra game. The good news is they are on the opposite side of the bracket from Duke.

The Cardinals' 3-point variance is off the charts, as 53.2% of their field goal attempts are 3s, the fourth-highest rate in the nation. When they make them, they can be unbeatable. Obviously, if they miss them, they are dead on arrival. They play with a ton of pace, which can frustrate opponents, and when you add in their shot-making ability, it forces opponents out of rhythm.

Their path is why you should bet them. If they advance past their first game, they will face a Miami team they just beat on the road in the regular-season finale (without their best player, freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr.). Then they would get the winner of likely Virginia/NC State. The Cardinals crushed the Wolfpack and lost to UVA by 9 (Brown also missed that game with his nagging back injury). Clearly, having