2023 Pac-12 Tournament odds, betting trends: Fifth-seeded Washington State, on six-game winning streak, taking massive action to win event in Las Vegas

It's always interesting to see which longer-shot teams bettors wager on to win a conference tournament. The Pac-12 Tournament starts today from Las Vegas with regular-season champion UCLA the clear favorite to win it, yet the team taking the most action overall at Caesars Sportsbook is No. 5 seed Washington State despite the fact the Cougars have never won it – or even reached the championship game.

Coach Kyle Smith's Cougars are 16-15 overall and 11-9 in the conference. Their only shot at a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008 – when Tony Bennett was the coach – is to win this week's event at T-Mobile Arena.

Wazzu opened at +2000 to win the tournament and is now down to +1500 because it has drawn the third-most tickets overall for this week's conference tournaments among ALL teams nationally at Caesars: 49.5% of wagers to win the Pac-12. The Cougars are second in handle as well at 30.0%, only behind UCLA (+130) at 43.3%.

Washington State is a 13.5-point favorite for today's game against No. 12 Cal, which is in the argument for the worst power conference team in the country at 3-28 overall and 2-18 in the league. Last year in the Pac-12 Tournament, Wazzu faced Cal in the opening round and won 66-59.

Led by first-team All-Pac-12 pick Mouhamed Gueye, the Cougars enter on a six-game winning streak, the longest of Smith's tenure, including a 63-57 victory at Cal on Feb. 25. The Senegalese sophomore Gueye has 15 double-doubles this season, most in the league, while averaging 14.5 points per game (ninth in Pac-12) and 8.7 rebounds (second in Pac-12). Gueye has more offensive rebounds than any other player in the Pac-12 with 109 and is ranked 14th nationally at 3.52 offensive rebounds per game.

It's also a good three-point shooting team as WSU makes 8.9 three-point field goals per game, first in the Pac-12 and eighth among major conference programs. Twelve times this season WSU has made at least 10 threes and is 9-3 in those games. The Cougs run one of the slowest offenses in the country, with the 330th tempo in the country, according to KenPom.

Assuming Washington State wins today, it would face No. 4 Oregon in Thursday's quarterfinals. Top-seeded UCLA most likely awaits that winner in Friday's quarters. ESPN Bracketology has just three league teams in the NCAA Tournament: UCLA (No. 1 in West), Arizona (No. 2 in Midwest) and USC (No. 10 in South). Oregon is among the "Next Four Out."

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