Today’s Top Picks: Get ahead early on the smaller college basketball conference tournaments

In 1963, singer Andy Williams released his first Christmas album. It was creatively titled “The Andy Williams Christmas Album.” On that record was a song about the holiday season titled “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”

The song is a lie.

Now, it’s not Andy Williams’ fault. He probably didn’t realize he was lying to you. After all, this song was recorded long before Championship Week became a thing in college basketball, so there was no way Andy could’ve known how wrong he was. I mean, there was once a time when we thought the sun revolved around the Earth too.

No, the most wonderful time of the year happens in the middle of March, when our weekdays are suddenly filled with college basketball teams we’ve mostly ignored all season long suddenly playing in the middle of the afternoon. It’s a time of year when we can all ignore our responsibilities except for the action, like the degenerates we truly are.

And it all begins today, so here are three top picks (odds via Westgate) for Monday night’s college basketball action:

1. UNC-Greensboro vs. Wofford: UNDER 137

Southern Conference championship game in Asheville, N.C.: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN

The under is a fantastic bet in conference championship games. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Typically, by the time you reach the conference title game, the two teams involved are playing their third game in three days. Depending on how large the conference is, it could be their fourth or even fifth game. This leads to tired legs, and you know what? It’s hard to shoot with tired legs. Furthermore, when it comes to smaller conferences like the SoCon here, there’s a lot more pressure. Not only are you playing for a conference title, but you’re also playing for what’s likely to be your conference’s lone tourney bid. Tired legs and nervous minds lead to lower scores.

2. Monmouth vs. Iona: UNDER 139

MAAC championship game in Albany, N.Y.: 9 p.m. ET, ESPN2

This is the same situation as our last pick. Iona and Monmouth are meeting in the MAAC title game, and with Iona at 16-15 and Monmouth at 14-20, it’s safe to say the loser won’t be receiving an invite from the NCAA next Sunday. That means everything is on the line here. Iona’s playing its fourth game in three days. Monmouth is playing its fourth game in five days. These are two tired teams. Take the under.

3. Ohio at Northern Illinois: NIU -4

Mid-American Conference tournament first round in DeKalb, Ill.: 9 p.m. ET, ESPN+

You haven’t watched a MAC basketball game all season, so why not start now? The conference tournament begins tonight with Northern Illinois hosting Ohio. These teams played twice during the regular season, and Northern Illinois won both matches, beating the Bobcats by six in Athens and 11 in DeKalb. I like the Huskies’ odds of getting the clean sweep as they’ve been better offensively and defensively all season long. Plus, Ohio shoots 63 percent from the free throw line. That ranks 344th out of 353 teams in the country. It’s hard to cover when you can’t make free throws.