Indiana vs. Michigan Line Movement - Sharps Backing Wolverines in Big Ten Tournament

The stakes for the Indiana Hoosiers to make the NCAA Tournament are at its highest of the year, and sharp bettors do not expect them to live up to the moment.

After opening as a 2-point underdog in the Big Ten Tournament's 8-9 matchup at WynnBET Sportsbook, sharp bettors have pushed the line up a full point and a half in favor of Michigan. The Wolverines are now 3.5-point favorites at WynnBET, -160 on the moneyline with a total of 136.5. Indiana now moves to a 3.5-point dog +135 on the moneyline despite playing the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis; 45 minutes away from Bloomington.

BetSided's Peter Dewey jumped in on Michigan Wednesday evening at the early line of -2, citing Michigan's opportunity to not only take themselves off a potential bubble conversation, but perhaps move up a seed in the process. They also get head coach Juwan Howard back after his 5-game suspension for punching a Wisconsin assistant coach following their game back in February.

Michigan has also been in this situation before as an 8-seed, running the table and making it into the dance. Back in 2018, John Beilein's squad ran the table, winning four games in four days. They certainly have the talent to do it again, but the bracket won't be easy in one of the deepest conference in the country.

As for Indiana, the Hoosiers have lost seven of their last nine games, and nearly blew a 27-point lead on the road at Minnesota back on February 27th. Even with a win over Michigan, their chances of getting into March Madness are not guaranteed. They'll need some more small conference tournaments to break their way with chalk winning out.

On today's "Bet & Breakfast," I laid out why I'm taking a rare opportunity to bet on my team, Indiana, but only in the first half.

The Hoosiers are a top 11 power rated first half team this season over at TeamRankings, but fall all the way to 97th in the second half. They've struggled to adjust all season long and have blown numerous leads in which they had win probabilities of over 70% in all but one in their last 11.

As of Thursday, the Wolverines would likely be in the NCAA Tournament; projected as a 10-seed over at BracketMatrix. The Hoosiers would be out; having lost to Rutgers in their regular season home finale, before blowing yet another lead on the road against the prohibitive favorite to win the Big Ten Tournament in Purdue (+200).

Here are the opening odds over at WynnBET to win the Big Ten Tournament.

2022 Big Ten Tournament Odds

• Purdue: +200

• Illinois: +365

• Iowa: +375

• Wisconsin: +975

• Michigan: +1200

• Ohio State: +1500

• Michigan State: +2000

• Rutgers: +2200

• Indiana: +3000

• Penn State: +7500

• Northwestern: +7500

• Maryland: +10000

• Nebraska: +20000

• Minnesota: +50000

Follow all of Ben Heisler's betting plays in real-time HERE.