This weekend, it's time for real Players to step up

Some may argue this is one of the best times of the year on the sports calendar. The NBA and NHL are in the home stretches of their regular seasons. MLB spring training is in full swing. College basketball is reaching its climax, and the PGA Tour has events every weekend. Today, we're turning our attention to the two latter sports, specifically The Players Championship and the NCAA men's conference tournaments.

By the time you're reading this, The Players Championship will be well underway, but it's not too late to get a bet in for the weekend's action at TPC Sawgrass. One of our preferred targets for The Players just teed off, and here's hoping he offers some value by the time you're catching up with us here at Bark Bets.

Seems like a great Day to back Jason

Ahead of a tournament like this, there are two main factors we try to bring to the table: recent momentum and past course history. Australian Jason Day brings a whole lot of momentum into this weekend, finishing in the top 10 in four straight events and five of his last six starts.

His best finish this season was fifth at the WM Phoenix Open, but it's been great to see sustained and solid play from Day. It's here we're looking to grab a bet or two.

Given that The Players Championship is always at TPC Sawgrass, it's made relatively simple for us to look back on past results to potentially guide future outcomes. Day has won on this course before, taking home the win in 2016. He's played the eighth-most recorded rounds on this course of this weekend's field, experience we'd like to back.

Couple Day's nice recent form with his familiarity with TPC Sawgrass, and we're loading up a pair of bets on the Aussie.

Betting:

• Jason Day top-10 finish (+250 DK)
• Jason Day to win (+2200 DK)

Get prepped and ready for the conference tournaments

By the end of today, every single conference will have gotten its tournament underway, and we're excited to keep our eye on the action throughout the weekend leading up to Selection Sunday. Yardbarker's own Matt Wiesenfeld has been hard at work laying out each of the five major conferences, and we want to be sure you poke around and find yourself some teams you'd like to back.

• ACC preview
• Pac-12 preview
• Big Ten preview
• Big East preview
• SEC preview

Tennessee seems to offer some nice value out of the SEC at +380. The Volunteers are one of the best defensive teams in the country, a strength that tends to shine in March. Tennessee will see Ole Miss later today and has a favorable draw against Missouri next should the Vols advance today. 

If you're looking for some value, how about North Carolina at +750? UNC cruised past Boston College yesterday and will have a tough test tonight against the second-ranked team in the conference, Virginia. While the Cavaliers are a solid bet thanks to a roster that's largely the same as last year, the Tar Heels have a Final Four run under their belts from last season and need to pick up some conference wins heading into the tournament. 

It's hard to ignore Purdue out of the Big Ten at +175. The Boilermakers won't play until tomorrow and have been this conference's best team. Big man Zach Edey has been a force, and the Boilermakers have something to prove. They're the favorites. It seems to be for good reason, and Purdue is a team we're comfortable backing here.

We're getting behind the momentum of Villanova to run through the Big East at +850. The Wildcats dismantled Georgetown yesterday by 32 points and have won seven of their last nine games. They'll play the third-seeded Creighton Bluejays tonight, a team they just beat by 12. The Wildcats are another team that needs a strong showing in their conference tournament to qualify for the Round of 64, and we're happy to give them a chance here in what is typically one of our favorite conference tourneys.

For more picks and info, check out the tourney previews above, and enjoy the endless hoops for the next few days!

In the news ...

Suns fear Kevin Durant suffered serious ankle injury — The Phoenix Suns recently acquired Kevin Durant, and after the star suffered an ankle injury Wednesday night during pregame warmups, there's concern in the organization that it keeps Durant sidelined for four to six weeks. If the diagnosis comes back with that news, it would certainly be a blow for Phoenix, though not an insurmountable one. Phoenix is currently the fourth seed in the West and just 3.5 games ahead of Minnesota and Dallas, currently at No. 7, which would fall under the play-in tournament. The playoffs are about five weeks away, so if the Suns can tread water until mid-April, Durant may be able to rejoin the team in time for its first playoff series. Nonetheless, this is a blow to the Suns, who will hope for good news on Durant's injury. It hasn't yet affected their futures odds, with Phoenix still the favorite to win the West at +190.

Zion Williamson suffers setback — Speaking of Western Conference teams dealing with unfortunate injury news, it seems what was once a promising season for the New Orleans Pelicans is evaporating quickly. According to Brian Windhorst, Zion Williamson suffered a significant setback and is not close to returning. At one point, the Pelicans topped the West standings, and when Williamson last suited up in January, New Orleans was third in the standings at 23-14. Now, the Pelicans sit at 10th, with Oklahoma City, Portland and Utah all just one game back of supplanting them in the play-in tournament. With this news and the Durant news, plus the Ja Morant drama, perhaps your best course of action is to look for some value in the Western futures field. Why not Denver at +330? The Nuggets have been dominant all season, and Nikola Jokic is set to win his third straight MVP. They are in first by a whopping seven games, and at some point you have to think this regular-season dominance can lead to a postseason run.

Aaron Rodgers to the Jets rumors heating up — The New York Jets met with quarterback Aaron Rodgers earlier this week, and reports suggest the meeting went extremely well. ESPN's Dianna Russini tweeted early Thursday morning that the Jets believe they are on the brink of landing Rodgers. It sounds as if Green Bay is perfectly content to part ways with the four-time MVP quarterback and won't be looking for a "godfather" type offer for Rodgers. While the AFC is loaded, the Jets have quite a few quality young pieces on their roster, and the addition of Rodgers would make them an instant contender in 2023. The betting market has listened to these rumors and put its money down in support of it. The Jets are flying up the futures board, currently +1800 to win the Super Bowl, the seventh-best odds in the NFL.

Today's Bark Bets is written by Griffin Carroll