We are now eight days away from Selection Sunday. While 68 teams will be gunning to become national champions, conference bragging rights will be on the line as well.

In light of that, FanDuel currently has a “Conference of National Champion” special in which you can wager on which conference the national champs will come from.

The ACC comes in at 10/1, but it has been a down year in the conference. If there’s a national title contender out of the ACC, it’s Duke. You can get better odds by taking Duke to win the national title at 13/1 on FanDuel.

The Big Ten has not won a national title since 2000. While I would love for my Michigan Wolverines to end that drought, they have struggled to put two good performances in a row all season, which makes it hard to put together the six it would take to win the national title.

Guard play is pivotal in March, and Purdue has one of the most explosive backcourt players in the country in Jaden Ivey. But the Boilermakers also rank 100th in adjusted defensive efficiency, which is well beyond the typical threshold of a national champion.

The Big Ten also has Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, which could make runs with the right draw. The odds of a Big Ten team winning the national title come in at 15/2.

The Pac-12 has some solid value at 11/2. Arizona is one of my favorites to cut down the nets this year, while USC and UCLA both made the Elite Eight last season and are capable of making another run.

The Big 12 comes in +390 and has Baylor, Kansas and Texas Tech as its top contenders. Baylor lost forward Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua for the season to a knee injury, however, and guard LJ Cryer is still out because of a foot injury. Without those two, Baylor’s title chances would take a hit.

The WCC sits at 7/2, but like the ACC, it has only one national title contender. You can get slightly better odds by taking Gonzaga to win the national title at 4/1 at BetMGM.

Gonzaga is still the betting favorite to win it all. In addition to Arizona, however, my other two favorite national title picks both reside in the SEC.

Kentucky might have the National Player of the Year in forward Oscar Tshiebwe. The junior averages 16.9 points, 15.3 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.5 blocks while shooting 59 percent from the field. Kentucky has two capable point guards, TyTy Washington and Sahvir Wheeler.

The Wildcats, during the John Calipari era, typically have played their best basketball in March. That’s usually because the roster is lined with freshmen who need time to jell. This season, however, Washington is the only Kentucky freshman who has been averaging more than 10 minutes per game. Tshiebwe, Grady, Wheeler, Keion Brooks, Davion Mintz, and Jacob Toppin make up an experienced bunch of juniors and seniors.

Bruce Pearl took Auburn to the Final Four in 2019, but he has more talent on this year’s team. Forward Jabari Smith may be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft. The standout freshman is averaging 16.9 points and 6.9 rebounds while shooting 42.5 percent from 3.

His front-court mate, Walker Kessler, leads the nation with 4.6 blocks per game. His rim protection has made Auburn the best shot-blocking team in the country.

Kentucky and Auburn both rank in the top 25 in adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency. Kentucky comes in at 8/1 to win the national championship at BetMGM, and Auburn is 14/1 at FanDuel.

While those two would be enough for me consider taking the SEC for the special, they are not alone as contenders in the conference. Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas are all capable of making deep runs.

Because there are five contenders — with a few long shots — I would go with the SEC for the FanDuel special. While betting on the favorite isn’t always sexy, it still offers good value at +340.