College Basketball Handicapping Articles

2011 Big East Tournament Predictions and College Basketball Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 3/7/2011

Win In The Garden or win in The Tournament. That seems to be the prevailing attitude toward the Big East Tournament from the bobblehead media. The idea is that this Mega-Conference has a tournament that is so grueling, and so exhausting that whoever wins couldn’t possibly have the reserves to make a deep NCAA Tournament run.

2011 Mountain West Conference Tournament Predictions and Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 3/7/2011

Finally, the Mountain West is getting some love. For the past five years I have been screaming that this league is the most underrated in all of college basketball. The top tier of this conference is capable of playing at a very high level and there is plenty of talent both at the individual and team levels.

Atlantic 10 Tournament Odds and College Basketball Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 3/7/2011

The Atlantic 10 Tournament begins on Tuesday on campus sites before moving to Atlantic City for the quarterfinals on Friday. The top four regular-season finishers in the conference; Xavier, Temple, Richmond and Duquesne; all have byes into the quarterfinals. The other seeded teams are No. 5 George Washington, No. 6 Rhode Island, No. 7 St. Bonaventure, No. 8 Massachusetts, No. 9 Dayton, No. 10 La Salle, No. 11 Saint Louis and No. 12 Saint Joseph’s.

Western Athletic Conference Tournament Predictions and WAC Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 3/7/2011

The Western Athletic Conference is Utah State and then everybody else. Few teams in America have dominated their league this season like the Aggies of Utah State. And, now that I mentioned it, this team has had a stranglehold on the WAC for most of the last half-decade. They went 15-1 in league play this year and the team is hunting for its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last seven years. This Utah State team is deep, talented, experienced and hell bent on Mormon domination.

NCAA Tournament Handicapping: How Does Loss of Davies Affect BYU?
by T.O. Whenham - 3/4/2011

I’ve been planning for about a week to write an article about BYU and the remarkable season they are having in college basketball -- capped as it was by an amazing win at San Diego State on Saturday. It was going to be a glowing article full of strong statements about their tournament potential. How quickly things can change.

College Basketball Handicapping: Tips for Betting Conference Tournaments
by T.O. Whenham - 3/4/2011

Conference tournaments can be a great betting opportunity for college basketball handicappers. The stakes are high, there’s lots of public money to pick off, and there is plenty of media coverage of games to help draw insights from. More importantly, though, conference tournaments can be very helpful for bettors looking to prepare for a strong run in the NCAA Tournament.

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Predictions and Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 3/2/2011

In my opinion the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament is a little bit like a starting gun for March Madness. That league championship really signifies the beginning of the insanity that is about to envelop the sports betting world and offers the first glimpse into the unique situations and challenges that lie ahead.

Bracketology: NCAA Tournament Projections and Bubble Watch
by Robert Ferringo - 3/1/2011

We are less than two weeks away from Selection Sunday and we are on the verge of The Madness taking full control of the national sports betting scene. But while two weeks really seems like a short amount of time, I can say for certain that there is still a lot of basketball to be played and there is a lot yet to be decided with regards to the NCAA Tournament field and NCAA Tournament projections.

College Basketball Picks: Alabama at Florida Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 3/1/2011

Alabama and Florida playing for the SEC title is nothing new … in football. But in basketball, well, this is a new thing. However, the overall regular-season crown is likely on the line tonight in Gainesville when the Tide visit as college basketball’s regular season wraps up this week.

College Basketball Picks: BYU at San Diego State Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 2/25/2011

Saturday’s game between No. 7 Brigham Young and No. 4 San Diego State is the biggest basketball game ever in the Mountain West Conference. These two are tied atop the MWC with 12-1 records. Thus the winner here likely will be crowned regular-season champion and get the top seed in the conference tourney. But perhaps more important, a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament is very possible if SDSU wins out.

NCAA Tournament Futures: Long Shots To Watch
by Richard Gardner | Bodog Sportsbook Manager - 2/25/2011

Why am I mentioning all this? Well, many experts are predicting that 2011 might be the year for an unheralded team to break the string of championships for top seeds. The reason? While there are a number of very good teams out there, there might not be a truly great team, and that could make for a wide-open tournament.

2011 Final Four Predictions
by T.O. Whenham - 2/21/2011

That means one big thing - now is the perfect time to make some Final Four predictions. And predictions about the road to the Final Four as well. Here are eight things that I feel confident about right now. Of course, I’m even more confident that several of these predictions will be embarrassingly lousy by the time thee tournament rolls around. Without further ado:

College Basketball Picks: UConn at Louisville Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 2/18/2011

I would like to argue that tonight’s Big East matchup between Top-16 teams UConn and Louisville carries some special significance, but it probably really doesn’t. Well, a potential Top-4 seed for the Big East Tournament carries some weight in terms of byes, but other than that both of these teams are headed to the Big Dance no matter what happens from here on out.

College Basketball Handicapping: Don’t Overreact to Rare Losses
by T.O. Whenham - 2/18/2011

I have a serious pet peeve when it comes to college basketball -- how the polls and the public react to a single loss by a top-ranked team. We’ve seen it twice in just over a month, and it’s ridiculous in both cases. First, Duke was the undefeated, unanimous No. 1 team in the country, but one road losses in a very hostile Florida State environment and they were dropped down to fourth place.

College Basketball Handicapping: Teams That Could Shine in March Madness
by T.O. Whenham - 2/17/2011

The postseason in college basketball is all about surprises -- teams that perform much better than the public expects them to. Sometimes those teams come from nowhere to become media darlings. More often, though, they are teams that had a lot of things working for them and looked like they were on the right path. These surprise teams can take many forms -- they can be strong second-level contenders in major conferences, or teams that toil in obscure conferences away from the public radar.

Bracketology: NCAA Tournament Projections and Bubble Watch
by Robert Ferringo - 2/16/2011

All I know is this: 68 is a whole lotta teams. For those of you that have been kicking it with the Tea Party/mountain folk in the hills of Tennessee over the last few months, I am here to remind you that the NCAA Tournament has actually expanded this year. The Big Dance will now feature 68 teams, with four at-large squads taking on four automatic qualifiers in a play-in game on the Tuesday before the actual 64-team tournament begins on Thursday.

College Basketball Bracket Buster Weekend Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 2/15/2011

I've analyzed the last six years of the mid-February mid-major hoops orgy known as Bracket Buster Weekend to see if I could establish any useful betting angles or trends. Instead of working over every single "official" Bracket Buster game I squared my focus on the ones that featuring the mid-major conferences that were routinely wagered upon. That includes the Ohio Valley, Big West, Horizon, Missouri Valley, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, Colonial, and Western Athletic. These are the key players and they constitute the primary games in the Bracket Buster schedule.

College Basketball Picks: Michigan State at Ohio State Odds Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 2/15/2011

Back when the college basketball season started, tonight’s Big Ten game between Michigan State and Ohio State was circled by many fans as the likely game of the year between the two top contenders in the conference and two Top-10 teams. Well, Ohio State has kept up its end of the bargain, but the Spartans are uncharacteristically struggling under Coach Tom Izzo and are squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble after beginning the season at No. 2 in the nation.

College Basketball Picks: Big Monday Odds and Predictions
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 2/14/2011

The Carrier Dome has been a house of horrors for West Virginia and Big Monday has not been so kind either. West Virginia is 1-4 in its last four Big Monday games and just last week the Mountaineers fell to rival Pitt, 71-66, in Morgantown. West Virginia sure wishes their next Big Monday showdown this week would be in Morgantown and not Syracuse’s Carrier Dome. The Orange have won their last six in a row against West Virginia in the Carrier Dome.

College Basketball Picks: Pitt at Villanova Odds and Betting Predictions
by Darin Zank - 2/12/2011

Big East basketball has already had a crazy year full of big games matching not just contenders for the conference crown, but for more coveted prizes come March. And Saturday night gives us another chance for a big-time Big East barnburner, as the Pitt Panthers, ranked No. 4 in the most recent AP poll, visit Philly to take on the 9th-ranked Villanova Wildcats within the cozy confines of The Pavilion (9 p.m. EST, ESPN).