College Basketball Handicapping Articles

College Basketball Picks: Betting Teams to Avoid
by T.O. Whenham - 1/20/2011

College basketball media, and therefore the betting public, are seduced by big names -- high profile teams, ranked mid-majors, and players sure to be heading to the NBA. Those stories may be the most compelling ones for casual fans, but those teams are often not nearly as kind to bettors as you might think they would be based on the amount of attention they could get. Here’s a look at eight teams that are not nearly living up to their reputations this year from a betting perspective. Avoid these teams with your college basketball picks at all costs.

College Basketball Picks: San Diego State at New Mexico Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 1/14/2011

It’s not too often that we preview a Mountain West Conference basketball game here at Doc’s, but take a look at the MWC this year and you could say it’s better at the top than both the Pac-10 and SEC. Thus, today we bring you San Diego State vs. New Mexico, as the No. 6 Aztecs are one of four remaining unbeaten teams in the country. And just like I (mostly) predicted on Wednesday with Duke against Florida State, SDSU will suffer its first loss of the season.

College Basketball Handicapping: Who Will Be Last Unbeaten?
by T.O. Whenham - 1/13/2011

Timing is everything in sports betting. It’s apparently also pretty important in writing. I was about to sit down and write this article -- about which undefeated team would be the last standing -- yesterday, but for a number of minor reasons I wrote others instead and left this one until today. Good thing. The point I was going to make was that Duke was, by a solid margin, the best positioned of the five teams to survive to the end without a loss. Oops.

College Basketball Rankings: The Mid-Majors
by T.O. Whenham - 1/12/2011

Last week I ranked the major conferences in college basketball, so it only makes sense that I rank the best of the rest this week. Before we look at the top mid-majors in the country, though, let’s quickly review the majors -- the Big East and Big Ten were neck and neck at the top, with the Big 12 close behind and then a big gap down to the ACC, the SEC, and the truly awful Pac-10.

College Basketball Picks: Duke at Florida State Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 1/12/2011

Last week when I was looking ahead in college basketball, I very much thought that Wednesday night’s game was a huge potential trap for top-ranked Duke and likely the Blue Devils’ first loss of the season. I still think that’s possible, but not as strongly as I used to thanks to Florida State’s recent play.

Ranking the College Basketball Conferences
by T.O. Whenham - 1/7/2011

We are, in round numbers, halfway through the college basketball season. The nonconference schedule has mostly been played out, and now we get to enjoy the serious business of conference play. This transitional time is a perfect time to stand back and take a look at how the six major conferences stack up. The criteria here are loose -- betting performance, performance against overall expectations, general strength, and a bit of my personal bias. Here they are, from top to bottom:

College Basketball Handicapping: Conference Play Adjustments
by T.O. Whenham - 1/7/2011

We are at an exciting time in college basketball -- the start of the conference season. This is where teams really get serious, and the action gets exciting -- more exciting than it already has been. For college basketball handicappers it is a time to make some serious profit. To do so, though, they have to make some adjustments from how they bet games in the nonconference season. The structure of conference play means that what works in November might not work as well in January.

Free College Basketball Picks and Odds: UConn at Notre Dame
by Alan Matthews - 1/4/2011

Notre Dame (12-2) opened Big East play last Wednesday with a 69-55 home upset of Georgetown but then fell to No. 5 Syracuse at the Orange’s place on New Year’s Day, 70-58. In that loss, the Irish committed 15 turnovers, just one shy of their season high, and got to the foul line just seven times. Free throws are a big part of what the Irish do as they have had eight games this season of scoring at least 20 points from the foul line.

Cotton Bowl Predictions: Texas A&M Aggies vs. LSU Tigers Odds and Picks
by T.O. Whenham - 1/4/2011

The Cotton Bowl isn’t a BCS game, but it is played after all but one of them, and the matchup - Texas A&M (9-3) and LSU (10-2) -- is more interesting and exciting than a couple of games that are in the BCS. It takes place at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Friday, Jan. 7 at 8 p.m. EST. Neither of these teams are a stranger to this game -- The Aggies are playing for their 12th time, and the Tigers for their fifth. The teams haven’t played each other since 1995, but the Aggies have a five-game winning streak going in head-to-head action.

College Basketball Betting: Teams Better Than Expected
by T.O. Whenham - 12/21/2010

Conference play is about to get under way in college basketball, and the calendar is about to turn. That means that while we don’t know everything about teams and there will still be a ton of surprises between now and early April when the nets are cut down, we do have a much better sense of how good or bad teams are.

College Basketball Picks: USC at Kansas Odds and Betting Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 12/17/2010

So why did I pick USC at Kansas as the game of the day in college basketball on Saturday over, say, Kansas State-Florida or Texas-North Carolina? Not so much for the game itself, as the Jayhawks most certainly will win. But it’s because this is the debut of possibly the best freshman in the land in Josh Selby for KU.

College Basketball Picks: Odds and Predictions for Marquee Saturday Games
by Robert Ferringo - 12/10/2010

Below are some odds and predictions for marquee Saturday games. It is also a list of what you should be watching for seven hours on Saturday if, you know, you don’t have any family or friends, are a raging gambling addict like myself, and would rather spend your day making college basketball picks than trolling the mall looking for a (robot) baby that acts just like own baby:

College Basketball Picks: Jimmy V Classic Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 12/7/2010

We have a terrific quartet of teams for this year’s Jimmy V Classic on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden as No. 4 Kansas faces No. 13 Memphis in the opener and No. 7 Michigan State faces No. 8 Syracuse in the nightcap. Certainly it wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see one or more of these teams in the Final Four this spring.

College Basketball Picks: Odds and Predictions for Marquee Saturday Games
by Robert Ferringo - 12/3/2010

Below are some odds and predictions for marquee Saturday games. It’s also a list of what you should be watching for seven hours on Saturday if, you know, you don’t have any family or friends, are a raging gambling addict like myself, and would rather spend your day making college basketball picks than trolling the mall looking for the Apple Store:

College Basketball Betting: The Surprises
by T.O. Whenham - 11/26/2010

We’re only a few games into the college basketball season, but already some teams have been far less than we expected them to be, and others have far exceeded expectations. All this is just proof of what smart college basketball handicappers should already know - predicting what 18-21 year olds are going to perform like under pressure is an inexact science at best.

College Basketball Power Rankings - The Conferences
by T.O. Whenham - 11/24/2010

I'm a die hard sports fan. Like most people with the same disease, I love rankings. You put anything into order and the world becomes a better place immediately - no matter wow meaningless the rankings really are. With that spirit in mind I want to set out to rank the six major conferences in college basketball at this early point in the season:

College Basketball Picks: Maui Invitational Odds and Predictions
by T.O. Whenham - 11/19/2010

The tournament is regularly able to convince top teams to travel to Hawaii, and this year is no exception. Michigan State, Kentucky, and UConn have 11 National Championships between them. Oklahoma, Washington, and Virginia are feisty squads. Wichita State is a scrappy mid-major always looking for chances to earn respect. Chaminade is the host, so it would be rude to say anything unkind to them.

College Basketball Picks: Illinois vs. Texas Betting Odds and Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 11/18/2010

Tournaments are the defining characteristic of college basketball success. Of course, the conference and NCAA tournaments at the bedrock of March Madness are the most renowned and revered of the college basketball tournaments. However, if you want a good indicator of who is game to run the table in the tournaments in March, it helps to keep an eye on the tournaments in November.

College Basketball Betting: Overrated Teams
by T.O. Whenham - 11/10/2010

Every year when the preseason college basketball polls come out there are a few teams that inevitably end up ranked higher than they probably deserve to be. It’s not that they may not end up where they are ranked, or that they aren’t good teams. It’s just that people give a lot of teams more credit than they deserve because of the names on their jersey. Here are three teams that are, at this point, overrated. What this proves more than anything else is just how ridiculous and meaningless preseason rankings are.

Big East College Basketball Picks With Projected Order of Finish and NCAA Bids
by Robert Ferringo - 11/9/2010

The Big East has been a 16-team behemoth over the last few seasons and is college basketball’s mega-conference. It’s the only conference whose odds include a wager on “The Field,” and the league’s setup mirrors its preferred style of play: menacing, overwhelming, deep, and physical. But quantity doesn’t always mean quality and mediocrity abounds in this league this season.