March Madness Bracket Predictions: East Region
by Robert Ferringo - 3/16/2010
My March Madness bracket prediction for the East Region: a whole lot of people with their face buried squarely in the lap of John Wall, John Calipari and the rest of the Kentucky Nation. But what they don’t realize (and I’ll come back to this with another story tomorrow) is that Kentucky doesn’t have a chance in hell in cutting down the nets and winning the NCAA Tournament.
NCAA Tournament Projections Updated March 12
by Robert Ferringo - 3/12/2010
Well, this is it. Selection Sunday is just two short days away and all of the weeks and months of speculation about the NCAA Tournament field will be put to rest. Sure, there will be plenty of bitching and second-guessing the NCAA Selection Committee. But – barring some totally irrational – the teams at the end of the at-large line really don’t have much to complain about this year. While I don’t agree with Jay Bilas that this is the “weakest at-large field in history” I do know that those teams really don’t have much to complain about because they all have significant holes in their resumes.
MLB Betting: 2010 NL Central Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/12/2010
The last time that the Cardinals won more than 90 games (they actually won 100) they suffered a precipitous drop of 17 games the next year…but still won the division. Three crowns in five years and, as the overwhelming favorite in 2010, it looks like St. Louis has as tight of a stranglehold on their division as any team in baseball.
College Basketball Handicapping: ACC Tournament Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/11/2010
The Duke Invitational Tournament begins today in Greensboro, N.C. Also known as the “ACC Tournament”, the Duke Invitational is generally held as a coronation for the Blue Devils en route to an inflated seed in the NCAA Tournament. Duke has won eight of the last 11 ACC titles and have appeared in 10 of the last 13 conference championship games. And scoping a relatively weak ACC field I don’t see how this weekend will be much different for the top-seeded Devils.
College Basketball Handicapping: SEC Tournament Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/10/2010
To suggest that the SEC East is just a little bit better than the SEC West this year might be a bit of an understatement. The top four teams in the East – Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Florida – went a perfect 24-0 this season against the six teams in the West. Overall the East sported a ridiculous 27-9 mark against its brethren out West. That is domination, pure and simple.
College Basketball Handicapping: WAC Tournament Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/10/2010
Looking around the college basketball landscape I can say that the WAC is one of the few conferences in the country that is actually better this year than it was last year. This league brought back 33 of 45 starters from last year and eight of 10 all-league performers, all along with 14 of their top 15 scorers and 13 of their top 15 rebounders.
College Basketball Handicapping: Big 12 Tournament Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/9/2010
While the Big East is getting all of the love and attention for the mediocre teams that are playing their way into the NIT, the Big 12 currently sits as the best conference in college basketball. And we’ll get to see this group go at it starting at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday in Kansas City as the Big 12 Conference Tournament gets underway.
College Basketball Handicapping: Mountain West Conference Tournament
by Robert Ferringo - 3/9/2010
One of my favorite conferences in the country – The Mountain West – starts its tournament on Wednesday with a play-in game between Wyoming and Air Force. The winner advances to the quarterfinals, and the rest of the tournament begins in earnest at noon on Thursday, March 11 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
College Basketball Handicapping: Atlantic 10 Tournament Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/9/2010
The Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament will be one of the more closely watched tourneys in the country this week as bubble teams from the major conferences sit around and sweat out how fellow bubblers Charlotte, Dayton and Rhode Island perform in Atlantic City this week. All three of those teams are presently on the outside looking in on the NCAA Tournament, but all three are also capable of making a significant run and potentially swiping a bid.
NCAA Tournament Projections Updated March 8
by Robert Ferringo - 3/8/2010
Well, there is good news and bad news for bubble teams the country over. The good news is that Northern Iowa won the Missouri Valley, leaving just four conference tournaments left where if the regular season champion losses they would steal a bid, and that Gonzaga, Old Dominion and Butler have each reached their conference tournament final. The bad news is that most of the bubble teams – even those that I’ve had definitely in for the last month – are doing everything in their power to play their way out of the field regardless of what is going on with the mid-majors.
College Basketball handicapping: Big East Tournament Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/8/2010
There is no conventional way to break down the absolutely mammoth Big East Tournament, which begins at noon on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden in New York. So instead of parsing through sleepers, favorites, dark horses, and permutations of matchups I will simply take a look at each of the 16 teams headed to NYC and discuss their prospects and motivations.
MLB Betting: 2010 NL East Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/8/2010
With the exception of the Philadelphia Phillies, the National League East may be the biggest “if” division in baseball: “If the Mets ever get their stars back and healthy they could have a great year.” “If the Braves can avoid the injury bug and keep their aging veterans on the field they could make a run at a Wild Card spot.”
MLB Betting: 2010 NL West Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/8/2010
You know, after a while you would think that someone in the National League West would try to mix it up and go “off script” in order to win the division. But not this year. Not any year. The same teams are following the same game plan and the result is the same unpredictable National League West.
MLB Betting: 2010 A.L. East Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/5/2010
Baltimore, Tampa and Toronto are a combined 173-262 against the Yankees and Red Sox over the last four years. Only one time of a possible 12 – Toronto in 2006 – did any of those teams manage a winning record on the year against The Bosses.
MLB Betting: 2010 A.L. Central Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/5/2010
Three different organizations – Minnesota, Chicago and Cleveland - have won the American League Central in the last three years. And looking around the rosters of the Central squads this year I can say that I see a lot of question marks and not a lot of separation between the clubs. Here is Doc's Sports 2010 American League Central preview:
NCAA Tournament Projections Updated March 4
by Robert Ferringo - 3/4/2010
Below is a look at my 65-team field and some NCAA Tournament projections as of the start of business on Thursday. I didn’t worry about regions or matchups or pods or any of those intricacies that make the final bracket the dazzling dance card that it is.
MLB Betting: 2010 A.L. West Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/3/2010
Last season Seattle, Texas, Oakland and the Los Angeles Angels each turned a profit. That was just the third time in at least the last 10 years (as far back as I have records on this topic) that at least four teams turned a profit from the same division.
Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/1/2010
Time for a little Arch Madness. For the 20th straight year the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament tips off Thursday in St. Louis with everyone chasing top-seeded and 25th-ranked Northern Iowa. Unfortunately for Northern Iowa, the Missouri Valley tournament has been fairly predictable. And the No. 1 seed hasn’t had as much luck as you would think.
College Basketball Handicapping: Mid-Major Conference Tournaments
by Robert Ferringo - 3/1/2010
These small, regional teams aren’t playing for banners as much as they are playing for pride and bragging rights. Sure, everyone wants a trip to the Big Dance. But as you wander through the smaller conferences you’re going to find that the intensity level in these tournament games is maxed out. I mean, no one out of the Sun Belt is going to be playing for the national title. But for four days in Arkansas those 13 teams are going to toe the line and go all-out in order to earn their own regional championship.
College Basketball Handicapping: Villanova at Syracuse Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 2/26/2010
No. 8 Villanova will trek to Upstate New York to take on No. 4 Syracuse at 9 p.m. Saturday. This game will determine the Big East regular season title and should go a long way to establishing which one of these two upper echelon teams will be granted a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. These are the two best teams in the nation’s deepest and most talented conference, and one or both of these teams will be penciled into the Final Four on about 95 percent of the March Madness brackets in the country in about two weeks.
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