College Basketball Handicapping Articles

Free College Basketball Picks Wednesday, January 8 and Opening Line Report
by Jason Radowitz - 1/7/2020

The final two remaining undefeated teams in college basketball, (5) Auburn and (7) San Diego State, will put their record on the line in conference play action on Wednesday. Also, (10) Florida State, (3) Kansas, and (2) Duke have conference matchups on the road. Check out Wednesday's college basketball preview and early leans to see which ranked teams will cover their hefty spreads.

College Basketball Betting Advice: Difference Between Wagering Conference Play
by Trevor Whenham - 12/11/2019

December isn't just about the holidays. Thanks to the change in scheduling, December is now also about the beginning of conference play in college basketball. It's not universally the case, but some conferences have now thrown in a conference game or two in December. And even if they don't, the shift to conference play happens just as soon as the calendar turns to the new year. And conference play is a different animal for bettors than nonconference play is.

NCAA Basketball Betting Advice: Value Teams and Money Burners
by Trevor Whenham - 12/6/2019

We are a month into the college basketball season, and it has been a wild ride already. No. 1 teams are falling like flies. Tournament performances were impressive in some cases - Michigan above all - and underwhelming in many others. And we are only starting to get a sense of which teams are any good and which are built to be a force in March when it really matters. Along the way, there have been some real betting surprises - both positive and negative. Here is a look at a few highlights on both sides of that coin:

College Basketball Betting Advice: Handicapping Early-Season Tournaments
by Trevor Whenham - 11/20/2019

This is a highly underrated week of the college basketball season. Many teams head off to play in tournaments. Some are in traditional markets, and others really aren't. Some have deep fields and power matchups, and others just don't. But we get to see teams play a lot in a short time, so we really get a sense of where they are. And these tournaments can create a whole lot of opportunities for bettors who are paying attention.

College Basketball Betting Advice: Mid-Majors with Wagering Value
by Trevor Whenham - 11/15/2019

Most casual college basketball fans don't start paying attention to mid-majors in a real way until tournament time starts to draw near. The sooner you start, the better, though. Therefore, as we ease into this new season, this a very good time to look at a few mid-major teams that are worthy of our attention. One team that isn't on here is Evansville.

Duke Basketball Hard to Handicap without Zion Williamson
by Trevor Whenham - 3/7/2019

On Tuesday night Wake Forest had a layup at the final buzzer defy physics and somehow stay out of the basket. It cost them a win against Duke - they lost by a single point. At points in the past, a tight contest between these two teams wouldn't be shocking. But Duke is the solid favorite to win the NCAA championship, while Wake Forest is at 11-18 and is just a mess. What was most striking about the game was the response of Duke players after the game.

March Madness Wagering: Smaller Conference Tournaments
by Trevor Whenham - 3/5/2019

I love college basketball conference tournaments. It's just a whole bunch of chaos. So many teams playing too many games in a short time, with incredibly high stakes. And as good as the major conference tournaments are, it's the lesser conferences - the mid-majors - that are often even more exciting. In the big conferences several teams are heading to the NCAA Tournament no matter how they do. In the mid-majors, though, teams typically have to win the tournament to advance or at the very least go deep to keep an at-large bid alive.

NCAA Basketball Betting: Most Important Regular-Season Games in March
by Trevor Whenham - 3/4/2019

This is when college basketball gets really good. We are in the last week of the regular season. That leads into the conference tournaments and then the best three weeks of the sporting year. This is also the time when more bettors start paying attention to college basketball after not really tuning in much for the first four months of the season.

NCAA Basketball Betting Advice: Handicapping Bubble Teams Down the Stretch
by Trevor Whenham - 2/27/2019

The calendar is about to turn to March, and that means that we are inching towards the college basketball postseason. Teams have a small handful of regular-season games remaining and then their conference tournaments. After that the brackets will be set, and the NCAA Tournament is here. This is the time of year when all talk turns towards bubble teams.

Best Mid-Major Betting Teams in College Basketball: Time to Buy or Sell?
by Robert Ferringo - 2/26/2019

On Friday I broke down the five most profitable major conference teams in college basketball betting this year. Today I am going to take a look at the five best mid-major bets in the sport this season and figure out if we she tail or fade these teams as we head into March.

Best Betting Teams in College Basketball: Time to Buy or Sell?
by Robert Ferringo - 2/21/2019

Today we're going to take a look at the five most profitable teams in college basketball this year and determine if there is more value betting on them or against them the rest of the way. It helps to look at these teams as stocks. Each of them has overperformed against market expectations this season, as indicated by their positive records against the spread.

Expert College Hoops Handicapping: Duke Blue Devils
by Trevor Whenham - 2/15/2019

On Tuesday night, Duke was playing at a legitimate top 20 team in Louisville. It was a tough test, and for much of the game it was too much for the Blue Devils. With 9:04 left in the second half, they were down by 23, superstar Zion Williamson had four fouls, and they seemed doomed. When the dust settled, though, Duke had won by two, and the massive, physical Williamson still had only four fouls. That all is, of course, impossible.

NCAA Tournament Projections and Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 2/7/2019

This is a great year to be an NCAA Tournament bubble team. We are still more than a month out from Selection Sunday, and there is a lot of college basketball to be played. But a quick scan of the field tells me there will be a whole bunch of teams going dancing this year that wouldn't get a sniff of The Big Dance in most normal years.

Expert College Basketball Handicapping: Ranking the Conferences from Betting Perspective
by Trevor Whenham - 1/17/2019

If you just look at the AP Poll when you are trying to rank the conferences in college basketball, it comes down to a battle between the ACC and the Big Ten. The Big Ten has Michigan ranked second and Michigan State ranked sixth, so they have a strong case. But the ACC has top-ranked Duke - for now top ranked, at least - with undefeated Virginia fourth, and three more teams in the Top 13, so they come out on top.

NCAA Basketball Betting Advice: Top Teams Falling Short of Expectations
by Trevor Whenham - 1/17/2019

The biggest problem with betting on college basketball, especially if it isn't your primary passion, is that there are just too many teams. There are so many conferences, and so much competitiveness within conferences, that trying to stay on top of it all is overwhelming. And lines are typically only set a day or maybe two before games, so we don't have much time to evaluate the dizzying number of opportunities out there.

Expert College Basketball Handicapping: The Last of the Unbeatens
by Trevor Whenham - 1/8/2019

And then there were three. Being the last unbeaten college basketball team in the country doesn't really mean anything - unless your unbeaten streak continues through March and into April. But that doesn't mean that watching the ranks of unbeaten teams diminish and figuring out which will be the last one standing isn't a fun thing to do every year. And now that Nevada not only lost but was completely humiliated, we are down to just three teams - Houston, Michigan and Virginia.

Expert College Basketball Handicapping: Nonconference vs, Conference Play
by Trevor Whenham - 12/14/2018

This is the month of good cheer, presents and family - often too much family. And in college basketball it is also the time when we flip from the nonconference season to conference play. In so many ways it is like the conference season is a whole different sport. Nonconference play is about big challenges and incredibly easy games. About highs and lows. Ebbs and flows. It is hard for a rhythm of any kind to be established. But conference play is different. More stable. Steadier. And a lot easier to handicap, in a lot of cases.

Expert College Basketball Handicapping: The Last of the Unbeatens
by Trevor Whenham - 12/4/2018

It's pretty incredible if you think about it - there are 353 Division I college basketball teams, and less than a month into the season we are down to just 11 unbeaten teams. And by Friday we will have no more than 10. Some were expected to be this good. Others are various degrees of surprising. Here's a look at each of the squads, how they got here, and how far they might go before losing:

College Basketball Betting and Handicapping: Studs and Duds Against the Spread
by Trevor Whenham - 12/4/2018

We are almost a month into the college basketball season. In that time, we have seen some teams that have met or exceeded expectations and others that have been big disappointments. We know that what happens in November rarely has a big impact on what happens in March, when things really happen. But it is still a good idea to look at which teams have been kind to bettors and which ones are burning money.

College Basketball Betting Advice: Mid-Major Teams with Betting Value
by Trevor Whenham - 11/16/2018

When it comes to mid-majors, everyone knows how good Gonzaga is this year, and the hype around Nevada is intense as well. But that is pretty much it - or at least the amount of attention teams get beyond those two falls off a cliff. But there are more than just two mid-majors worthy of attention. And paying attention to these teams now when casual bettors aren't not only can give you an edge now but also in the tournament when the teams are more than just a name on a bracket to you and you can make informed decision in a pool of fish.