College Basketball Handicapping Articles

2017 West Coast Conference Tournament Predictions with College Basketball Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 3/2/2017

There are a lot of stats that you can point to as evidence of Gonzaga's sheer and utter dominance this year. And not just dominance over the West Coast Conference. But the Bulldogs, who are 29-1, dominated college basketball. Some of the luster was lost after the Bulldogs lost their final home game of the season to BYU. But on the whole this team put forward one of the best regular seasons we've seen in college basketball this century.

NCAA Basketball Expert Predictions: Three Interesting March 2 Opening Lines
by Alan Matthews - 3/1/2017

Do any of your friends of family work for one of billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway holdings? This week, Buffett announced that he would pay any employee of his company $1 million per year for the rest of their life if they have a perfect NCAA Tournament bracket this year entering the Sweet 16. I actually think that's doable, although obviously highly unlikely. It used to be Buffett was offering $1 billion for a perfect bracket all the way through. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning on Mars tomorrow than doing that (1 in 9.2 quintillion).

NCAA Basketball Expert Predictions: Three Interesting March 1 Opening Lines
by Alan Matthews - 2/28/2017

There's one very big injury among the top mid-major teams that bettors need to be aware of regarding a potential sleeper in the NCAA Tournament - if said team gets there. That would be to Valparaiso and its star big man Alec Peters. Valpo finished tied atop the Horizon League with Oakland after the Crusaders lost their regular-season finale at Northern Kentucky with Peters sidelined. He has been diagnosed with a stress fracture and will be re-evaluated Wednesday in the hopes he can play in the Horizon Tournament.

NCAA Basketball Betting Advice: Handicapping Duke Heading Into Postseason
by Trevor Whenham - 2/28/2017

Duke is always one of the very toughest teams to deal with for bettors heading into the NCAA Tournament. They are a very public team, and people always have strong feelings about the team - they are either loved or hated regardless of how they are actually playing. Oddsmakers are well aware of how public this team is, and they are forced to compensate for that extra attention. That means that bettors have to be on top of their game to make sure that there is value around when betting on - or against - this team.

NCAA Basketball Expert Predictions: Three Interesting Feb. 28 Opening Lines
by Alan Matthews - 2/27/2017

Have to say that I'm a bit disappointed that top-ranked Gonzaga lost on Saturday in its home finale to BYU, 79-71 (as a 20.5-point favorite). The NCAA Tournament is much more interesting when there's an unbeaten team in it. But the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers will remain the most recent team to win it all without a loss. I have a feeling that Zags coach Mark Few isn't all that upset with the defeat. It takes a pretty big monkey off his team's back. As long as Gonzaga wins this week's West Coast Conference Tournament, which it will be heavily favored to do, then it should still be the No. 1 seed out West in the Big Dance. It just won't be the overall No. 1 now.

NCAA Basketball Handicapping: Pac-12 Poised To Make Some Noise in NCAAs
by Trevor Whenham - 2/27/2017

The Pac-12 has gone through some rough times in basketball the last few years. There is usually a decent team in the conference, but depth has really been lacking. Considering the historic legacy of the conference and John Wooden, it has been more than a little embarrassing - the conference hasn't appeared in the Final Four since 2008.

Expert College Basketball Predictions: Weekly MAC Betting Report and Picks
by Chris Vasile - 2/27/2017

The past weekend's "MACtion" was mostly beneficial to favorite and "under" bettors. If you played every game separately and took the chalk and the under you would have walked away with an 8-4 record - and that would be a pretty decent 24-hour period. There was only one shocking result that left me scratching my head, and that was the Ball State vs. Western Michigan outcome.

NCAA Basketball Betting Advice: Biggest Weaknesses Top 10 Teams
by Trevor Whenham - 2/24/2017

As we near the end of the regular season in college basketball, these are interesting times. There are several really good teams, but none that have emerged as truly dominant - at least not against other elite teams. It's reasonably easy to make a case for any of the current Top 10 - or at least any but Baylor for me, because I just don't believe in them - to win it all. Every one has plenty of strengths and things going for them. They each also have weaknesses, though. The premise today is simple - we're going to look at the weakness that concerns me most about each of the top ten squads:

NCAA Basketball Expert Predictions: Three Interesting Feb. 25 Opening Lines
by Alan Matthews - 2/24/2017

Believe it or not, Saturday is the last full day of college basketball action this season. That's because most of the mid-major conferences conclude their regular seasons Saturday. The first conference tournament to tip-off is the Atlantic Sun on Monday. All those games are on campus sites of the higher-ranked team. The two schools to beat there are Florida Gulf Coast, a former NCAA Tournament darling, and Lipscomb - those two finished 1-2 and then there's quite a drop-off. There are crucial games all over the country in those small conferences Saturday to determine tiebreakers. Let March Madness begin!

NCAA Basketball Handicapping: UConn Women's Team
by Trevor Whenham - 2/24/2017

We almost never talk about women's college basketball in this space. The reasons are obvious - not many people watch it, and even fewer people bet on it. We give the people what they want, and that, for the most part, is not women's hoops. Every once in a while, though, something happens that is so ridiculously amazing that you have to discuss it whether it is a typical topic or not. And that is the case now with the UConn Huskies women's basketball team.

NCAA Basketball Expert Predictions: Three Interesting Feb. 23 Opening Lines
by Alan Matthews - 2/22/2017

If you just put together a team of key injured players from power conferences this season, I'd probably take that club to win the national championship. The latest one hurt is Georgia's Yante Maten. He is out indefinitely with a knee injury. The 6-foot-8 junior is averaging 18.7 points and 6.9 rebounds. Maten was hurt as he defended a layup by Kentucky's Isaiah Briscoe less than two minutes into Saturday's loss. "Obviously he's been the most consistent player on our team, so we're going to have to probably look at some things for the rotation, obviously, and how we play to compensate for the fact that he's going to be out," UGA coach Mark Fox said.

NCAA Basketball Expert Predictions: Three Interesting Feb. 22 Opening Lines
by Alan Matthews - 2/21/2017

I reference ESPN's Joe Lunardi a lot in this space when we get close to Selection Sunday, as we have. That guy knows his stuff with his bracketology projections. Here's something I never thought I would see: you can bet on how right Lunardi will be. That he correctly predicts all 68 teams is +700 at 5Dimes. Getting all four No. 1 seeds right, which seems fairly easy, is -290. It's +210 if he misses at least one. That Lunardi correctly projects all the four "at large" schools in the First Four is +1900. Right now he has Seton Hall, TCU, Georgia Tech as Marquette for those picks. There are a few other props on him. Go check them out.

College Basketball Betting Advice: Weekly Schedule Spot Fade Picks
by Aaron Smith - 2/21/2017

Can you believe that some teams are playing their last game of the regular season this week? For most teams, there are still a few games left, but some conference tournaments tip off next week. The action is about to get even better. It's a great time of the year for college basketball fans.

Expert College Basketball Predictions: Weekly MAC Betting Report and Picks
by Chris Vasile - 2/21/2017

This past weekend's "MACtion" was pretty straightforward with very little surprises. Favorites went 4-2 against the spread, with the only notable outright loss being the Akron Zips losing at home to Kent State. To some, that result may be shocking, but to me it wasn't. The Zips' main focus is to stay healthy for the conference tournament, while Kent State is battling tooth and nail for positioning and a better chance at securing the MAC's automatic NCAA Tournament bid.

NCAA Basketball Expert Predictions: Three Interesting Feb. 21 Opening Lines
by Alan Matthews - 2/20/2017

Crushing news for NCAA Tournament bubble team Michigan State as it has lost starting shooting guard Eron Harris for the season to knee surgery. In Saturday's loss at Purdue when he drove the baseline for a layup, Harris landed awkwardly and eventually was taken from the court on a stretcher. The senior, who transferred after two seasons at West Virginia, was averaging 10.7 points per game and led the team in 3-point shooting with 43 makes from beyond the arc.

NCAA Basketball Expert Predictions: Three Interesting Feb. 18 Opening Lines
by Alan Matthews - 2/17/2017

Saturday's home game vs. No. 25 Notre Dame likely will be rather uncomfortable for NC State head coach Mark Gottfried as he was fired Thursday but will finish out the season. Gottfried asked to be allowed to do so out of loyalty to his players, so you have to respect that. He has an overall record of 122-82 at NC State, and he had three years left on his contract worth a total of $2.3 million. There's no way the Wolfpack should be 3-11 in the ACC with a mega-talent in freshman point guard Dennis Smith Jr., a sure-fire Top-5 pick in this year's NBA Draft.

NCAA Basketball Expert Predictions: Three Interesting Feb. 16 Opening Lines
by Alan Matthews - 2/15/2017

The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee says it takes a key player's injury status into consideration when determining a team's fate on getting into the Big Dance or what its seeding will be. So I'll be curious what happens to bubble team Virginia Tech now that one of its best players, Chris Clarke, is done for the season. He was hurt in Sunday's upset of Virginia, and early this week an MRI revealed a torn ACL in his left knee. Clarke is fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 11.4 points per game, and leads the Hokies in rebounding at 7.3 per game. He also leads the team in steals with 30 and is second in assists with 79.

NCAA Basketball Expert Predictions: Three Interesting Feb. 15 Opening Lines
by Alan Matthews - 2/14/2017

The University of Oklahoma - it always irritates me to see the Sooners' football helmets that say OU when it should obviously UO - has made the NCAA Tournament every year since 2013. Last year's club, led by Buddy Hield and Jordan Woodard, reached the Final Four. Any shot this year's struggling Sooners had of some sort of miracle run in the Big 12 Tournament to earn an NCAA berth probably vanished on Sunday when the school announced that Woodard is done for the season with a torn ACL in his right knee.

NCAA Basketball Betting Advice: How to Wager on High-Profile Bubble Teams
by Trevor Whenham - 2/14/2017

The field for the NCAA Tournament is always quite different from year to year. With so many teams and relatively few spots, that's inevitable. There are those teams, though, that we always just assume will be in the bracket. This year there are several of those teams that are seemingly always in that find themselves perched squarely on the bubble right now. Some would be in and some would be out if the tournament would start today, but all have work left to do to lock down a spot. That means that they are highly-motivated teams - and bettors love motivated teams.

NCAA Basketball Expert Predictions: Three Interesting Feb. 14 Opening Lines
by Alan Matthews - 2/13/2017

What did we learn from the NCAA Tournament selection committee's release of its current top four in each region on Saturday? I projected Gonzaga, Villanova, Kansas and Baylor would be the four No. 1s, and they were. I'm a tad surprised that the unbeaten Zags weren't the top overall seed as that went to the defending national champion Wildcats.