College Basketball Handicapping Articles

2016 Big 12 Basketball Predictions with Expert Handicapping and Futures Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 11/4/2016

The Big 12 was easily the best conference in the country last season, sending seven of its 10 members to the NCAA Tournament and posting the No. 1 conference RPI for the third straight year. But heartland hoops is undergoing a transplant this year. Eleven of the top 15 players from last year's All-Big 12 teams are gone. That includes three- and four-year starters like Perry Ellis, Georges Niang and Buddy Hield, to name a few.

2016 Big East Basketball Predictions with Expert Handicapping and Futures Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 10/26/2016

Last season was a banner year for the reconstructed Big East. Once the most dominating conference in college basketball, the hoops-only league will never be able to reach the heights of its predecessor. But if last season is as good as it gets, well, I think everyone will agree that's still pretty damn good.

College Basketball Handicapping: Over- and Underrated Teams for 2016
by Robert Ferringo - 10/26/2016

Unlike college football - whose preseason polls actually play a significant roll in determining the National Champion - preseason polls in college basketball are of little consequence. However, as several writers (most notably, Ken Pomeroy) have pointed out, college basketball preseason polls have been fairly strong indicators of who the best teams in the country will be by the time the NCAA Tournament rolls around.

NCAA Basketball Handicapping: Talent Down Across the Country This Season
by Robert Ferringo - 10/26/2016

Last year was a high-water mark for college basketball. There were several incredible teams performing throughout an exciting and entertaining regular season. There was a level of experience and talent scattered throughout the country that we probably haven't seen at any other time this century. The season was capped by another thrilling NCAA Tournament that ended with an all-time great championship game.

2016 AAC Basketball Predictions with Expert Handicapping and American Athletic Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 10/18/2016

American Athletic Conference basketball has been an under-the-radar bastion for serious hoop heads the past several seasons. Prominent power programs like Connecticut and Cincinnati have been toiling in relative obscurity in a league that was set up with football in mind and basketball as an afterthought. Venerable mid-majors Temple and Memphis has been using the league as a ladder to climb up to "major program" status. And resurgent squads like SMU and Tulsa, thanks to well-regarded coaches, have been fighting their way to NCAA Tournament bids and national prominence.

2017 Final Four Futures Odds and Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 4/6/2016

The ticker tape has hardly even been cleaned up from that crazy, brilliant Championship Game of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Neither team can likely yet fully process how it ended, though the emotions they face when thinking about 'the shot' will be very different. It was a brilliant end to an inconsistent but often very good tournament. My instinct is to sit back and savor what we saw for a while. There is no time for that, though.

NCAA Basketball National Championship Game Free Picks for Best Props
by Chris Vasile - 4/4/2016

On Saturday, four teams took to the court in Houston to contest the Final Four and fought hard to earn the right to prolong their season and play for a National Championship. After watching both games, only two teams seemingly got the memo to show up.

NCAA Tournament Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting March 19 Opening Lines
by Alan Matthews - 3/18/2016

Here's hoping you bet on that prop at various sportsbooks asking if a double-digit seed would make the Sweet 16. You have four chances for that to happen on Saturday as No. 12 Yale, No.12 Arkansas-Little Rock, No. 11 Wichita State and No. 11 Gonzaga all pulled upsets in Thursday's first round and are in action Saturday. I'm confident one of those four will make it to the next round.

NCAA Basketball Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting March 10 Opening Lines
by Alan Matthews - 3/9/2016

The fans at both Ohio State and Michigan can go ahead and turn their focus totally to spring football if the Buckeyes and Wolverines lose in their Big Ten Tournament openers on Thursday. Both schools are very much on the NCAA Tournament bubble. Michigan also missed the Big Dance last year, while OSU hasn't missed it since 2008.

NCAA Basketball Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting March 9 Opening Lines
by Alan Matthews - 3/8/2016

Yes, it's college basketball's postseason time, but it's also firing season around the country. For example, Drexel has dumped Bruiser Flint and Santa Clara has done the same with Kerry Keating. There are a few schools playing their conference tournament openers below who also might be making changes on the bench.

Big East College Basketball Tournament Betting Report
by Dave Schwab - 3/8/2016

The Big East regular season is in the books, and the 2016 conference tournament from Madison Square Garden is set to get underway with opening-round action this Wednesday. Villanova and Xavier come in as the top two seeds and heavy favorites to face off against one another for the third time this season in Saturday's championship game, while teams like Seton Hall, Providence and Butler are looking for a good showing this week to help their chances at making the field of 68 for this year's NCAA Tournament.

NCAA Basketball Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting March 8 Opening Lines
by Alan Matthews - 3/7/2016

As someone who works from home, this is one of my favorite weeks of the year because there's college basketball on to watch (and bet on) from basically noon to 2 a.m. with all the major conference tournaments ongoing and some of the smaller conferences wrapping theirs up. If this past weekend is any indication, it's going to be a really unpredictable month of March.

Kansas Jayhawks Odds to Win the 2016 NCAA Tournament with Picks and Predictions
by George Monroy - 3/7/2016

The Kansas Jayhawks earned their 12th consecutive Big 12 regular-season title with a dominating win over Texas to end the month of February, and they will head into the conference tournament as the No. 1-ranked team in the nation. Coach Bill Self and his squad are expected to carry that ranking into the NCAA Tournament later in the month and may be on course to grab their second national title and third Championship Game appearance since 2008. A second tournament title would catapult Self into rarified air as one of the few coaches with multiple National Championships wins.

NCAA Basketball Betting Advice: High Seeds to Avoid in Conference Tournaments
by Trevor Whenham - 3/7/2016

Depending upon your viewpoint, the conference tournaments that are underway and really get rolling later in the week are either an appetizer for the glory that is next week or a distraction that just gets in the way of the good stuff. If you fit into the former group then you probably see this weekend's action as prime betting time. As you prepare to bet in those conference tournaments, though, you need to be careful - there are highly-seeded teams in most of the tournaments that aren't nearly as strong as their seeding suggests. I'm not saying you shouldn't bet on them. You just need to be especially attentive when handicapping them:

2016 Horizon League Tournament Predictions and Expert Betting Picks
by Chris Vasile - 3/4/2016

The Horizon League Tournament is taking place March 5-8 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The winner of the tournament is designated the Horizon League Tournament Champion and receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which begins March 17. There have been four different champions since 2010, but the Valparaiso Crusaders have won two out of the last three tournaments and are favorites heading into this years edition.

NCAA Basketball Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting March 5 Opening Lines
by Alan Matthews - 3/4/2016

Unless you have a betting interest against them, don't you have to root for both Boston College and Rutgers on Saturday in their regular-season finales? Thank goodness the northeast portion of the U.S. has Villanova to root for because otherwise it has been a mess up there (St. John's is also terrible) college basketball wise. BC hosts Clemson on Saturday and Rutgers hosts Minnesota. Both the Eagles and Scarlet Knights are 0-17 in their respective conferences. The last time two teams from different power conferences finished winless in conference play in the same season was 1953-54.

NCAA Basketball Betting Advice: Under-the-Radar Teams to Back in March
by Trevor Whenham - 3/3/2016

We are getting into a truly glorious time of year. First come conference tournaments and then the most grand of dances - the NCAA Tournament. From a betting perspective it is nearly a perfect month. As we head into the postseason, it's a good time to look for teams flying under the radar in lesser conferences that could provide some nice value for the next week or two. Here are six teams that stand out as being potentially profitable:

2016 March Madness Predictions for Potential Cinderellas that Can go Far
by Trevor Whenham - 3/3/2016

Every year when we are filling out our NCAA Tournament brackets there are few things more satisfying than being able to correctly pick out a Cinderella team or two - the squads that unexpectedly win games and steal headlines. We'll obviously have a better sense of what is possible when the actual bracket is out and we know which teams are in and who they are playing. We can get a headstart on the process, though, and pick out a few teams that have a chance to do some impressive damage later in March. Here are five that stand out:

2016 Colonial Athletic Association Tournament Predictions and NCAA Basketball Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 3/2/2016

CAA is the acronym for the Colonial Athletic Association but this year that "C" might as well stand for "Cannibal". The CAA was one of the most top-heavy, parity driven leagues in the country this year, with five teams in the 10-team league battling into the final weeks for the regular-season title.

NCAA Basketball Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting March 3 Opening Lines
by Alan Matthews - 3/2/2016

In some ways, the American Athletic Conference is the most interesting major conference in the nation (I said major, not Power 5). That's because its potential regular-season champion and the only ranked team in the conference, SMU, is ineligible for postseason play. Thus, the AAC could get anywhere from as few as two teams in the Big Dance to as many as five. That number partly could be decided by two games Thursday I will look at here.