College Basketball Handicapping Articles

2015 Big 12 Tournament Expert Picks and Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 3/10/2015

The Big 12 has been by far and away the best conference in the country this year. With eight of its 10 teams potentially going to the NCAA Tournament, the Big 12 is an extremely deep and talented league with Sweet 16-caliber clubs up and down the standings.

2015 Pac-12 Tournament Expert Picks and Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 3/10/2015

After a two-year Renaissance in which the Pac-12 was the most underrated league in college basketball, the conference has fallen on tough times. Much like the SEC and Big Ten, the Pac-12 has been dominated by one team, Arizona, who is so far head-and-shoulders above the mediocrity in the rest of the league that it hasn’t been very pretty to watch. But the Pac-12 Tournament offers one last chance for the second tier of this league to step up and take down the seemingly unstoppable Wildcats.

2015 Mountain West Conference Tournament Expert Picks and Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 3/10/2015

The slow, steady decline of the Mountain West continues. Two years ago the Mountain West was the No. 5-rated league in the country, ahead of the SEC and the Big 12. But heading into Championship Week the Mountain West is rated just No. 12 in the nation, behind mid-major leagues like the Atlantic 10 and Mid-American Conference.

Utah Utes Odds to Win the 2015 NCAA Tournament with Picks and Predictions
by George Monroy - 3/10/2015

The Utah Utes dropped three of their last five games to close out the regular season and seemed to be doing everything within their power to let the school’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 2009 slip through their fingers. The Utes are probably in a position to be invited into the March festivities based on the strength of their regular-season record, where they produced 23 wins and seven losses, but a quick one-and-done performance in the Pac-12 Tournament could put their postseason hopes in jeopardy.

Maryland Terrapins Odds to Win the 2015 NCAA Tournament with Picks and Predictions
by George Monroy - 3/10/2015

The Maryland Terrapins finished the regular season on a strong note, rattling off seven straight wins, cracking the Top 8 in the AP rankings, and setting themselves in the position to earn their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2010 with two huge road wins against Rutgers and Nebraska. The Terrapins, in the process, ended up producing the most regular-season wins in the school’s history with a 26-5 record and may be ready to put themselves back on the college basketball map with a deep tournament run and reminder that the squad did win the national title back in 2002.

NCAA Basketball Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting Opening Lines Wednesday
by Alan Matthews - 3/10/2015

The Power 5 Conference Tournaments get fully underway starting on Wednesday. Here are your Bovada favorites in those five: ACC (Duke at 5/4), Big Ten (Wisconsin at 10/11), Big 12 (Kansas at 5/2), Pac-12 (Arizona at 1/2) and SEC (Kentucky at 1/4). I don't think there's any shot that UK loses, but I certainly wouldn't call any of the other four locks -- probably Arizona the closest thing among them. Here's a look at opening-round games in the ACC and Big 12 on Wednesday along with the Patriot League final.

2015 Big Ten Tournament Expert Picks and Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 3/9/2015

You remember how bad the Big Ten was in football this past fall? The league rankings were basically 1. Ohio State, 2. A Lake Superior Size Gap, and 3. Everyone Else. Well, the same sickness – imbalance and anarchy – has infected Big Ten basketball this year with one dominant team trailed not-at-all closely by a bunch of disastrous ones.

2015 Atlantic 10 Tournament Expert Picks and Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 3/9/2015

I know that college basketball isn’t for everyone. A lot of people don’t want to waste time following the smaller conferences and prefer big-name schools with star players. But for fans of just pure, unadulterated hoops competition it won’t get any better than the Atlantic 10 Tournament this year.

2015 ACC Tournament Expert Picks and Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 3/9/2015

The bloated ACC is just two teams away from staging its own Sweet 16 tournament. Fourteen teams will descend on North Carolina this week to fight for a championship in one of the more convoluted conference tourneys in the nation. They have two rounds of eliminations before they even get to the quarterfinals, and one of the final four seeds could potentially have to win five games to cut down the nets in this one.

2015 Big East Tournament Expert Picks and Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 3/9/2015

The Big East has been the most underrated conference in the country this year, and it is obvious why. ESPN no longer owns the right to this league (that honor belongs to Fox), so the Worldwide Skeever has all but ignored this conference all season long. The Big East is the No. 2 RPI conference in the country and is No. 2 in Ken Pomeroy’s rankings. They also dominated the nonconference portion of the schedule and house the second-best team in the nation. But you won’t hear a single word about this league on ESPN, the manipulator of all national sports discussion.

Villanova Wildcats Odds to Win the 2015 NCAA Tournament with Picks and Predictions
by George Monroy - 3/9/2015

The Villanova Wildcats captured the Big East title with a dominating blowout over St. John’s during the final weekend of the regular season. The Wildcats, with a 28-2 record and 12 straight wins on their resume, believe they have the best team in college basketball and are “playing as well as anybody in the county,” a statement which includes Villanova’s Wildcat counterpart in Kentucky, according to coach Jay Wright.

NCAA Basketball Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting Opening Lines Tuesday
by Alan Matthews - 3/9/2015

I'm a big college basketball fan, but I'd be lying if I said that the regular season matters even a little. It simply does not. And it never will as long as conference tournaments exist -- and those aren't going away soon (thus, if you want regular-season drama, you have to watch the Ivy League). So the sport begins to matter, at least to me, this week, capped by Selection Sunday. There are two NCAA bids on the line on Tuesday's schedule. Here's a look at those two title games as well as my first Grambling State preview ever.

NCAA Basketball Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting Opening Lines Sunday
by Alan Matthews - 3/7/2015

It's the final day of college basketball's regular season on Sunday. I hope you enjoyed these daily previews and gleaned some valuable betting information from them. I do plan to keep going for a few more weeks into the NCAA Tournament (perhaps some NIT games as well), which will get us nearly to the start of baseball season. Not really any huge matchups this Sunday with only four ranked teams in action. Here's a look at three games that caught my eye, including for sure the first New Hampshire-Albany preview in my lifetime.

NCAA Basketball Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting Opening Lines Saturday
by Alan Matthews - 3/6/2015

It's the final Saturday of the regular season and, as usual, all eyes in the college basketball world will be on Kentucky. The Cats nearly saw their unbeaten dreams end on Tuesday but were able to escape in Athens. On the updated Sportsbook.ag undefeated odds through the Big Dance, UK is now +130 to do so and -165 not to. I'm not a Kentucky fan at all, but the NCAA Tournament will be vastly more interesting if it is unbeaten entering that. The Cats host Florida on Saturday, a team that won in Lexington last season. Here's a look at that game and two others that caught my eye.

College Basketball Betting: Weekly Big East Handicapping Report
by Dave Schwab - 3/4/2015

This week marks the final round of regular-season games in the Big East before the start of the annual conference tournament on Wednesday, March 11, at Madison Square Garden. We already know that the No. 4 Villanova Wildcats will be the top seed when action gets underway after posting a straight up 15-2 mark in conference play with one game to go. There is a logjam from there in the current standings with just a game and a half separating the next four teams.

NCAA Basketball Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting Opening Lines Thursday
by Alan Matthews - 3/4/2015

Davidson's basketball program is probably best known as the alma mater of likely 2015 NBA MVP Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors. He led the Wildcats to the regional final of the NCAA Tournament in 2008. Davidson didn't return to the Big Dance until 2012 and was back in '13 but missed out last year. The school has big one at home against Virginia Commonwealth on Thursday night to help boost the Wildcats' at-large chances for this March. Davidson is the type of well-coached club no Power 5 team would want to face in the first round. Here's a look at that game and two others that caught my eye.

NCAA Basketball Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting Opening Lines Wednesday
by Alan Matthews - 3/3/2015

I'm going to be leaning mostly home favorites this week because I believe those regular-season home finales -- Senior Night -- are always great value. It's an emotional night, and the players don't want to blow it in their senior teammates' final game at home by losing, especially if it's a game where potential seeding for the conference tournament is involved or, more importantly, to gain the NCAA Tournament selection committee's attention. Two bubble teams play their home finale on Wednesday in UCLA and Tulsa. Here's a look at those and one other matchup that caught my eye.

Virginia Cavaliers Odds to Win the 2015 NCAA Tournament with Picks and Predictions
by George Monroy - 3/3/2015

The Virginia Cavaliers might not be a traditional college basketball powerhouse—they have only two Final Four appearances in the school’s history—yet the current No. 2 team in the nation seems to be building something special this season and beyond. The Cavaliers are coming off a Sweet 16 berth in 2014, and a razor-thin loss to Michigan was all that separated them from going even deeper into the tournament.

College Basketball Betting: Weekly Schedule Spot Fade Picks
by Aaron Smith - 3/3/2015

It's time for the final installment of the schedule spot fade plays weekly article in college basketball for this season. Since this is the final week of the regular season, it's our last chance to find potential spots to fade certain teams. This has been a test, and so far this year the plays haven't worked out well. We hope that readers have still been able to learn something from this article, though.

2015 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Expert Picks and Betting Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 3/2/2015

Arch Madness is, in my mind, the unofficial start of March Madness. With all due respect to the Big South, Atlantic Sun and Patriot League, the Missouri Valley is the first respectable conference to hold their title game and to crown a champion that poses a threat to do some damage in the NCAA Tournament.