College Basketball Handicapping Articles

College Basketball Handicapping: Looking at Remaining Unbeatens
by Trevor Whenham - 1/6/2015

And then there were three. Unbeaten teams in college basketball, that is. It was a rough week for unbeaten teams, as two squads suffered their first losses. Villanova lost at Seton Hall in overtime, and Colorado State, who had benefited from an almost impossibly soft schedule, was stomped by New Mexico in The Pit. Now we are left with just three remaining teams with a shot at running the table — Kentucky, Duke and Virginia.

NCAA Basketball Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting Opening Lines Tuesday
by Alan Matthews - 1/5/2015

Anytime that Kentucky plays this season, it's pretty much must-see TV because we could be witnessing one of the best teams in the modern era of college basketball. At this point, it would be a surprise of UK didn't enter the NCAA Tournament without a loss. Does Mississippi have any shot of the big upset Tuesday in Lexington? The Rebels' history against top-ranked teams would seem to say no. Here's a look at that matchup and two other intriguing ones with odds from BetOnline.

NCAA Basketball Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting Opening Lines Friday
by Alan Matthews - 1/1/2015

Friday is usually the worst night of college basketball action of the week with rarely a Top-25 team in action. It's all mid-major conferences and the full Ivy League schedule. So many weeks I won't do an opening line story for Friday, unless there are some unusually strong mid-major matchups, and instead examine Sunday's slate. However, there are a few ranked teams in action this Friday so let's take a look at three interesting opening lines from BetOnline.

NCAA Basketball Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting Opening Lines Wednesday
by Alan Matthews - 12/30/2014

Solid schedule in college basketball on Wednesday with nine ranked teams in action. Enjoy it because Thursday the schedule is very weak as the NCAA largely has cleared the schedule for the biggest college football day of the season. Because of the New Year's Day holiday and light slate of games, there will be no opening line report for Thursday. So enjoy the bowl games! Here's a look at three interesting matchups for the final day of 2014.

College Basketball Betting: Weekly Big East Handicapping Report
by Dave Schwab - 12/30/2014

With the start of the New Year this Thursday, the men’s college basketball season shifts into conference play with an eye towards regular season and tournament championships a few months down the road. The Big East decided to get a jump on things by scheduling five head-to-head conference matchups on New Year’s Eve starting at noon EST and running right into the New Year.

College Basketball Betting: Weekly Schedule Spot Fade Picks
by Aaron Smith - 12/30/2014

It's time for Week 3 if the Schedule Spot Fade Plays report. Because of the lightened holiday schedule, there were only two plays last week. The Schedule Spot Fade Plays went 1-1 in week two. The loser was the play on Georgia Tech +6. The fade of Dayton didn't work out in that game. As expected, Georgia Tech did control the boards, but Dayton's guards lit it up from deep, and Georgia Tech wasn't able to convert from the outside at all. The fade of UAB at North Carolina worked out nicely. UAB was dominated from the start as North Carolina jumped to an early 15-2 lead.

NCAA Basketball Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting Opening Lines Tuesday
by Alan Matthews - 12/29/2014

I didn't include the Illinois-Michigan Big Ten opener among my three games to watch Tuesday, but it should be quite the atmosphere in Ann Arbor even though both teams are just OK. Ticket prices have skyrocketed for the game because it's expected that Jim Harbaugh will speak to the crowd at halftime after he's introduced at a press conference as Michigan's new football coach earlier Tuesday. The cheapest ticket on StubHub to get into Crisler Arena was $119.25 as of 10:30 a.m. ET on Monday, according to ESPN.

NCAA Basketball Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting Opening Lines Saturday
by Alan Matthews - 12/26/2014

With college basketball's conference schedule set to begin, welcome to the first NCAA 3-Point Play story here at Doc's. Every weekday, for the most part, I will provide you with opening lines on three next-day games of interest -- mostly involving ranked teams but not always -- and give you my recommendations. Now that the NFL regular season is over and the college football bowl season will be soon, it's really time to start focusing on college hoops through March Madness. Here are three choices for Saturday.

College Basketball Betting: Weekly Schedule Spot Fade Picks
by Aaron Smith - 12/22/2014

Week 2 of the schedule spot fade plays is ready to go. There were four recommended plays on the first week of this article, but only three of the games were lined, so those are the three we have results form. It was 2-1 first week for the plays. Old Dominion was a fortunate cover to start the week last week. The fade of Clemson with the play on South Carolina worked very well as the Gamecocks rolled in that one. Oklahoma lost to Washington for the lone loser of last week's plays.

College Basketball Betting: Weekly Big East Handicapping Report
by Dave Schwab - 12/17/2014

The Big East has made its mark in the national rankings through the nonconference portion of the college basketball season with three teams in the latest AP Top 25. The 10-0 Villanova Wildcats continue to lead the way at No. 7, followed by 8-1 St. Johns at No. 20 and 8-2 Butler at No. 23.

College Basketball Betting: Weekly Schedule Spot Fade Picks
by Aaron Smith - 12/15/2014

Doc's Sports is going to test out an experiment this year on difficult/strange scheduling spot plays in college basketball. We wanted to put together a weekly article to track teams who are in difficult spots and see if fading those teams can be profitable. How will it work? We'll point out teams that are in odd spots and then suggest a 1-Unit play on that team.

College Basketball Betting: Weekly Big East Handicapping Report
by Dave Schwab - 12/10/2014

The new college basketball season is closing in on the one-month mark, and the Big East has already made a pretty big splash in the national rankings with teams such as Villanova, Butler and St. Johns all making their way into the AP’s current Top 25.

College Basketball Betting: Handicapping the ATS Studs and Duds
by Trevor Whenham - 12/9/2014

We are about a month into what has already been a surprising and highly-entertaining college basketball season. The best is still yet to come — we are still a couple of weeks away from the start of conference play. It’s a good time, though, to look back at what we have seen so far to see which teams have really done well for bettors and which ones have really struggled to deliver value. To be able to control the massive number of teams, I have limited this first look at college basketball’s studs and duds to teams from major conferences — the Power 5 of college football, plus the AAC and Big East.

College Basketball Futures Odds: Looking for a Winner from Average of Recent Champs
by Ivey Walters - 11/27/2014

With Kentucky looking absolutely unbeatable thus far, including a domination of No. 6 Kansas, 72-40, and outscoring their opponents by an average of 37 points, oddsmakers have made the Wildcats the clear-cut favorite to win it all in 2015. The media and the public are ready to give them the title already in November as they have an unbelievably talented roster that contains eight McDonald’s All-Americans.

NCAA Basketball Futures Odds: Two Huge Long Shots Worthy of Attention
by Ivey Walters - 11/27/2014

Since 2004, two extreme long shots have cashed in as the NCAA Men’s Basketball National Champion. Ironically, both times it has been the Connecticut Huskies at 60-1 each season in 2011 and 2014. Both years, the Huskies rode on the heels of outstanding guard play and great coaching. In 2011, Kemba Walker singlehandedly put UConn on his back, making big shot after big shot in the NCAA Tournament. His playmaking ability allowed him to consistently get to the free throw line and distance the Huskies from their opponent, especially late in games.

College Basketball Handicapping: NCAA Teams Overrated and Underrated By Conference
by Trevor Whenham - 11/24/2014

One of the biggest challenges of betting on college basketball is that there are such a massive number of teams to follow and handicap. That also provides the biggest opportunity for smart bettors, too. So much of what public bettors base their decisions on is perception — the hype and coverage surrounding teams, players and coaches — or the lack thereof.

College Basketball Betting: Under-the-Radar Teams with Value
by Trevor Whenham - 11/20/2014

One of the biggest of the many joys of college basketball is the capability of teams to come from seemingly nowhere to shine. There are so many teams and so many leagues that no one but the most devoted follower can pay attention to everything. That means that teams can come from off the radar and, for those who are wise to them, deliver huge value for bettors. Now that we are into the new college basketball season, here is a look at seven teams that could be pleasant under-the-radar surprises this season:

College Basketball Handicapping: High-Profile Disappointments
by Trevor Whenham - 11/20/2014

Watching Kansas get completely manhandled by Kentucky on Tuesday night (when was the last time you saw a Top 5 team lose by 32 points?), I couldn’t help but think about ranked and hyped teams that may not be all that they were supposed to be. To be fair, though, I don’t want to be too negative about the Jayhawks. Sure, they got crushed, but they are young and raw, and we knew that. They also ran into an almost impossibly good team in Kentucky.

College Basketball Handicapping: Top NCAA Betting Games in November
by Trevor Whenham - 11/17/2014

It is a great time to be a college sports fan. College football is entering the final stretch. Perhaps even more exciting, college basketball is now underway. It could be that I am more excited than usual about the start of the hoops season because, as a diehard Michigan fan, the football season died for me weeks ago. Whatever the psychology behind it, the undisputed fact is that there is a lot of really good basketball coming up between now and the end of the month.

Expert College Basketball Handicapper Offers his One-of-a-Kind Cheat Sheet
by Allen Eastman - 11/13/2014

I am looking forward to the start of another successful college basketball campaign. The season starts this week, and I am ready for another great year. One of the things that I do before each season is compile information on every team that plays in a league that regularly has spreads on its games. I try to organize this info into a neat, orderly fashion that I can quickly check every day before making my selections. I’m going to share a big part of my research (but not all of it!) below.