March Madness Bracket Predictions: Midwest Region
by Robert Ferringo - 3/17/2010

The Midwest Region is by far the most difficult region in the NCAA Tournament bracket. It’s the most difficult to make predictions in and its going to be the most difficult to win. Eight coaches in this region have been to the Final Four, seven coaches have been in the national championship game and four of the headmen have NCAA championship rings.

March Madness Bracket Predictions: West Region
by Robert Ferringo - 3/17/2010

The top seed just lost one of its most critical pieces. The No. 2 seed is a program with no pedigree and a team with an unimpressive non-conference resume. The No. 3 seed is plenty shaky and is the shell of a team that couldn’t get it done last season. The No 4 doesn’t play any defense and is barely favored in its first round game and the No. 5 is an overrated mid-major with zero wins over top-notch BCS clubs in the last two years. And those are the best teams in this region.

March Madness Bracket Predictions: South Region
by Robert Ferringo - 3/16/2010

A story that’s bouncing around the bobblehead media discusses how Duke was given the easiest bracket and the easiest road to the Final Four as some sort of conspiracy by CBS to juice up their ratings for March Madness and the NCAA Tournament. Notorious scumbag Jason Whitlock was one of the first to put that thought out into the ether and Colin Cowherd then took it and ran with it on his ESPN radio show. So now apparently this is a story.

March Madness Bracket Predictions: East Region
by Robert Ferringo - 3/16/2010

My March Madness bracket prediction for the East Region: a whole lot of people with their face buried squarely in the lap of John Wall, John Calipari and the rest of the Kentucky Nation. But what they don’t realize (and I’ll come back to this with another story tomorrow) is that Kentucky doesn’t have a chance in hell in cutting down the nets and winning the NCAA Tournament.

NCAA Tournament Projections Updated March 12
by Robert Ferringo - 3/12/2010

Well, this is it. Selection Sunday is just two short days away and all of the weeks and months of speculation about the NCAA Tournament field will be put to rest. Sure, there will be plenty of bitching and second-guessing the NCAA Selection Committee. But – barring some totally irrational – the teams at the end of the at-large line really don’t have much to complain about this year. While I don’t agree with Jay Bilas that this is the “weakest at-large field in history” I do know that those teams really don’t have much to complain about because they all have significant holes in their resumes.

MLB Betting: 2010 NL Central Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/12/2010

The last time that the Cardinals won more than 90 games (they actually won 100) they suffered a precipitous drop of 17 games the next year…but still won the division. Three crowns in five years and, as the overwhelming favorite in 2010, it looks like St. Louis has as tight of a stranglehold on their division as any team in baseball.

College Basketball Handicapping: ACC Tournament Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/11/2010

The Duke Invitational Tournament begins today in Greensboro, N.C. Also known as the “ACC Tournament”, the Duke Invitational is generally held as a coronation for the Blue Devils en route to an inflated seed in the NCAA Tournament. Duke has won eight of the last 11 ACC titles and have appeared in 10 of the last 13 conference championship games. And scoping a relatively weak ACC field I don’t see how this weekend will be much different for the top-seeded Devils.

College Basketball Handicapping: SEC Tournament Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/10/2010

To suggest that the SEC East is just a little bit better than the SEC West this year might be a bit of an understatement. The top four teams in the East – Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Florida – went a perfect 24-0 this season against the six teams in the West. Overall the East sported a ridiculous 27-9 mark against its brethren out West. That is domination, pure and simple.

College Basketball Handicapping: WAC Tournament Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/10/2010

Looking around the college basketball landscape I can say that the WAC is one of the few conferences in the country that is actually better this year than it was last year. This league brought back 33 of 45 starters from last year and eight of 10 all-league performers, all along with 14 of their top 15 scorers and 13 of their top 15 rebounders.

College Basketball Handicapping: Big 12 Tournament Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/9/2010

While the Big East is getting all of the love and attention for the mediocre teams that are playing their way into the NIT, the Big 12 currently sits as the best conference in college basketball. And we’ll get to see this group go at it starting at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday in Kansas City as the Big 12 Conference Tournament gets underway.

College Basketball Handicapping: Mountain West Conference Tournament
by Robert Ferringo - 3/9/2010

One of my favorite conferences in the country – The Mountain West – starts its tournament on Wednesday with a play-in game between Wyoming and Air Force. The winner advances to the quarterfinals, and the rest of the tournament begins in earnest at noon on Thursday, March 11 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

College Basketball Handicapping: Atlantic 10 Tournament Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/9/2010

The Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament will be one of the more closely watched tourneys in the country this week as bubble teams from the major conferences sit around and sweat out how fellow bubblers Charlotte, Dayton and Rhode Island perform in Atlantic City this week. All three of those teams are presently on the outside looking in on the NCAA Tournament, but all three are also capable of making a significant run and potentially swiping a bid.

NCAA Tournament Projections Updated March 8
by Robert Ferringo - 3/8/2010

Well, there is good news and bad news for bubble teams the country over. The good news is that Northern Iowa won the Missouri Valley, leaving just four conference tournaments left where if the regular season champion losses they would steal a bid, and that Gonzaga, Old Dominion and Butler have each reached their conference tournament final. The bad news is that most of the bubble teams – even those that I’ve had definitely in for the last month – are doing everything in their power to play their way out of the field regardless of what is going on with the mid-majors.

College Basketball handicapping: Big East Tournament Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/8/2010

There is no conventional way to break down the absolutely mammoth Big East Tournament, which begins at noon on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden in New York. So instead of parsing through sleepers, favorites, dark horses, and permutations of matchups I will simply take a look at each of the 16 teams headed to NYC and discuss their prospects and motivations.

MLB Betting: 2010 NL East Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/8/2010

With the exception of the Philadelphia Phillies, the National League East may be the biggest “if” division in baseball: “If the Mets ever get their stars back and healthy they could have a great year.” “If the Braves can avoid the injury bug and keep their aging veterans on the field they could make a run at a Wild Card spot.”

MLB Betting: 2010 NL West Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/8/2010

You know, after a while you would think that someone in the National League West would try to mix it up and go “off script” in order to win the division. But not this year. Not any year. The same teams are following the same game plan and the result is the same unpredictable National League West.

MLB Betting: 2010 A.L. East Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/5/2010

Baltimore, Tampa and Toronto are a combined 173-262 against the Yankees and Red Sox over the last four years. Only one time of a possible 12 – Toronto in 2006 – did any of those teams manage a winning record on the year against The Bosses.

MLB Betting: 2010 A.L. Central Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/5/2010

Three different organizations – Minnesota, Chicago and Cleveland - have won the American League Central in the last three years. And looking around the rosters of the Central squads this year I can say that I see a lot of question marks and not a lot of separation between the clubs. Here is Doc's Sports 2010 American League Central preview:

NCAA Tournament Projections Updated March 4
by Robert Ferringo - 3/4/2010

Below is a look at my 65-team field and some NCAA Tournament projections as of the start of business on Thursday. I didn’t worry about regions or matchups or pods or any of those intricacies that make the final bracket the dazzling dance card that it is.

MLB Betting: 2010 A.L. West Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 3/3/2010

Last season Seattle, Texas, Oakland and the Los Angeles Angels each turned a profit. That was just the third time in at least the last 10 years (as far back as I have records on this topic) that at least four teams turned a profit from the same division.