College Basketball Handicapping: 10 Impact Freshmen
by Robert Ferringo - 12/18/2009

In my humble opinion, freshmen are always the most overrated aspect of college basketball. It’s easy for fans, media bobbleheads, and bettors to get sucked into the Hype of this guy or that guy or whoever is supposed to become the next basketball Jesus. Hype is the enemy of solid sports handicapping.

NFL Power Rankings Week 15
by Robert Ferringo - 12/16/2009

Don’t overlook the fact that this New Orleans-Dallas game is kind of a regional rivalry game. They don’t play often but when they do there is usually plenty of vitriol. And like any rivalry game the favorite has been a money burner, going 0-6 ATS in the last six meetings.

College Bowl Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 12/15/2009

Loyalty can be one of a gambler’s worst enemies. That’s why bettors should never – or at least rarely – wager on their favorite teams. They lose objectivity and are sometime blinded by their feelings about their teams.

NFL Power Rankings Week 14
by Robert Ferringo - 12/9/2009

It's at the point now where you want to be looking for a couple things. First, look for teams that start to pick up steam, both against the number and against opponents over the next few weeks. They are usually strong bets early in the postseason. (Oh, and even losing teams can "get hot" ATS in the last month and build on that momentum for next year. Ask Cincinnati.)

College Basketball Handicapping: Big West is ATS Cash Cow
by Robert Ferringo - 12/9/2009

So what would you say if I told you that the Big West is better than the Pac-10 this year? “Of course that is rubbish,” you would say. “Teams like Pacific and Riverside would be buried in the Pac-10 even in a down year. Any one of the teams from the Pac-10 would carve a path of destruction and desecration through the Big West, blasting opponents left and right for the better part of the winter.

College Basketball Handicapping: Syracuse-Florida Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 12/9/2009

I like to say that sports handicapping is mathematics, not magic. But one formula that even I haven’t fully been able to grasp and predict is addition by subtraction. And this year the Syracuse Orange and Florida Gators are perfect examples of how this equation can mean big bucks for their backers.

2009-2010 College Basketball Futures Odds and Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 12/8/2009

Kansas and Texas started the season as the consensus favorites to cut down the nets in Indianapolis this April. And to this point neither has done much to make the general public think to the contrary. However, while I agree that those two schools are the clear No. 1 and No. 2 contenders I would also say that neither is even close to the shoo-in Final Four favorite that North Carolina was heading into last season.

College Basketball Handicapping: Best Unknown Players
by Robert Ferringo - 12/8/2009

Below, in alphabetical order, are my Top 11 best "unknown" players in college basketball. Now, to serious fans none of the names on this list will come as a surprise. But for a lot of casual fans and square bettors the players below may be some names that either you didn't realize or hadn't heard of.

NFL Power Rankings Week 13
by Robert Ferringo - 12/2/2009

December football is playoff football. Now, this isn't the playoffs in the winner-take-all, take-your-ball-and-go-home, you-better-bring-your-ass-to-the-store-with-that manner that January heralds. But the playoffs have begun in the NFL, with teams in both conferences playing for their postseason lives every week from here on out.

College Basketball Handicapping: Most Overrated Teams
by Robert Ferringo - 12/2/2009

The Hype Machine completely overheated and exploded in the offseason regarding John Calipari and the 2009-10 Kentucky Wildcats. And just about everyone in the country bought The Resurrection hook, line and sinker. They were instantly crowned as a preseason favorite to win the national title and they opened the season No. 5 in the ESPN/USA Today Poll and No. 4 in the Associated Press Poll.

College Basketball Handicapping: Butler Overrated
by Robert Ferringo - 12/1/2009

So far this season the Bulldogs are just 1-5 against the spread, a great indicator of a team getting too much love. And it isn’t just that they aren’t covering spreads, it’s been their overall performance. Other than a blowout win over a wounded Northwestern squad this team has been pretty bad.

College Basketball Handicapping: Big Ten Once Again Overrated
by Robert Ferringo - 11/30/2009

I was almost sucked into all of the hype surrounding the Big Ten as a college basketball conference. Anyone who knows me or has read much of my writing knows that I think that the Big Ten sucks at everything. (And by “everything” I mean hoops and football.) And I have had a jolly good time mocking and ridiculing their every flop and flounder over the past several years, while also collecting against the overrated schools that populate the league.

NFL Power Rankings Week 12
by Robert Ferringo - 11/25/2009

The Saints have to be favored in this week’s Monday Night Football matchup with New England. But this may be one of the situations where the books are kind of pinned against a rock. They have to make the Saints the favorite even though the Patriots have been getting better and better each week while the Saints seem to have regressed. New Orleans is just 1-2 against the total – each of which was over 50.0 – in the last three weeks.

NFL Power Rankings Week 11
by Robert Ferringo - 11/18/2009

Talk about a letdown spot. Cincinnati has to be careful heading out to Oakland this week to face the Raiders. I have been on the Bengals bandwagon all season. But even I am surprised to see them laying nearly 10 points on the road, even if it is to Oakland. The Bengals are 0-8 ATS in their last eight games after playing the Steelers, including coming up short as a six-point favorite against Cleveland this year.

College Football Power Rankings - The Ferringo 15
by Robert Ferringo - 11/18/2009

The Ferringo 15 is my Profit-Power Rankings, a ladder or hierarchy based on which teams are the most profitable on the field. I'm not trying to give you some other nonsensical, random, speculative power rankings based on my own biases and conjecture. So instead of Ohio State moving up or down the polls on the basis of how badly they blew out Northwestern the previous Saturday, I'm going to rank each team based on past, present, and projected future achievement against the spread.

Betting College Basketball Teasers
by Robert Ferringo - 11/17/2009

Betting college basketball teasers is a lot like using dynamite. In the wrong hands, someone is likely to lose an arm and a leg. But in the hands of a trained professional you can do some pretty cool stuff.

2009-10 Atlantic 10 Basketball Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 11/12/2009

Yeah, you're reading this right - the A-10 is the Flyers' conference to lose. And don't sleep on this team for one second as far as being a sleeper team for the Elite Eight. Dayton welcomes back 11 of its top 12 scorers from a team that went 27-8 and advanced to the second round of The NCAA Tournament last year.

NFL Power Rankings Week 10
by Robert Ferringo - 11/11/2009

I have no idea what it's going to take to beat this team. They were getting rocked by Carolina and Miami and ended up winning both games by double digits. Wow. One thing I don't understand, though, is why teams aren't milking the clock - letting the play clock run down to two or three seconds before each snap - from the opening kickoff.

2009-10 Pac-10 Basketball Predictions
by Robert Ferringo - 11/9/2009

Gutted. There really isn't a better way to describe the talent in the Pac-10 from last season to this season. Graduation, transfers and a little thing called the NBA has simply gutted the talent in one of college basketball's perpetually most competitive conferences. As a result, I would expect a significant drop-off in play out of the Pac-10 this year and all of those West Coast hoops haters should have plenty of ammunition from now until March.

NFL Power Rankings Week 9
by Robert Ferringo - 11/6/2009

Kendrick Clancy’s absence was pretty obvious on Monday night. The Saints got pushed around up front for the first time this season. But things continue to click for this group and they are clearly the top team in the NFL.