How to Run a March Madness Brackets Pool
by Alan Matthews - 3/14/2011

It’s mid-March, so that means words like “bracketology” and “office pool” will become prevalent around your workplace. It’s also a time most employers dread because there will be very little work done next Thursday and Friday in the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Well, technically the opening round is on Tuesday now with the “First Four” – four opening-round games with those winners then advancing to the second round. But in reality the First Four is just four play-in games instead of the usual one we had when the tourney was at 65.

NCAA Tournament Predictions: Teams That Are Hard to Assess
by T.O. Whenham - 3/10/2011

There are some teams that are really easy to figure out heading into the NCAA Tournament -- they are either very strong teams that have the chance to go a long, long way, or they are badly outclassed teams that don’t need to book their hotel rooms for long. These five teams unfortunately fit into neither group. These are the ‘tweeners’ -- teams that have the potential to go really deep if everything goes their way, but which have enough questions surrounding them to make their success far from a certainty. In short, these five teams make my head hurt, and they are going to make my head hurt until the last possible second I have to fill out my bracket -- and perhaps long after that.

SEC Tournament Predictions and College Basketball Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 3/9/2011

Watching SEC basketball is a lot like watching a WWE Royal Rumble. (Which makes sense, since hillbilly southerners are the primary purveyors of both.) In both the SEC and the Royal Rumble there is biting, clawing, chaos, out-of-control athletes, no real organization, and in the end the winner is usually either one of the obvious choices (Hulk Hogan in the RR, Kentucky in the SEC) or one shrouded in controversy and coming out of nowhere (Mississippi State in 2009 and Georgia in 2008; Vince McMahon in 1999).

College Basketball National Championship Free Picks - Duke-Butler Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 4/5/2010

I don’t know about you, but I believe today is the best sports day of the year because you have baseball’s Opening Day to go along with the end of college basketball’s season. Shoot, this year we’ve even got Tiger Woods facing the full media for the first time. The TV will be on all day!

Final Four Free Picks: Duke-West Virginia Predictions
by T.O. Whenham - 4/1/2010

A lot of people are portraying the Duke - West Virginia Final Four game as a de facto national championship. I'm not sure that I but into that theory, but it's definitely the game with the teams that were more expected to be here and don't seem quite as out of place in a Final Four. Here's how the contest, which happens Saturday at 8:45 pm ET from Indianapolis, sets up and here are my Final Four free picks (Duke-West Virginia predictions):

Guard Play Overrated in Final Four
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 4/1/2010

Of all the beliefs this year’s Final Four will prove wrong, such as a team from the Horizon League not being able to make a Final Four, or teams with injured star players having no chance to win it all or that Coach K and Duke have lost their game, the one notion that can finally be forgotten is the one that states, “the team with the best guard play will win the tournament.”

Final Four Free Picks: Michigan State-Butler Predictions
by T.O. Whenham - 3/31/2010

The Final Four contest between Michigan State and Butler is, to say the least, unlikely. It's the first ever appearance for Butler, and the first time that two No. 5 seeds have even made the Final Four in the same year, never mind played each other. Here's how the contest, which happens Saturday at 6 p.m. EST from Indianapolis, sets up:

Final Four Coaches
by T.O. Whenham - 3/31/2010

Despite the lack of NBA Draft lottery talent and the biggest-named teams, there are still a whole lot of reasons why this Final Four is at least as interesting as several we have seen before. At or near the top of that list is the set of coaches that are leading their teams into Indianapolis. There's a bit of everything here - from the legends to the future star. I mean, just look at these guys:

Final Four Handicapping: Butler’s Home Court Advantage
by T.O. Whenham - 3/30/2010

The fact that Butler is playing the Final Four on their home court is, with good reason, one of the most discussed aspects of this strange Final Four that looms just on the horizon. This is a reasonably unique situation - the last time a team played at home was UCLA in 1972. Though the Bruins won it all that year, that's hardly a precedent given how much the tournament has grown since then.

Final Four Totals Betting Trends
by Aaron Smith - 3/30/2010

It has been a couple of crazy weeks of basketball, which is exactly what one would expect from March Madness. If you have even two of your teams left on your bracket, then you have done a brilliant job in a year where upsets have turned the college basketball tournament upside down. Now that we have the Final Four all set, I wanted to take a close look at totals trends for each of the teams in the Final Four.

Free College Basketball Picks: NIT Semifinals Preview
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 3/29/2010

There is another Final Four in mens’ college basketball and it is set to start Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. This year’s NIT semifinals feature two teams from the Atlantic 10, Dayton and Rhode Island, one team from the SEC, Mississippi, and last year’s defending NCAA National Champions, North Carolina of the ACC.

March Madness Handicapping: Can Lower Seeds Keep Going?
by T.O. Whenham - 3/25/2010

I can't say that the hype surrounding the four teams ranked ninth or lower that made the Sweet 16 is unprecedented, but it certainly is intense. You don't have to look too hard to find members of the media that are in love with one of the four teams and their chances of continued success.

Sweet 16 Betting: Experience is Key
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 3/24/2010

The word experience gets a lot of play around this time of year in college basketball. March Madness has a very unique format that sees teams playing games in rapid succession and you are dealing with the psyche of 19 and 20 year olds, so experience is one of the best things a team can have in its corner.

Sweet 16 Free Betting Picks
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 3/23/2010

Sixteen teams remain and the madness of March hits a temporary hiatus to allow everyone to catch their breath after four days of non-stop action. The gap between the second round of the NCAA Tournament and the round of 16 also gives bettors more time to break down games and pay attention to point spread movements.

March Madness Handicapping: the Aftermath of Kansas Upset
by T.O. Whenham - 3/23/2010

Northern Iowa did more than just pull off a miracle on Saturday night - they also exploded a stunning number of March Madness brackets. The stats are beyond belief - 98 percent of the 4.8 million people who filled in a bracket on ESPN.com had Kansas in the Sweet 16, almost 60 percent had them in the Final Four, and more than 40 percent had them winning it all.

Sweet 16 Bracket Predictions
by T.O. Whenham - 3/22/2010

For a lot of people and their brackets - a whole lot this year - the first weekend of the tournament was like a nuclear bomb for their hopes in the office pool. If they were like more than 40 percent of people who filled out March Madness brackets, including me, then they had Kansas winning it all, but Northern Iowa and Ali Farokhmanesh destroyed that.

Free March Madness Picks: Sweet 16 Money Line Underdogs
by T.O. Whenham - 3/22/2010

My bracket didn't go particularly well last weekend - like everyone else I had Kansas winning it all, so now I have to rely on a Butler upset of Syracuse to have any chance at all of success. While I didn't have any success there, what has been going well so far in this tournament has been picking out profitable upsets on the money line.

College Basketball Championship Futures Betting: Possible Values
by Aaron Smith - 3/22/2010

Is there really any doubt why it is called March Madness? If anyone wondered before, I think they have their answer now after a wild first weekend of stunning upsets that turned March Madness brackets into blobs of red ink and turned unknown teams and players into household names. It’s all part of what I believe is the best tournament in all of sports. Every team has a chance to make their mark on history, and this year already plenty of them have taken advantage of that opportunity.

March Madness Handicapping: Conference Breakdowns
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 3/22/2010

The Big East was the dominant conference in college basketball, the Pac-10 was having perhaps the worst year of any major college basketball conference ever and this was a week year for the mid-majors overall. Or at least that was the thinking heading into the NCAA Tournament on Thursday. Four days later and 48 games of basketball later, things have certainly changed.

Free March Madness Picks – Money Line Underdogs for Sunday
by T.O. Whenham - 3/20/2010

The first round of the NCAA Tournament was great to watch, and it was really great from a betting perspective - especially if you like to be on underdogs. The first time I set out to write an article picking betting underdogs that were worthy of support I ended up with six winners in eight games and a very tidy profit. That's more than enough reason to do the same thing in the second round.