| The first chapter we will look at is preseason
NCAA basketball handicapping. The NCAA preseason is a time that
doesn't get a good deal of coverage and is not talked about by the
majority of publications or sports channels. Quite frankly for the
average fan preseason basketball is boring and doesn't warrant any
interest. For the astute handicapper though the NCAA preseason offers
a wealth of information.
Just about every one of the Colleges will schedule a few cupcake
games into the preseason schedule to build the teams confidence.
It is not surprising to see schools like San Jose St., Fordham,
and Loyola-MD, who traditionally struggle to win 5 games all season
long blow post a few blowouts. One must not be mislead by preseason
results like these and understand that most of these opponents are
all star teams made up of ex collegiate players that truly are not
made up of the same talent level as even these bottom dwellers.
There is not a great deal of info a sharp NCAA basketball handicapper
can learn from these futile games but there are a couple things
we like to look for that can give us a projection on how a particular
team may play.
Something you can learn from preseason NCAA handicapping is a team's
shot selection and pace. Each year teams are losing and gaining
players and teams need to cater shot selection and style of play
to the strengths of the players they possess. If a team lost a veteran
point guard that was skilled to push the ball up the court and was
able to dish out to open players to hit 3 balls, his replacement
might not have the court vision, speed, or discipline to play the
same type of running game. Or the players that were banging down
those open looks may have departed and now the team is lacking the
talent to rain down threes on opponents like that had previously
done the season before. The team may be forced to play a slower
paced style looking inside to the post, to feed the big man for
some easy buckets. All these factors contribute to points scored
and allowed per game and should be used to forecast how each particular
basketball team may fair.
This concludes the preseason NCAA handicapping phase. Again we
advise not putting too much stock into preseason games. To continue
on reading, go to part 2 of NCAA basketball handicapping which focuses
on Non Conference game handicapping.
|
