Jimmy Boyd in 
College basketball can be tough to handicap. There is a wide range of player talent on the court each night. No matter what people think, it’s tough to see based on the eye test. You might think a team looks extremely athletic, when in reality their opponent is just not.
Another reason it’s difficult to beat the NCAA basketball lines is volume. The number of games taking place on any given Saturday can be daunting. Most people do not have enough time to go through 100+ games and give each one the attention they deserve.
With that being the case, you have to look for shortcuts. I don’t want to give every single game a quick glance, so what I do is filter out games for closer study. A great way to do this is by using power rankings.
If the spread and my ratings differ by a few points, then I take a closer look at the matchup. I feel like this helps me focus my attention on the games that show potential value. It also helps me save time by ignoring the games the oddsmakers got right.
If you are interested in using ratings to handicap games, take a look at the list I have compiled below. If you have any other suggestions please shoot me an email to let me know.
Comparison Sites
Individual Sites
- ESPN
- Ken Pomeroy
- Sonny Moore
- Team Rankings
- Fox Sports
- Compughter Ratings
- StatFox
- Power Ratings
- Jeff Sagarin
- Pi-Rate
- NetProphet
- Seven Overtimes
- Real Time RPI
- The Power Rank
- Mike DeSimone
- Talisman Red
- Bradley-Terry
- Donchess Inference
- Dolphin
- T-Rank
- Least Squares
- Warren Nolan
- Round Table
- Yahoo
The rankings themselves aren’t that valuable in a vacuum. You need to consider each team’s home court advantage to see if that makes up for the difference. You also need to look at our injury reports. If a star player has missed time and is returning or has just recently went out then you need to adjust.
These ratings can also help you with futures bets too. You can compare the rankings with the odds to win the tournament. This will give you an idea of which teams are under-valued and over-valued.
When it comes to filling out your bracket the rankings are a great way to find your first round upsets. You’ll also find sleeper teams that could make a deep run into the tournament. I definitely take them into consideration when filling out my bracket predictions.
Make sure you add these sites to your arsenal. They will improve your knowledge of college basketball.
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