As Oscar Dooley looks for intangibles in the UEFA Champions League Real Madrid vs. Lyon matchup, the best college basketball handicappers are winning at a stunning rate.
How far has the Pac-10 – the conference that has had six NCAA Tournament bids each of the past three years – fallen in 2009-10? It's very possible that the Atlantic 10 will have three times as many teams headed to the Big Dance as the Pac-10 and that the little West Coast Conference will have double the amount of teams in the NCAA Tournament.
That's because the Pac-10 is looking like a one-bid league as its conference tournament begins Wednesday in Los Angeles – bet on the tournament all week with Bodog's NCAA Basketball Odds
No BCS conference (Big Ten, Big East, SEC, Big 12, ACC, Pac-10) has failed to send more than one team to the NCAA Tournament since it expanded to 64 teams in 1985. But the Pac-10 has no ranked teams heading into the conference tournament and hasn't had a Top 25 team in weeks. Plus its members are a lousy 2-13 against Top 25 non-conference teams this season.
Of course the torch-bearer for the Pac-10 used to be UCLA, which made the Big Dance in each of the previous five season and reached at least the Final Four from the 2006 tournament through the 2008 event. But Ben Howland's team has fallen apart this year to the tune of a 13-17 record entering the Pac-10 Tournament. Thus barring a miracle championship run in this event (UCLA is 13/2 to do that at Bodog) and then two wins in the NCAAs, the Bruins will have just their third losing season in the past 62. Just so you know, the Bruins' season high of consecutive wins is three, and that came back in December.
The Bodog favorite at 8/5 in the Pac-10 tourney is regular-season champ Cal, which is probably going to get an at-large bid if it doesn't win this. But that's far from a sure thing, as the Bears haven't beaten a ranked team or even one in the Top 50 of the RPI. Cal does have Pac-10 Player of the Year Jerome Randle (18.7 ppg, 4.5 apg) and enters having won seven of eight games.
Washington is Bodog's second-favorite this week at 2/1 despite being the No. 3 seed, and it has won four games in a row. The Huskies have a stellar player of their own in Quincy Pondexter, who finished second in the conference in scoring at 20.2 ppg and set a Pac-10 record when he was named the league's player of the week Monday for the fifth time this season. UW should handle Oregon State on Thursday to set up a semifinal vs. No. 2 Arizona State. Those two split two meetings this year, both winning fairly handily at home. ASU enters having won seven of eight.
And finally there's Arizona, which has the nation's longest consecutive NCAA bid streak at 25. But only a Pac-10 Tournament title will extend that. Arizona did beat Cal, the likely semifinal opponent, once in two tries this year.
Bodog has all the odds throughout March Madness.
For more information: The best sports betting picks from world-class sports handicapper experts to beat the Vegas odds is on the OffshoreInsiders.com Network. It's where professional gamblers get their picks.
