Submitted by rsteel on
This week we will focus on some points relating to NCAAB. Early in the season you want to look for teams that have had low turnover of key personnel. Also look for teams that have participated in a summer tournament like the teams that travel to Canada Australia etc. These teams will be well ahead of the curve in terms of chemistry, experience and having played together. Look for teams that have a strong experienced point guard. This is the equivalent to a quarterback in football.
As you know in college basketball unlike the NBA there are many fouls and scramble points regardless of the score late in games. Sometimes over 15% of the total points scored in a game can come from the last 2 minutes of a college basketball game. A dependable, experienced point guard who will not turn the ball over and has a good free throwing shooting percentage will help your ticket to close out games and extend leads rather than being exposed to back door covers.
There is nothing more frustrating than having handicapped a college basketball game to perfection only to rip up your ticket from the last 2 minutes of scramble points. Imagine having a team -5.0 you are up by 9.0 heading down the stretch only to win by 3 on the final score simply because your team could not make foul shots to extend the lead. It happens and it happens often so make this a big part of your pre-game analysis.