We asked our Covers Experts what numbers they pay attention to and which stats provide the best betting info. Whether you’re wagering on the NBA or the college kids, these stats are the ones that matter most to basketball bettors.
Sean Murphy – “In college basketball, I put a lot of weight in free-throw percentage (made of course). Teams that hit their free throws are able to close out games and cover spreads - plain and simple. There's a wide disparity between good and bad free-throw shooting teams at the college level, and ATS records tend to correlate.”
Art Aronson – “Objects in motion tend to stay in motion, so find a motivated team by checking the results of its last five games. Every good team in the league has at least one decent streak to ride. Never hurts to check out how has team has done in the last few weeks.”
Doc’s Sports – “When handicapping college basketball, we always look at the shooting percentage of road teams we are thinking of using as a selection. Generally, for a road team to have success, they need to shoot the ball well from the perimeter. Road teams can’t depend on the refs for help since generally the home team will shoot more free throws than the visitor. Therefore it is imperative that they make shots from long range. If a road team shoots less than 33 percent from the 3-point line, we will not use them as a selection.”
Marc Lawrence – “What I look for a lot are games involving teams with disparate results in their last game. The combination of 'Never is a team as good as they look in their best win, nor as bad as they appear in their worst loss', is often times cemented with a major line adjustment by the linesmakers. This creates value, and there is nothing better than value with a hungry team.”
Bryan Power – “For me, the stat I look at in NBA Handicapping is YTD (Year to Date) point differential. I find it to be a far better predictor of future performance than simply looking at a team's win/loss record.
Jesse Schule – “For college hoops, I would be careful in putting too much stock in a team's record versus ranked opponents. The rankings change week to week, there are plenty of tough teams that are not ranked in the Top 25.
Which basketball stats are your go-to numbers when handicapping hoops? Share in the comment box below.
