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Here is the third and final part of our MLB baseball betting guide and mlb betting systems for 2011. In this part we will take a look at the numbers behind the bold and controversial Strategy #2, which advises you to bet on baseball according to how the home plate umpire calls the game. I will tear the cover off a subject that is taboo in MLB. How the transparency in how the home plate umpire calls a game translates into the higher likelihood of a particular side or total winning. That’s right I said side and total not just the total.

When I first started studying this last year I figured that I would find some umpires who had a big strike zone and thus their games were lower scoring and vice versa with a smaller strike zone and higher scoring games. I did find this to be true and the numbers were compelling, but what I was shocked to find was that there were umpires who had such a high percentage of home team wins and that it was far above the MLB average which made it significant. I found that the term “home team advantage” is something some umpires apply more then others.

Let me throw out a few examples of some of the umpires who seem to have this built in “bias” for the home team. Tim McClelland who is a veteran umpire since 1999 when behind home plate last year saw the home team go 28-5 overall. Since 2005 the home team is 111-68 or .620 when McClelland is behind the plate. Mike Muchlinski only umpires sparingly but jump on the home team when he is behind the plate. They are 35-15 the last 5 years which is a staggering .700. Alfonso Marquez another “friend” to the home team in the last 3 years has seen the home team go 65-36 or .644 when he is behind the plate. Kerwin Danley had a record of 26-8 for the home team last year including an amazing 20-2 when the home team was the favorite.

These figures are well above the average home team record in MLB which in 2010 was .559. In 2009 it was .548 and in 2008 it was .556. These umpires are having home teams win in some cases as much as 25% more often which is not only staggering but extremely profitable when we are able to determine if they are behind the plate. Here are a few more whose numbers aren’t as dramatic but whose record over time is. Ted Barrett had a 25-10 record for the home team in 2010 when behind the plate and over the last 8 years the home team wins at a .592 clip when he is the home plate umpire. Mark Carlson is another veteran umpire who in his 12 years behind the plate never had one single season that the road team won more games then the home team. In fact the home team wins .593 when Carlson is behind the plate.

Let’s also take a look at how an umpire calls balls and strikes also relates to the outcome of the total runs scored in a game. This is where I thought I would find all kinds of trends but there were only a few. The ones I did find however are extremely significant. Angel Campos is an umpire who must have one very small strike zone. He calls on average less strikes then any other umpire in MLB and over the last 4 years in games when he is behind home plate the over comes in 61% of the time. Jim Reynolds is another umpire with a small strike zone and no friend to pitchers. The last 4 years the over has cashed in to the tune of 78-45 or 63.4% of the time when he is behind the plate.

Doug Eddings might have one of the largest strike zones of any umpire in MLB as evidenced by his record over the past 12 years of 60.6% of his games behind home plate going under the total. James Hoye is another umpire good for an under outcome, the past two years the under is 50-22 or 69.4% when he is home plate umpire. Bill Miller is another great under umpire seeing the under cash in 84-51 or 62.2% of the time the past 4 years when he is the home plate umpire. I think what makes some of these “under” umpires results even more impressive are that some of those under outcomes came during the steroids era. The numbers won’t be completed for a few years but it appears to me batters are hitting less home runs the past couple of years and I think there is a direct link to the crack down on steroids and HGH. This makes an under umpire even more profitable in a steroids/HGH free environment.

Are all of these men cheaters or being dishonest? Of course they aren’t. Are they necessarily bad at their jobs? Maybe they are and maybe they just see things a little differently then the majority. Does that make them wrong, I don’t think so but it does create an opportunity to capitalize on a particular tendency they have. The key is being able to find the information which is so meaningful. There are several websites that publish the listed home plate umpires and also compile their records dating back to the 90’s. It is no accident that MLB tries to make this information very difficult to find for game 1 of a series, and they would never admit in a million years that certain umpires have any sort of bias whatsoever. However I think you’ll agree the numbers tell a different story.

Now I wouldn’t write down every umpire I listed and bet according to their tendencies, however I would be checking all of them against this year’s records to see if history will once again repeat itself. I would be also looking for certain situations to use these tendencies for example knowing you have a good under umpire combined with two teams sending their ace to the mound might be a great spot to play the under. Conversely knowing you have a good over umpire and two less then top pitchers on the mound might be a prime spot to bet the over. Call it what you will, but I’m a numbers guy and the numbers prove a very interesting system on how to make money consistently betting legally on MLB using primarily strategy #2. We at Cappersinfo.com are always striving to bring you the most up to date and innovative wagering strategies on all sports. We hope you have enjoyed this three part guide on baseball betting advice. Good luck this year and may all the walk off home runs go in our favor.

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April 5th, 2011 - Written by Andrew Ryan

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Handicapping the Masters can be one of the most frustrating things in the world because there are just so many golfers to choose from. Though at this will seem a lot like a crapshoot, there are definite ways to handicap golf odds in a great light. Remember that these picks are all based upon percentages of winning plays. A man that is 100 to 1 only needs to win this event one out of 100 times to make us a winner. There are a number of different golfers that strike our fancy this week at one of the biggest events of the year. Here are our picks to win the green jacket in Masters betting action!


We have to start by saying that we hate these odds on Tiger Woods. Sure, we know that getting 8.50 to 1 at BetUS Sportsbook is probably about as good as you’re going to get on Tiger, especially with his history, but the bottom line is that he is just done. There’s no way that he is all of a sudden going to win this event one out of eight times after not winning anything in two full years. We just have no confidence in Tiger right now, and though he has a great history of Top 10 finishes here at the Masters, this probably won’t be the week that he suddenly busts out. On the same type of note, we think that the odds to win the Masters on Phil Mickelson are blown out of proportion at 6 to 1. Lefty is good, and he does have three green jackets to his credit, but there’s no way that he wins this event one out of six times.

Instead, we’ll look at some of the other great golfers in the world, most of which have never won this event before.

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The interesting name on this list could be Graeme McDowell. At 40 to 1, McDowell makes for a great play. Sure, McDowell really hasn’t played all that well of late, but he has been one of the hottest golfers on the PGA Tour over the course of the last eight months or so. Forget about that awful tournament that he had at the Arnold Palmer two weeks ago. There’s no way that he is going to be shooting an 80 in the first round here at Augusta.

The man that is really due to bust onto the scene in a big time way is Matt Kuchar. It feels like we’ve been talking about Kuchar as the “up and coming” name on the PGA Tour for over a decade, but this year’s fantastic finish at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship really might have been just the swift kick that Kuchar needed to get going in a major tournament as well. These 30 to 1 odds could be a blessing on a terrific golfer that is ranked in the Top 10 in the world.

Youngster, Rickie Fowler still has a heck of a lot of learning to do to make it on the PGA Tour, especially in this type of an event, but at 55 to 1, we are getting a great price on a man that already has five rounds of 68 or better this season. Fowler finished in the Top 10 both at the Accenture Match Play that we were discussing previously with Kuchar, and at the WGC Cadillac Championship just a month ago. Fowler was playing relatively well at the Arnold Palmer going into the final day of the event, and he picked a terrible time to come up with his worst round of golf of the year. Even just a par day within two strokes of the leader, and the Masters odds would have definitely changed dramatically. Fowler is due for a tournament win, and this would be a heck of a venue for him to get it in.

Does anyone even realize that Robert Allenby already has over $700K banked this year in nine events played? Sure, Allenby got off to a slow start in his first two events of the year, missing the cut in both, but he hasn’t missed a cut since that point. He’s coming off of a great weekend at the Shell Houston Open last week, and he is one of the few golfers that can say that he had three rounds in the 60s in that event. Don’t be shocked if he comes on very strong and is in contention on Sunday, and at 100 to 1, that’s absolutely all that we could ask of him.

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This is part two of our MLB Baseball betting guide, three part series. In this part we will take a look at the math behind the run line play and examine the teams from last year who were the top run line money makers. We will also begin to discuss a MLB wagering strategy that is so mind blowing and thought provoking it will leave you stunned.

The math dictates the run line wager is one of the best wagers in Baseball, but must be used only in certain situations. MLB team statistics can be found almost anywhere on the internet. Here are the top 5 teams from last year who played in the fewest one run wins while winning the most games. #1 Detroit Tigers 16 one runs wins in 2010. #2 New York Yankees 20 one run wins in 2010. #3 St. Louis Cardinals 20 one run wins in 2010. #4 Houston Astros 21 one run wins in 2010. #5 Boston Red Sox 22 one runs wins in 2010. Do not forget we are only using these teams on the run line when they are laying at least -150 or more and only when the pitching match up is entirely in our favor. If you use the run line wisely you can win 60% or more without having to lay large odds and in some cases even getting odds of +120 or more as an underdog. Remember only 12.3% of Yankees games ended with them winning by one run so don’t be afraid of taking certain large favorites on the run line to avoid those hefty odds. Veteran baseball bettors are well aware of the run line and its value; however my second strategy is so much more interesting and also controversial.

The word “fixed” is thrown around a lot when it comes to Sporting events. Usually you hear it come out of the mouth of a disgruntled gambler who was on the losing end and wants to blame someone else. We have seen over the years however both players and officials involved in their share of point shaving and fixing schemes. To say it doesn’t exist in sports is not being realistic. However there is a fine line between a game being “fixed” and knowing how a game will be called by the referees or umpire. Does the fact one umpire sees balls and strikes slightly different then the majority make him a cheater or dishonest? Of course not being behind home plate and calling balls and strikes is purely personal opinion. Does the knowledge of how a game might be called provide an advantage to a bettor? Absolutely, knowing how a game will likely be called is a huge advantage when deciding who to wager on.

If balls and strikes are personal opinion and human beings are creatures of habit it stands to reason that some MLB umpires call balls and strikes slightly differently and there could be a huge advantage if we could determine which umpires had this built in “bias” and what their tendencies were. When these numbers are tracked over many years there is a way we can determine by who the home plate umpire is what team likely will win or the likely outcome of the total. That is right I just said that we can pick MLB games correctly (over 60% of the time) by simply knowing the tendencies of the home plate umpire.

Strategy #2 – Bet on baseball according to how the home plate umpire calls the game. The umpires for each game are announced around 1 hour prior to game time of the first game in every series. Each game after that they simply rotate so it becomes very easy to know who the home plate umpire will be for the rest of the series. Sometimes finding that information for game 1’s can be difficult at best. It’s no coincidence that in the NBA this information is unavailable. Meaning no one knows which referees will be calling the game until just prior to the tip. The NBA, MLB, and even the NFL realize that they have some umpires, referees, and officiating crews who are essentially “biased”, but it is not done consciously. They aren’t calling it a certain way on purpose, they always call it that way. Call it a tendency, or a habit or just plain stubbornness but in MLB there are home plate umpires who are very transparent in how they call a game. This transparency can make you a fortune if you know where to find it and how to use it.

When I first started studying this last year I was amazed by what I found. Join me Friday here at cappersinfo.com for part 3 of this blog series on MLB betting advice and strategies where I will provide the evidence that is beyond question to prove my second strategy. This is a subject that is very controversial and potentially highly profitable. The facts might just surprise you as much as they surprised me. If you are a regular sports betting enthusiast you don’t want to miss it.

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April 4th, 2011 - Written by Louie - Cappersinfo Admin

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Major League Baseball is finally off and running for the 2011 season. We, at Cappersinfo.com will keep you supplied with the best in baseball handicapping along with free MLB picks and information this season. Daily picks with detailed analysis and a wagering guide for MLB. This Monday six new series get underway, three in the NL including two day games and three in the AL with one day game at Camden Yards in Baltimore. This Orioles-Tigers game is our pick for today. The game starts at 3:05 EST and the current line has Baltimore at -125 with a total of 9.5 runs. The announced starting pitchers are Rick Porcello for Detroit, and Jake Arrieta for Baltimore.

MLB Matchup: Detroit Tigers @ Baltimore Orioles
Date: Monday, April 4th, 6:45 ET
Location: Oriole Park @ Camden Yards – Baltimore, MD
NCAA Basketball Odds: Baltimore -125
Over/Under 9.5

For the Orioles: The Orioles come into this game sky high off a three game road sweep of Tampa. The pitching was super allowing just 3 runs the entire 3 game series. AAA call up Zack Britton pitched 6 strong innings in the finale allowing just 3 hits and 1 earned run to run the O’s record to 3-0. The Orioles pitching has really taken a turn for the better since the arrival late last year of manager Buck Showalter. Monday’s starter Jake Arrieta is one of several Orioles young pitchers with tremendous potential. He was having trouble last year allowing too many walks, but showed improvement once Showalter arrived. Arrieta’s ERA in June was 6.20 with 12 walks to 11 strikeouts. July it was 5.01 with 21 walks to 14 strikeouts. In August it was 4.45 with 13 walks and 14 strikeouts, and in September it was 2.60 with just 2 walks to 13 strikeouts. The “light bulb” went on for Arrieta in September and he should carry that over to this season. The Orioles are loaded with new additions on offense this year with veterans Derrick Lee at first base, Vlad Guerrero as the DH, JJ Hardy at shortstop and new third baseman Mark Reynolds. Long time Orioles Nick Markakis and Brian Roberts along with Adam Jones and Matt Weiters make for a decent lineup with some power from top to bottom of the order. Look for the Orioles to be a much improved team this year and with Showalter at the helm make a real run at respectability. Up until now that is something that Baltimore hasn’t earned in a long time.

For the Tigers: Detroit was able to avoid the sweep in New York winning the last game of the series in a slugfest 10-7 to move to 1-2. Tiger’s slugger Miguel Cabrera led Detroit’s offense going 3 for 5 with two home runs knocking in 4 runs. Cabrera is batting .455 three games into the year and looks like the main hitter to avoid in the Tigers lineup. Detroit sends Rick Porcello to the mound Monday. Porcello had a rough year in 2010 going 10-12 with a 4.92 ERA. He had an even tougher time pitching on the road where his ERA was 5.73. Opponents batted .308 off Porcello on the road last year compared to .273 when he pitched at home. This has plagued Porcello both years in the big leagues and is something he must overcome in order to secure a spot in the rotation. Detroit has the misfortune of facing two American League East teams in their home openers before finally having theirs against Kansas City April 8th. Detroit is 3-5 the last three years playing at Camden Yards and will play the Orioles in their home opener after a surprise three game sweep in Tampa. For the Tigers to have any chance in this game Rick Porcello is going to have to go at least 6 strong innings of work and keep the Orioles off the bases. That may be a tall order to ask of Porcello against a much improved Baltimore offense.

Free MLB Picks: Take Baltimore on the money line at -125 in this game. Jake Arrieta was a different pitcher last year after Showalter took over and that wasn’t a coincidence. He has all the tools to be a future 20 game winner and should take a big step in that direction this year. You have to be impressed with the Orioles “new” lineup loaded with pop from top to bottom. This is a prime spot for Baltimore to pick on a pitcher who is extremely shaky on the road. It is the home opener, the line is very fair at -125 and the O’s have to be very confident coming off the sweep of Tampa. MLB Prediction: O’s 6 Tigers 3

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April 3rd, 2011 - Written by Andrew Ryan

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And then there were two… The Butler Bulldogs and the Connecticut Huskies are the only two teams that are left standing here in the NCAA Tournament, and after 66 previous games and eliminations, only one team can be left standing at the end of the day. On Monday, the 2011 National Championship will be award, and we here at Cappers Info have all of our March Madness final picks available for the big game.

Matchup: #3 Connecticut Huskies vs. #8 Butler Bulldogs
Date: Monday, April 4th, 9:20 ET
Location: Final Four, Houston, TX
NCAA Basketball Odds: Connecticut -3.5
Over/Under 129.5

The road to the Final Four has been long and arduous for both the Huskies and the Bulldogs. Butler needed to survive a pair of de facto road games against the Cleveland State Vikings and Wisconsin Milwaukee Panthers, both of which could have easily been NCAA Tournament teams this season. After that, they eliminated the Old Dominion Monarchs, Pittsburgh Panthers, Wisconsin Badgers, Florida Gators, and VCU Rams to reach the finale. Connecticut was never really in serious doubt about making the NCAA Tournament, but it definitely could have been in a lot worse spot in terms of its seeding had it not gone on that great run in the Big East Tournament. Save the win against the DePaul Blue Demons in Round 1 at Madison Square Garden, the Huskies have beaten nine straight NCAA Tournament teams. Five of these games, they were underdogs, and they have shined through with flying colors in all of them. The Bucknell Bison, Cincinnati Bearcats, San Diego State Aztecs, Arizona Wildcats, and Kentucky Wildcats have all fallen to the mighty Huskies in this tournament.

Connecticut Huskies Notes: It’s getting pretty clear that Head Coach Jim Calhoun is making his bench awfully short in this one. There are only six players that played more than nine minutes in the 56-55 escape from the Wildcats on Saturday, and the big time stats were once again put up by the big time players. Kemba Walker led the way with a very complete effort, as he scored 18 points to lead all scorers on the night. He also had seven assists and six boards. Jeremy Lamb continued his shot scoring streak with 12 points, marking his 10th straight game with at least 11 points after averaging below double digits in scoring per game coming in. Alex Oriakhi had eight points and 10 crucial boards, while Roscoe Smith stepped up and had six points and eight rebounds. The team did shoot 46.9 percent, but Calhoun cannot be happy that his team allowed 13 more shots than it took. The good news though, was that it did have 16 assists on 23 made baskets, a sign that the ball was really moving around for UConn.

Butler Bulldogs Notes: It’s truly amazing that Butler is back in this one, and perhaps the Bulldogs are just a tad fortunate to be in this spot. VCU ended up going cold down the stretch, which allowed them to come up with this 70-62 win to advance to the National Championship Game. Give the perimeter players a lot of credit, as holding VCU to just 8-of-22 from downtown was its worst percentage of the tournament. Matt Howard and company really didn’t do a great job keeping Jamie Skeen off of the scoreboard, but he the scrapper in the middle had himself a heck of a game. He only shot 3-of-10 from the floor, including 0-for-5 from downtown, but he also had 11 free throws made on 12 attempts to total 17 points with eight boards. Shelvin Mack knocked down three triples, but he continued his struggles from the line, going just 3-of-6 in very uncharacteristic form. Mack scored 24 points and had six rebounds. The impressive part of this game for the Bulldogs was the fact that they absolutely dominated the glass, proving that they can really play like a big conference team. The Dogs had 46 total boards, 15 of which were on the offensive glass. They had a +16 margin on the boards when the day was said and done.

The Final Word: This is the final word for the whole season, and with as screwy as this entire season has been, why shouldn’t we expect to see the upset once again. Butler has proven that it is good enough to beat virtually every big time school that it has run across this season, and it has some big time unfinished business to contend with. The Bulldogs will get the job done this year, and Head Coach Brad Stevens and company will arguably become the least likely champion in the history of the sport.

March Madness Free Pick: Butler Bulldogs +3.5

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Major League Baseball is now underway for the 2011 season, and here at Cappersinfo.com, we want you to have those most successful betting season possible.  So, we are providing a detailed wagering guide that will go into detail describing ways you can make money legally wagering on MLB baseball and become a more successful bettor overall.

This guide will be cut into a three part series where I will be offering some solid strategies and advice on how to make money this year wagering on MLB. This is part one of that series, where we will start with some of the basics.  As we reach the second and their parts, we will get a little more in-depth about the smarter ways to bet on the bases.

In this article, I will discuss several very key “secrets” to consistently winning money wagering on MLB.   I will explain in detail these strategies which are the cornerstone to making a profit wagering on Major League Baseball this year as well as for future seasons to come.

First off let me say that when it comes to handicapping any sport knowledge is power.  In this great world we live in we have tremendous access to information via the internet.  This includes statistical information that is so vital in helping to predict an outcome of a particular sporting event like Baseball.  There are a number of sports betting websites you can use to gain valuable information that gives you an edge over the general public.  These are free information sites that you do not have to belong to or pay to use.  This information is out there for everyone to be able to not only find, but utilize it to become a much more successful sports bettor as a whole.  While studying the numbers last year, I stumbled across baseball’s “dirty little secret” which I will lay out in detail as the second and main wagering strategy for Baseball.

Strategy #1 – This first piece of advice is pretty basic.  This is also something that almost any regular baseball bettor is familiar with, and that is the value in betting the “run line”.  Using the run line as an alternative to betting a large priced favorite can be a very smart way to reduce the risk.  As you may or may not know, betting the run line simply means is that you are either laying 1.5 runs (+1.5) or getting 1.5 runs (-1.5) depending on which side you select.  I do not suggest there are many situations when I would bet the run line to get 1.5 runs.  However laying 1.5 runs is a completely different story.  For example if the Yankees were -200 on the money line, on the run line at -1.5 runs you might lay just -110.  So instead of having to lay 2 to 1 on the Yankees you would have them -1.5 runs at -110 or lose $110 for every $100.

Now I will go into the math to prove why this wager is such a great value.  There are 162 games in the MLB season, and the average team plays in anywhere from the low 30’s to the high 50’s one run games.  However we are only concerned with those one run games that were wins, because those are the only situations when our run line wager would lose but the large favorite still won the game.  In fact in those one run losses we came out ahead because we didn’t have to lay 2 to 1, only -110.  So let’s take a look at the Yankees in 2010.  Their record in one run games was 20-19.  So if they played in 162 games and that yielded 20 one run wins then the Yankees had a one run win once every 8 games approximately or 12.3% of the time.

Why would you want to have to lay odds of -160 or more when you can wager on the run line and eliminate laying odds, and in many cases even be getting odds like +120 or more?  Now I suggest you do your homework and make sure you know what team you are wagering on before using this strategy.

For example; The Yankees only played in 20 one run wins last year. At the same time, if I would have chosen Minnesota I would have been much more successful (deferring from the run line), as they played in a MLB most 31 one run wins.  They win by one run 19.1% of the time, which is 64.4% higher than the Yankees.

Please join us on Wednesday for part two of thise three part blog series on the basics of wagering on MLB, where I will go into much more detail.  I will be listing the 5 teams to watch for this year for run line wagers in part two.  And, you don’t want to miss part three on Friday, as we’ll discuss a baseball picks strategy that will blow your mind.  Again, check back on Wednesday for more baseball betting strategies.

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March 30th, 2011 - Written by Andrew Ryan

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The Kentucky Wildcats and the Connecticut Huskies have totally defied logic in the 2011 NCAA Tournament. They’re both on the verge of reaching the finale of the dance, and they both have absolutely captured the hearts of all of the fans of the little guys of college basketball across the country. Check out our March Madness picks for this national semifinal in Houston!

Matchup: #3 Connecticut Huskies vs. #4 Kentucky Wildcats
Date: Saturday, April 2nd, 8:50 ET
Location: Final Four, Houston, TX
NCAA Basketball Odds: Kentucky -2
Over/Under 140

The Kentucky Wildcats and the Connecticut Huskies followed completely opposite roads at the start of the season. Everyone was high on the Kentucky rotation to the point that it was one of the Top 10 teams in the land for quite some time until the SEC season started. Connecticut found itself in the dumps at the start of the year off of the NIT campaign last season. The two teams met at the Maui Invitational, and UConn’s triumph was a bit of a shock. Kentucky didn’t play so well at the beginning of the SEC season, but it came through at the end of the year, winning some big time games down the stretch and then taking the SEC crown. Connecticut started off well in the Big East and flipped the other direction just a bit. However, it came back and won the Big East title as well. Both teams have had great runs here to the Final Four, and now, one will survive to make it to the NCAA Tournament finale on Monday.

Connecticut Huskies Notes: We could sit here and just list off all of Kemba Walker’s stats this year and in this tournament, but we all know that this young man is a human highlight reel. Walker inevitably will score somewhere between 20 and 35 points in this one, and if he doesn’t, the Huskies are dead in the water regardless of what it is that they do. However, what is underappreciated about Head Coach Jim Calhoun’s team is how well the rest of the youngsters, the future of this franchise, are really playing. Jeremy Lamb is Exhibit A. This frosh has put up nine straight games with double digits in scoring, including posting 24 and 19 points in the two games played in Anaheim to wrap up the West Bracket. Lamb is becoming a bona fide sharpshooter, and he is really shooting the ball well from all over the court. Keep a close eye on another first year player, Shabazz Napier. Napier might only be scoring 8.0 points per game this year, but he came up with 10 big points for the Huskies against the San Diego State Aztecs in the Elite 8 to reach this point in the season. Don’t underestimate how strong this team is defensively as well. UConn has held five straight foes, dating back to the finale in the Big East Tournament, to 67 points or fewer, and it is conceding just 65.7 points per game on the season.

Kentucky Wildcats Notes: We’ve heard about this all season long. Head Coach John Calipari was convinced that his team in the form that it has been in for most of the year, was never going to be able to come together to do anything when all of the marbles were in the center of the table in the dance. Now, it very well could be true that this team probably isn’t as talented as last year’s team was that was bounced in the Elite 8. However, there is no doubt that this is a fantastic team as a whole, and most importantly, it is a group of six players that is really playing like a team at the best possible time. Sure, this is still a sloppy bunch that takes too many iffy shots and commits too many turnovers, but there isn’t a man in this six pack of stars that doesn’t bring everything he’s got every single night. Josh Harrellson and Terrence Jones have gone up against some of the best big men in the country en route to the Final Four, including John Henson, Tyler Zeller, Harrison Barnes, and Jared Sullinger… and that’s just talking about the regional semifinals and finals in Newark. Brandon Knight was the top freshman scorer in the land this year, but he has been wildly bipolar for the entire NCAA Tournament.

The Final Word: We’re just not all that sure that the Huskies can keep this up. We know that we keep saying that, but there is a point that it has to come true… right? Kentucky is significantly better than your average No. 4 seed, and it will prove it in this one by coming out and crushing UConn.

March Madness Free Pick: Kentucky Wildcats -2

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March 28th, 2011 - Written by Andrew Ryan

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The Butler Bulldogs and the VCU Rams have totally defied logic in the 2011 NCAA Tournament. They’re both on the verge of reaching the finale of the dance, and they both have absolutely captured the hearts of all of the fans of the little guys of college basketball across the country. Check out our March Madness picks for this national semifinal in Houston!

Matchup: #11 VCU Rams vs. #8 Butler Bulldogs
Date: Saturday, April 2nd, 6:10 ET
Location: Final Four, Houston, TX
NCAA Basketball Odds: Butler -2.5
Over/Under 133.5

The important thing that we have to make mention of in this one is just how unlikely of a story it is for either of these teams to be here. Both of these teams come from conferences that have only had one other Final Four team in their history. Butler is following in its own footsteps from last season when it was the national runner up, while VCU is following the path set by the George Mason Patriots in 2006. No 11 seed has ever been in the finale of this tournament, while only two, including that George Mason team, have ever been here before. The only other No. 8 seed to be here in the Final Four before was the Villanova Wildcats, and they went on to win the 1985 National Championship.

VCU Rams Notes: Head Coach Shaka Smart has made himself a whole heck of a lot of money in this tournament. The Rams are going to try to become the first, and likely the only team for quite some time to win seven games in this tournament. They literally came out of a grave that was supposedly sealed way back in the beginning of March when they were beaten in the CAA Final against the Old Dominion Monarchs. The Selection Committee took a lot of flak for putting this team in the field, and now look! Not only did VCU come through the play in game to arguably be the most improbable Final Four team ever, but it did so really without breaking much of a sweat. Sure, that close call against the Florida State Seminoles in the Sweet 16 could’ve gone either way, but aside from that, the Rams absolutely dumped the USC Trojans, Georgetown Hoyas, Purdue Boilermakers, and Kansas Jayhawks, all by double digits. The team has scored at least 71 points in four straight games against some rock solid defensive teams thanks to some ridiculous three point shooting, the likes of which we have never seen before. The Rams weren’t that great of a three point shooting team as it was coming into the dance, but all of a sudden, they are nearly shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc!

Butler Bulldogs Notes: The path to get here for Butler has been a long and winding one, as this team has legitimately taken the best shot from a number of different fantastic teams and has withstood them all. Three of the four wins in the dance to date came down to the wire, and the man that has been doing most of the heroics has been Matt Howard. Howard, usually a man that is in foul trouble all the time, has come back with vengeance here this March. He has only sat out a total of 17 minutes in four games in this dance, and he has put up an average of 16.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. Shelvin Mack, another hero from last year’s Final Four run had a huge game against the Florida Gators, putting up 27 points, including scoring some big time baskets down the stretch in regulation and in OT. He also had 30, his second highest tally on the season, against one of the best defenses in the country in the Pittsburgh Panthers. Butler currently has a 13 game winning streak going, the longest such mark in the nation, and it has covered six straight games.

The Final Word: Butler has been here and done this before, but there is just a mojo surrounding the way that the Rams are playing right now that is too tough to top. This is the team that is winning the National Championship. It might come down to the wire, but when push comes to shove, just as it did against FSU a week ago, VCU will figure out how to come up with the big basket to win the game at the death.

March Madness Free Pick: VCU Rams +2.5

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March 26th, 2011 - Written by Andrew Ryan

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The Elite 8 is upon us, and here at Cappers Info, we are all set to make our March Madness picks for the fourth full round of the dance! Check out all of the NCAA Tournament upsets and Elite 8 picks for the biggest night of the year to date.

Matchup: #4 Kentucky Wildcats vs. #2 North Carolina Tar Heels
Date: Sunday, March 27th, 2:10 ET
Location: East Region, Newark, NJ
NCAA Basketball Odds: Kentucky -1
Over/Under 146.5

Let’s get this straight. Kentucky beats the No. 1 seed in this tournament by virtue of a buzzer beater, and then all of a sudden, it is deserving of being a favorite against one of the other best teams in the land? North Carolina and Kentucky have taken very similar roads to get into the Elite 8. Neither one really played all that well at the start of the season, and both really came on strong at the end of conference play. Both made it into the finale of their conference tournaments, and both were officially off and running at that point. The Cats have had a bit of a tougher road to get here in the dance, but Carolina did get a stern test in there as well from the Washington Huskies.

In terms of this game itself, it’s going to be really hard to fight history. North Carolina has won seven out of eight SU and has gone 7-0-1 ATS over the course of the last eight years in this series. We know that the Wildcats have found themselves in recent weeks, but they are still a bunch that struggled with the Princeton Tigers in the first round of this dance. That certainly doesn’t justify them being favored over a North Carolina team with arguably the best front court in the entire country. John Henson, Harrison Barnes, and Tyler Zeller should once again dominate these proceedings. Free March Madness Picks: North Carolina Tar Heels +1

Matchup: #11 VCU Rams vs. #1 Kansas Jayhawks
Date: Sunday, March 27th, 4:55 ET
Location: Southwest Region, San Antonio, TX
NCAA Basketball Odds: Kansas -10.5
Over/Under 146.5

The only No. 1 seed in the tournament meets up with the highest seed left in the dance on Sunday afternoon, as the final spot in the Final Four will be handed out to either the Jayhawks or the Rams. Kansas is still trying to avoid the embarrassment of getting knocked out of the tourney by a mid major for the second straight season, while VCU is really trying to lead the same road that the George Mason Patriots did in 2006 when they made it to the Final Four. Both teams were from the CAA, both were No. 11 seeds, and both were certainly on no one’s radar to make it into the dance, let alone to do damage when they got here.

Here’s the question: Is VCU going to be able to get past this defense? The Rams put together a very, very impressive showing against the Florida State Seminoles and lived to tell about it on Friday night. However, Kansas just held a very similar bunch of Richmond Spiders down to just 4-for-26 from downtown on the night in the Sweet 16, and there is no doubt that a similar showing would see the Rams out of this tournament in horrid fashion. Bradford Burgess has been out of his skull over the course of these last few games, and he just keeps getting better and better as the tourney goes on. VCU’s dream will end here in the Elite 8, but there is no doubt in our minds that it is going to give the Jayhawks a run for their money. Free March Madness Picks: VCU Rams +10.5

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March 25th, 2011 - Written by Andrew Ryan

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The Elite 8 is upon us, and here at Cappers Info, we are all set to make our March Madness picks for the fourth full round of the dance! Check out all of the NCAA Tournament upsets and Elite 8 picks for the biggest night of the year to date.

Matchup: #8 Butler Bulldogs vs. #2 Florida Gators
Date: Saturday, March 26th, 4:20 ET
Location: Southeast Region, New Orleans, LA
NCAA Basketball Odds: Florida -3.5
Over/Under 131.5

Boy, do we have a good one on our hands on Saturday! Butler might not be a team that you had penciled into your Elite 8 this season, but you know that this is a team that can really play. Assuming that the Ohio State Buckeyes take care of the Kentucky Wildcats on Friday, the Bulldogs are going to be the only returner to the Elite 8 from last season, and one way or the other, they’ll be the only group that can make it to the Final Four for the second straight year. Florida has a great team with a lot of promise to it as well, and Head Coach Billy Donovan knows that he has a squad that can really continue to do a ton of damage in this field. Home court advantage will definitely go to the Gators once again, something that has been the case really throughout the whole tournament, and this is something that you know the blue and orange are going to embrace.

Florida certainly has the more talented team, and it might have one of the most underappreciated bunches in the entire country. Chandler Parsons just finds ways to stuff the stat sheet, and Alex Tyus has been a monster in the paint. For Butler, we are concerned that Matt Howard is going to get himself into foul trouble against all of these lanky players, but he has found his way around those issues during the Round of 32 and the Sweet 16. If Howard isn’t at his best, Butler is in trouble. Still, Florida has the two wins in this series since 2000, both games of which came in the dance, and we tend to think that this is its year to get back into the Final Four in Houston. Free March Madness Picks: Florida Gators -3.5

Matchup: #5 Arizona Wildcats vs. #3 Connecticut Huskies
Date: Saturday, March 26th, 7:05 ET
Location: West Region, Anaheim, CA
NCAA Basketball Odds: Connecticut -2.5
Over/Under 144.5

Get yourself ready for a game that is going to be fast and furious on Saturday afternoon. Though we knew that the West Bracket was going to have the potential to be wide open, we weren’t so sure that it was going to be this wide open. There were plenty of reasons to doubt both Arizona and Connecticut. Teams out of the Pac-10 really haven’t done all that well in this tourney over the course of the last few seasons, while UConn is certainly proving that you can both survive in the Big East Tournament and last in the NCAA Tournament, something that hasn’t happened a lot in seasons past. In fact, the Huskies might be the final team of the 11 left standing in this tourney when it’s said and done if the Marquette Golden Eagles end up getting bounced on Friday against the North Carolina Tar Heels.

The question that we have for UConn is whether Alex Oriakhi is going to be able to withstand the pressure that is going to be coming from Derrick Williams. Both are really the same type of player when push comes to shove, as they both can go outside of the paint to do damage. However, we know that Oriakhi has really fallen off over the course of the second half of the season, and as a result, it really has just been the Kemba Walker Show at times. Arizona has a significantly deeper team, and it has a great home court edge playing in Anaheim, and though we know that UConn will be used to the Western Time Zone by the time this one tips on Saturday, we just tend to think that the depth of the Wildcats will be able to wear down the lack of depth shown by the Huskies. At some point, Walker will be stopped. The Huskies stop here. Free March Madness Picks: Arizona Wildcats +2.5

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March 24th, 2011 - Written by Andrew Ryan

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The Sweet 16 is upon us, and here at Cappers Info, we are all set to make our March Madness picks for the third full round of the dance! Check out all of the NCAA Tournament upsets and Sweet 16 picks for the biggest night of the year to date.

Matchup: #11 Marquette Golden Eagles vs. #2 North Carolina Tar Heels
Date: Friday, March 25th, 7:15 ET
Location: East Region, Newark, NJ
NCAA Basketball Odds: North Carolina -4.5
Over/Under 149.5

Marquette has had a magical run to this point in the NCAA Tournament, but just like the run in the Big East Tourney, which lasted two games, this one is going to be the exact same length. The bigs for North Carolina are just flat out amazing, as John Henson, Tyler Zeller, and Harrison Barnes have combined to score almost 150 points in two games, which is more than Marquette has scored as an entire team! Don’t get us wrong, the Golden Eagles have a fantastic squad, and they are really going to make a nice statement here for awhile in this game, but when push really comes to shove, it’s just too much running, too much gunning, and too much speed for Marquette to really deal with. UNC marches on to the Elite 8 in style. Free March Madness Picks: North Carolina Tar Heels -4.5

Matchup: #12 Richmond Spiders vs. #1 Kansas Jayhawks
Date: Friday, March 25th, 7:27 ET
Location: Southwest Region, San Antonio, TX
NCAA Basketball Odds: Kansas -10.5
Over/Under 135.5

The Jayhawks don’t really remember what it is like to play these big time teams, as they haven’t played a team any better than the Illinois Fighting Illini, at least in terms of stature, in three years in this tournament. This is the same type of battle that cost Kansas last year’s dance against the Northern Iowa Panthers, and you can bet that Head Coach Bill Self is reminding his team of this. The Spiders play fantastic defense, and they have really done well thus far in this tourney, though they obviously haven’t run up against a challenge like this quite yet. Justin Harper, Kevin Anderson, and the crew might not have the same types of names as Tyshawn Taylor, Marcus Morris, Markieff Morris, etc., but they can really play. The A-10 has proven year in and year out that it can compete in games like this. Kansas might be in for a real street fight in this one. We tend to believe the Jayhawks will survive, but it won’t be by double digits. March Madness Free Picks: Richmond Spiders +10.5

Matchup: #4 Kentucky Wildcats vs. #1 Ohio State Buckeyes
Date: Friday, March 25th, 9:45 ET
Location: East Region, Newark, NJ
NCAA Basketball Odds: Ohio State -6
Over/Under 140

You won’t find two teams that are more talented than these two, and it would be a real shock to see a more evenly matched 1/4 game than this one. It almost seems like we have forgotten that the Wildcats have won eight straight games dating back through the SEC Tournament and into the regular season. It’s not like this is a team that doesn’t have all of the talent in the world. Ohio State, of course, is the big kahuna of this dance, and there is no reason to believe that there is a team in the country that it can’t beat as long as it plays its best ball. The difference here though, is that this isn’t the minor leagues anymore. There are no more teams like the George Mason Patriots in this bracket. Someone might pick this team off this weekend, and we wouldn’t be overly surprised if Kentucky ends up being the team that gets the job done. Regardless of which team ends up getting through this, we know that we want the points on our side. Free March Madness Picks: Kentucky Wildcats +6

Matchup: #11 VCU Rams vs. #10 Florida State Seminoles
Date: Friday, March 25th, 9:57 ET
Location: Southwest Region, San Antonio, TX
NCAA Basketball Odds: Florida State -3.5
Over/Under 131

The Rams and Seminoles are probably college basketball’s version of the “Odd Couple.” These two play nothing like each other, yet they both took strangely similar roads to get here to the Sweet 16, and one of the two is very improbably going to end up being just one step away from the Final Four when this one is said and done. VCU just plays full throttle for the full 40 minutes, and it never fears any opponent that it runs across. Just ask the Georgetown Hoyas, Purdue Boilermakers, and USC Trojans how they feel about facing these guys. The Rams are going to be all over the place shooting the ball, as there isn’t a shot that they’ll pass up. The problem is going to be getting open shots. The Florida State defense really is fantastic, and it has already beaten a three point shooting team in the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Still, Chris Singleton isn’t healthy and won’t be really ready to go in this one either, and unless he can give 20-25 quality minutes, the Noles are in trouble, especially down the stretch. The close call goes the way of the Rams. Free March Madness Picks: VCU Rams +3.5

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March 23rd, 2011 - Written by Andrew Ryan

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The Sweet 16 is upon us, and here at Cappers Info, we are all set to make our March Madness picks for the third full round of the dance! Check out all of the NCAA Tournament upsets and Sweet 16 picks for the biggest night of the year to date.

Matchup: #3 Connecticut Huskies vs. #2 San Diego State Aztecs
Date: Thursday, March 24th, 7:15 ET
Location: West Region, Anaheim, CA
NCAA Basketball Odds: Connecticut -1
Over/Under 128

The Huskies are probably the hottest team in the country right now, as they have won seven straight games both SU and ATS, and they have done so in a span of less than two weeks. The only question that we have is whether or not this is finally going to catch up to Kemba Walker and company. Walker has been absolutely amazing, and there is a gripe that he is the best player in this entire tournament at this point, even including BYU’s Jimmer Fredette. San Diego State has only won two tourney games in its history, both of which came last week. The Aztecs really had to fight and fight incredibly hard to best the Temple Owls in the second full round of the tourney, but they were really able to persevere in the face of adversity. The big problem that the Huskies have is this trip to get out to Anaheim. Relatively speaking, San Diego State can walk over to the Honda Center, while UConn has to take a heck of a lot of flights just to get out here. You can bet that there will be a ton of home court advantage going the Aztecs’ way, and if they’re legit, they’re going to be the team to beat. Free March Madness Picks: San Diego State Aztecs +1

Matchup: #3 BYU Cougars vs. #2 Florida Gators
Date: Thursday, March 24th, 7:27 ET
Location: Southeast Region, New Orleans, LA
NCAA Basketball Odds: Florida -3
Over/Under 149

After almost two weeks of waiting, we will finally figure out whether BYU or Florida was the team that was really deserving of being the No. 2 seed in the Southeast Region. The Cougs and Gators squared off in the first round of March Madness betting action last year, and after a hard fought game, which included overtime, Jimmer Fredette and company were able to persevere with a 99-92 triumph. Fredette put up 37 in that game, and he has already had two 30+ point games in this tournament and four straight with at least 30 overall, including a 52 point game in the MWC Tournament. The Gators are an angry bunch after last year though, and all of the key players to the puzzle are all back and ready to strike the Cougs down. However, BYU surely won’t go easily, even if Brandon Davies isn’t there to help out in the post. There is a reason why this team was able to put up such big time victories over the course of the first two rounds of this tournament, and a reason why it has only lost four games for the entire season. Go with the Cougars to spark the upset to get into the Elite 8. March Madness Free Picks: BYU Cougars +3

Matchup: #5 Arizona Wildcats vs. #1 Duke Blue Devils
Date: Thursday, March 24th, 9:45 ET
Location: West Region, Anaheim, CA
NCAA Basketball Odds: Duke -8.5
Over/Under 147

Remember that home court advantage that we talked about with the Aztecs against Connecticut? We’ve got the exact same advantage here for the Wildcats. Even though this isn’t really a David vs. Goliath type of situation in terms of conference supremacy, this is an up and coming team playing a de facto home team against a club that is coming off of a National Championship season. Unlike these teams that the Dookies have faced to date, the U of A has a fantastic big man that can challenge them on the inside in the form of Derrick Williams. Williams can also lure men like Mason Plumlee away from the basket with his long range shooting, and he can shoot the rock from the foul line as well at a high rate. Arizona just feels like a team of destiny right now after two buzzer beating games in a row. It’s been a great run for Duke over these last two seasons, but it all comes to a close in the form of one of the biggest upsets of the tournament to date. Free March Madness Picks: Arizona Wildcats +8.5

Matchup: #8 Butler Bulldogs vs. #4 Wisconsin Badgers
Date: Thursday, March 24th, 9:57 ET
Location: Southeast Region, New Orleans, LA
NCAA Basketball Odds: Wisconsin -5
Over/Under 124

We could talk about this game for hours and hours, and no matter which way we slice it, we think that the Bulldogs really need a miracle even bigger than the one that they pulled off last season to get out of this round alive. Butler really had to survive a dog fight with the Pitt Panthers last weekend, and it was incredibly lucky to be able to get out of that one even though it was killed on the glass. Wisconsin isn’t going to shoot free throws as poorly as Pitt did in that game, and odds have it, Shelvin Mack isn’t going to look like Jimmer Fredette out there on the court. The Badgers have the bigs to make Matt Howard really work in the paint, and we also find it highly unlikely that he is going to stay out of foul trouble in this one. If that’s all the case, the Bulldogs are in a heck of a lot of trouble. Their magical run into the Sweet 16 stops without a second straight stop into the Final Four. Wisky has a great chance to not just win this one, but to make a march on the National Championship to boot. Free March Madness Picks: Wisconsin Badgers -5

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