Tourney Talk with Brian Edwards, Part III
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On the weekend of February 12, 2010, I spoke with Brian Edwards of Vegasinsider.com about The 2010 College Basketball season as we head into The 2010 NCAA Basketball Tournament. Brian Edwards has been a mainstay as a handicapper with Vegasinsider.com since 2002. He regularly appears on ESPN radio, 1620 The Zone, and even hosts his own show entitled “Power Hours.” 
During our in-depth conversation, we covered a wide range of college basketball topics, and The Big Nasty Athletic Dept. will be releasing installments of “Tourney Talk” segments leading up to The March Madness Tournament.
Brian’s keen sense of sports, developed through years of expert handicapping and ATS (Against The Spread) analysis, has made him one of our favorite handicappers and a great choice to provide expert insight on how The NCAA Tournament will shape up as the smoke begins to clear. Because bracketology will only get you so far.
Big Nasty: Oregon State is an example of a good value pick against the spread as they are 12-5 (as of Feb 11) ATS despite being only 10-13. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they will be in the tournament given their lackluster record, so give a us few teams nobody is talking about that you consider good value bets.
Brian Edwards: Well, with the new CBI Tournament, you can actually get a bid with a sub-.500 record like Oregon St. did last season. And I was a big backer of the Beavers as they went 6-0 against the spread en route to winning the CBI last year. Another team in that same mold as the Beavers – both this year and last – is Georgia.
I thought Mark Fox from Nevada was a curious hire by Georgia AD Damon Evans this past off-season. But I’m willing to admit when I was wrong, and I now think Fox was an excellent hire. He’s led the Dawgs to wins over Illinois, Ga. Tech, Tennessee and Vandy. Most importantly for our purposes, UGA owns an 11-4 spread record in its last 15 games. Bettors can still back UGA catching a healthy amount of points in its SEC road games, so I would continue to keep an eye on this under-the-radar squad.
Big Nasty: I’m glad you mentioned the CBI tourney. If a team like an Oregon State wins this tournament again, given their strong ATS record, do you think that would add more merit to this new tournament or just delay the inevitable for the winning party involved?
Brian Edwards: I don’t know that the CBI will ever have much merit, but it’s great for gamblers as it provides more games and more opportunities to cash tickets.
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Tags: Brian Edwards, Brian Edwards Vegasinsider.com, College Hoops, NCAA Basketball, Tourney Talk
