Joe Duffy (www.OffshoreInsiders.com)

In many respects we
believe experience can be overrated in handicapping college basketball. We
subscribe to the John Wooden adage of “give me talent”. That is so much truer
now than it was then. Wooden, of course,
coached when freshman were not eligible and when star players did not go to the
NBA early.

This is not to say
though, that experience is irrelevant. Having participated successfully in the
big games is a significant factor when fused with talent.

As a point of fact, UCLA
and Kansas have no seniors among their top eight players
in terms of minutes played. Ohio State certainly depends a great deal on a mega-talented group of
freshmen. North
Carolina
two years ago lost every starter from a national championship team and now
seven of their top eight players are freshman or sophomores.

But avoiding the
temptation to go with a big underdog based on the sole fact of seniority
is one reality the smart player has to be aware of, especially this time of the
year. It’s a factor that gets overanalyzed come conference play and even more
so in the Big Dance and NIT.

The fact is that squads with young players in key roles
generally develop the most as the year goes on.

That being said, here is a “we report, you decide” list of
the most and least experienced of the top teams in the country. You be fair and balance the upside/experience
ratio as we approach when the part of the season when the pressure cooker heats
up.

We already referenced above, UCLA, Kansas
and North Carolina are dependant
on youth.

Among the current Top 10 teams, Florida
has two seniors and four juniors. The
Gators beg the question of what kind of experience does a team have? Florida
of course has the encounter of winning it all. That is quite the far cry from
the proverbial and inevitable mid-major senior-heavy team that becomes the chic
dark horse in the NCAA tournament because they start four or five three and
four-year players who have never gotten beyond the second round of the Big
Dance.

Again, all numbers preceding and following are centered on
the top eight players based on minutes played.
Wisconsin has three
seniors and two juniors among their top eight.
Only one input player is a freshman.

Experience lovers: Butler
is your team with three seniors and four juniors. Also, Pittsburgh
has three seniors and three juniors playing among the top eight.

All in all, in late February and March, give me an
underdog with an upside, a young cocky team too naïve to know they are not
supposed to win.

Joe Duffy’s sports betting selections are at www.GodsTips.com. He is former General
Manager of the Freescoreboard scorephone network and CEO of OffshoreInsiders.com, the
premier hub of world-class handicappers.