The combination of the vast number of teams (roughly 350) along with early entry to the NBA for the top players after just one year of college leads to a continuous turnover from season to season for the top teams in the country, and a near-impossible task of keeping track of everyone else, makes for a difficult task for handicapping games, according to premier Pay Per Head provider PricePerPlayer.com.

Inflated lines are common early in the season as oddsmakers and sports bettors alike often reference the AP Top 25 College Basketball Poll.  Many of the better teams play one another early on in the season as well.

PricePerPlayer.com offers this betting tip:

Our strategy early in the season is to hold off on laying or taking big points in early season non-conference mismatches, and instead play the games involving two teams from power conferences. There are plenty of early-season tournaments along with inter-conference matchups like the Big Ten ACC Challenge that gives us the opportunity to handicap teams we at least have an idea of who they are based on last year.

Of course, the best way to get acclimated to the teams early in the season is to watch as many games as possible. College Basketball is on every night of the week and carried on more than a few networks. Keep in mind the rest factor during tournaments (some teams will play two or three days in a row) and don’t take the rankings on face value.