Professional handicappers don't just examine power rankings, stats and match-ups. There are many factors to examine, separately and as a group, when trying to identify winning edges against the spread. Let's talk about sandwiches. No, not ham on rye or P&J, but basketball sandwiches.

This is when a team has several tough games on a schedule, and then out of the blue plays either a bad team or one that is out of conference. This is where looking carefully at the schedule comes in handy. College basketball teams have been in conference play this month. However, sometimes a team will have a non-conference game smack in the middle of their schedule. There are all kinds of reasons for this. Sometimes games are rescheduled, other times a team has an open date and needs to book a game, sometimes year's in advance, while other times teams have local rivalry games that have to take place, even if it's not in conference.

This week I had a major play on Marshall when they were playing state rival West Virginia. This was a sandwich spot for the Mountaineers. They had already begun Big East play with consecutive games against South Florida, No. 3 Villanova, Georgetown, Marquette and Providence. In fact, the Mountaineers had won all those games and were ranked No. 9 in the country.

Then, last Saturday, they stepped out of conference play and took on UCLA. On the road. That is something that catches the idea of a pro handicapper. Here is an East Coast team rolling through its conference schedule, then all of a sudden it has to fly all the way across the country to play a non-conference game. First of all, that's a long road trip. Secondly, while it's a non-conference tilt, it was not a game that West Virginia would take lightly. At the time, UCLA was ranked 16th in the nation, a good challenge for the Mountaineers. Also, it was at Pauley Pavilion, playing under all those national championship banners on a court that featured so many great moments in college basketball history. It was a game the Mountaineers were up for, and they won, 60-56.

What stood out for me was the NEXT game. After flying back and forth across the country, West Virginia had to play a real sandwich game, this time against relative cupcake Marshall. The Marshall tilt was another non-conference game, just before West Virginia jumps back into Big East playing in succession, St. John's, Notre Dame, Cincinnati, No. 10 Pittsburgh and Georgetown. What interest would West Virginia have in playing 7-9 Marshall, a team on a 3-game losing streak?

There was even recent history to look at, too. A year ago in January, Marshall was a +13 dog against West Virginia and not only covered but WON the game, 59-55. Marshall doesn't have the horses to run with mighty West Virginia, so they slowed the pace down. In addition, that was Marshall's biggest game of the year, in a sense. Remember that Marshall was 6-22 last season! In short, the Thundering Herd badly wanted to give their best effort, while West Virginia had far less interest. A year ago when facing Marshall, West Virginia had coming up on deck BC, Notre Dame, Syracuse and UConn. And they played like they had little focus on Marshall.

Forget about the law of averages, folks. The sandwich spot made Marshall the play as a +16 dog, so my customers and I were all over it. I liked it even more when West Virginia center Kevin Pittsnogle guaranteed a win! Marshall won the game 58-52 over ninth ranked West Virginia. Notice that after the game, one Marshall player said, "After a guarantee like that, it's a good thing we showed up." Yes, players and coaches are well aware of "guarantees" like that, which is why coaches in all sports often tell their players to shut-up rather than give verbal fodder to the opponent. Just as coaches are sensitive to verbal fodder, good handicappers are aware of sandwiches.