The college floodgates are opening. Odds are available this year not only on NCAA football and basketball, but baseball and hockey, too.

Some handicappers prefer to focus on one sport, or even one team. But if you’re willing to expand your area of expertise, you’ll find some of the softest lines available on the sports with the lowest action. That would obviously be baseball and hockey in both the professional and college ranks.

Sharp baseball handicappers are used to making good money – the sport lends itself to betting because of its mechanical nature, which can be boiled down statistically and evaluated with relative accuracy. Combine that with the smaller NCAA baseball market, then go even deeper with some of the lesser-known programs in the nation, and you should find some pillowy-soft betting lines.

Still, if you know the slightest thing about hockey, you know more than most people south of the 49th Parallel. Exploit that knowledge gap.

It might be strange to an outsider to see a sports gambler complain about the NCAA’s integrity, or lack thereof. But the vast majority of us just want to see a fair game. The NCAA often spoils it for us.

The typical college jocktocracy is ripe for corruption. At the base, you have “student-athletes” who receive scholarships, but no income. Yet they generate billions of dollars for their colleges and their highly paid coaches. Even the scholarships are of questionable value; graduation rates for football and basketball students are low, despite the prevalence of courses like ballroom dancing and organic gardening.

The NCAA drops the hammer from time to time – 16 FBS schools are on some form of probation this year. But coaches regularly get away with a fine and a slap on the wrist for recruiting violations, while students aren’t allowed to get fed lunch. This may be sports, but it certainly isn’t education. It’s indentured servitude.

This has been one of the busiest offseasons for college baseball head coaches. At least 23 programs will have new bosses this year. One of those teams will have all-new everything: the Oregon Ducks.

This will be the first season for Ducks baseball since 1981, and to get things started right, Oregon has hired George Horton for the princely sum of $400,000 a year over five years. Horton spent the last 11 seasons coaching Cal State Fullerton, a powerhouse team that won the College World Series in 2004. He’ll guide an Oregon program that is loaded with Nike founder Phil Knight’s money.

Dave Serrano was a former assistant of Horton’s at both Cerritos College and Cal State; he returns to the Titans as their new head coach after three seasons with UC Irvine. And ex-USC boss Mike Gillespie completes the circle by taking the top job with the Anteaters. That’s a seismic coaching shift on the West Coast.

The fall session is underway on the college diamond. All eyes are on Cary, N.C., where the Tar Heels held their “Fall World Series.” Two prized freshman arms will take the mound for the Heels this season: Matt Harvey and Patrick Johnson, with Harvey considered the best prospect in the nation. After losing to Oregon State at the College World Series, this duo might be just what North Carolina needs to get over the top.

The Heels might have to cross the desert first. Arizona State figures to be in the title mix this year, and Brett Wallace is a big reason why. The All-American first baseman hit .404 last year (.484 OBP) with 16 home runs in 63 games. Wallace and outfielder Ike Davis (.407 OBP, eight NR) will be in the spotlight in February when the Sun Devils host Oregon State, Vanderbilt and Miami University at the ASU Tournament. Bettors will certainly be watching.

Didn’t we just get through the College World Series? Yup. But it’s already time to hit the books, so get those No. 2 pencils out and prepare for another season of NCAA baseball.

The Oregon State Beavers are the two-time national champions, but they’re not really on the radar screen for a three-peat. Football and basketball are about the program; baseball is about individual talent, so there is generally lots of turnover. Two of the top teams to watch this year had plenty of young talent in 2007: Arizona State and Baylor.

The Sun Devils have two important arms heading into their sophomore seasons. Mike Leake will be the ace, while Jason Jarvis, if he doesn’t join the starting rotation, will continue to anchor the bullpen. As for Baylor, it’s about the bats: Aaron Miller and Dustin Dickerson, Nos.

Ping!

That’s the sound of money. Baseball is one of the easier sports for handicappers to make money on; college baseball even more so. It’s very much a numbers game at both levels, but the combination of aluminum bats and designated hitters in college puts even more emphasis on quality starting pitching. Sharp handicappers will naturally do the same in their analysis.

You also have the benefit of college baseball’s low profile compared to football and basketball. There is very little coverage of the sport in conventional media, but there are plenty of smart websites out there, many of which have already begun rolling out their previews of the upcoming 2008 season.

You can also find many of the same statistics on the Web that pro scouts use when evaluating talent. These are the stats that built Moneyball, so delve into them with the same gusto that you do when betting on Major League Baseball.