How to Bet on College Basketball

Details: Category: NCAA Basketball Betting Tutorial; Created: Thursday, 22 February 2024 16:05

Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world with millions of fans watching and enjoying the sport. Even though the NBA is synonymous with basketball, it is not the only league to bet on basketball as there are several basketball leagues around the world. Closer to home, College Basketball is just as popular and especially during the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Therefore, with March Madness coming upon us, our basketball betting tutorial on How to Bet on College Basketball will come in handy!

Like many other popular sports, sportsbooks offer a wide range of options to bet on college basketball. Therefore, basketball offers many opportunities for gamblers and fans to make a profit from it. According to sportsbook pay per head, typical NCAA basketball season will last from 5-6 months. Thus, it is plenty of time for sports bettors to find statistics and patterns to help them win their bets.

How to Bet on College Basketball – NCAA Basketball Betting Basics

How to read College Basketball Betting Odds

Since this is a beginner’s basketball betting tutorial, we will only go over the basic types of basketball wagers. Thus, we will first go over how to read sports betting odds for basketball and how to bet on them. In this tutorial, we will use the American odds system as it is easy to understand and popular amongst bettors.

First off, typical Basketball Betting Odds will look like this. For this example, we will use a matchup between the Connecticut Huskies and the Duke Blue Devils.

Team	Point Spread	Money Line	Total Points
Connecticut Huskies	-5.5 -110	-141 -110	O 203.5 -110
Duke Blue Devils	+5.5 +110	+ 117 -110	U 203.5 -110

Reading basketball odds is simple as long as you understand the +/- system. The “-“, in front of the number means that the team is the favorite to win. Furthermore, sports betting odds can change without any notice because of several reasons. Some of these reasons include, player injuries, rumors and public betting perception.

The second number is not always there, it is important because it is the commission the bookmaker charges. In this example, the commission is -110. This means that if you win the bet, the sportsbook will charge 10%.

In most cases, the basketball betting odds will usually show the three basic types of bets. They are Point Spread betting, Money line Betting and Total points or over/under wagering.

How to Bet on the Most Popular Types of College Basketball Bets

How to bet on the NCAA Basketball Point Spread

According to basketball forums, point spread betting is arguably the most popular way to bet on basketball. This type of bet is a form of handicapping to so the sportsbook does not lose money. For example, a gambler wants to Bet the Huskies on the point spread. Looking at the odds chart, to win his bet, U Conn has to win by more than 5.5 points.

Betting on the Money Line

Betting on the basketball money line is very straightforward. This is because you are betting on the team to win without a handicap. However, this type of bet is more costly if you bet on the favorite. This is because the odds on the Huskies are high and most people will bet on them. Therefore, a sportsbook makes it more expensive to bet on them. In this case, you have to bet $141 to win $100.

On the other hand, if you bet on the underdog the odds are more attractive and the profits higher. In this example, you bet $100 to win $117 on the Duke Blue Devils.

Bet on College Basketball Totals

This type of bet is also known as betting on the basketball over/under. According to preparing your sportsbook for March Madness Guide, totals betting is very popular in basketball. This is because you are betting on whether the total score will go over or under a certain number.

Now that you know the basics on how to bet on basketball, its time to put the theory into practice!

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