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Bet the NCAA Tournament
In this article Jimmy Boyd is going to take a look at
how to bet the NCAA tournament and hopefully his
information will help you beat the
March Madness odds
in the process. First off, for the novices out there,
betting against the spread and the total are the two
main forms of college basketball betting. Making these
types of wagers will give you the best chance of winning
on a consistent basis. There are several other betting
options that aren’t as common and aren’t as easy to
handicap and that’s why you are better off leaving them
alone.
Let’s use an example to break down a wager on the point
spread. Let’s say we have a first round game between the
University of Connecticut and the University of Southern
Cal. UConn is listed at -3.5 which means that the
Huskies are favored by oddsmakers. USC would then be
listed at +3.5 or a 3.5-point underdog. Plain and
simple, if you think the Huskies will win by at least 4
points, you’ll want to wager on them on the point
spread. If you think that USC will win outright or will
keep the game within 3.5 points, you’ll want to bet the
Trojans on the spread. If you had any questions coming
in about point spread betting, hopefully this example
leaves you crystal clear.
The other main form of NCAA Tournament betting is making
wagers on the total. Let’s use our same example from
above and say that the total for the UConn/USC game is
listed at 144. If you think the combined score of the
game will go over this number you will want to bet the
OVER and if you feel it will go under, take the UNDER.
If the score totals exactly 144, the bet pushes and
you’ll get your wagered amount back.
Another fun way to bet the NCAA Tournament is to make a
futures wager on who you think is going to with the
whole thing. Most prominent
online sportsbooks provide players with this option.
For example, Kansas is currently the favorite to win the
NCAA Tournament at
Sportsbook.
The Jayhawks are listed at 7-2 odds. This means that a
wager of $100 dollars will pay 3.5X if the Jayhawks go
on to win it all. We like to look for a little bit more
value with these futures wagers as rarely does the
favorite come through. For example, Tennessee is having
a great year and is listed at 12-1 odds. If your small
wager comes through on the Vols, you’re going to have
quite the nice little payday.
If you’re looking for more specific NCAA Tournament
betting content, check out my NCAA Tournament
Handicapping articles. They'll give you specific tips to
help you pick more winners in the Big Dance this year.Other articles about the NCAA Tournament:
Updated
February 9th, 2008 |
