College basketball is an exciting sport that features fast breaks, intense big bodied play and dazzling shots from downtown. With a season that starts in early November and runs into early April, there’s challenging regular season nonconference and conference play, league tournaments and, of course, the Big Dance Tournament. It’s a long, hard and thrilling road to the final matchup where the National Championship is decided. With hundred of games played each week there’s ample opportunity for bettors to make cash. That is as long as you have the necessary knowledge to make the most of the NCAA Basketball season.

College basketball betting is very similar to NBA basketball betting.  There are three main types of college basketball bets:  spread betting, money line betting and over under or game total betting. 

College basketball spread betting: Spread betting involves picking sides, however, college basketball spread betting, like other sports spread betting, is more complicated than just picking a team you think will win the spread.  In spread betting, the oddsmakers will set a number of points (called the spread) that the favored team is favored to win the game.  In order for a bet placed on the team which is favored to win, the favorite team must win by more than the number of points set as the spread.  For a bet on the underdog team, on the other hand,  the underdog can lose by less than the amount of the spread, or win the game outright in order for you to win your bet on the underdog.

College Basketball Money Line Betting: Money line betting is just picking which NCAA college basketball team you think will win the game.  It does not matter by how many points, as long as the team you bet on wins the game.  Of course, with money line betting, if the favorite team wins the college basketball game, the payout is less money than the team who is not likely to win the game.

Over Under Betting for College Basketball: Over under betting is sometimes referred to as game total betting since it involves betting on the number of points both teams score in a game combined, half, or quarter.  In this type of bet, the oddsmakers will set a game total or over under number, and sports bettors can either choose for the total number of points scored by both teams to go over or under the set number.

March Madness Betting Games

if you’re looking to make cash on March Madness, then the thing to do is to bet on single games and not brackets. The bracket game is really an exercise in guesswork, while single game betting involves analysis and skill.

Bet on Teams You Know

You have been following various teams throughout the regular and conference tournament seasons and you should use that information to its fullest. If you have no idea about the makeup of a team, do some research or skip the game. In round one you’re looking to wager on from eight to 12 games.

Stay Away from Round One 8 & 9 Seeds

The eight and nine matchups in round one are simply too close to call. You’re better off betting on a 12 or 11 seed upsetting five or six seed. That happens a lot. The good thing about betting on a 12th or 11th seed is that they will be given points. So you actually have a decent chance of making money on those bets whether they win or not.

The Spread, the Spread, the Spread

The spread in the 16 versus the one seed games can be massive. These are tough bets to win. If there’s a huge mismatch and the spread isn’t outrageous, then go for it.

The thing to remember about the spread is you want to be able to se it to your advantage. In order to do so, you have to find three to four salient facts, usually statistical, that allow you to pick which side of the spread on which the game will fall. You want to as close to certain as you can be regarding this.

Round Two Spoiler

If there is a spoiler in round two and they are still the underdog, you may just want to go with them. That low seed may be given a wealth of points and there’s a decent chance that they will make that second game close. If that team gets to the Sweet 16, then go with them again in that round. Ride them until they’re out.

Stay in the NCAA Basketball Tournament

You want to be in the tournament for the long run. That means carefully choosing on which games you’re going to bet. If you lose a few, you should not go wild trying to make up for lost ground. Keep your focus and use you analytical chops to get back on track.