Every year, college basketball offers some of the best opportunities you can find in sports betting. With tons of games for each season, there are also many chances to go back home a few hundred dollars richer.
However, it also lays down the most difficulty in betting because of the number of games, teams, and individuals you have to look out for. That said, if you’re new to college basketball betting, then you’re in luck because this article will teach you some of the best tips you can learn for basketball betting. Let’s start.
Specialize in a Conference or a Region
Have you ever heard of the saying, “Chase two rabbits, and you’ll lose both?” If you apply this in college basketball betting, you’ll end up chasing 350 rabbits, which is ridiculous. So for your sanity, why don’t you narrow down your choices and specialize only in a specific conference or region?
For example, let’s say that you have a favorite team and that they are in the East Conference. Usually, there are ten teams in a single conference. Of course, if you want to follow your favorite team and bet on them, you must also follow the other teams. It’s like hitting ten birds with one stone kind of thing.
Following means watching closely how they’re coaching, recruiting, and even the talents they acquire and lose for that year. With this general knowledge about the conference, you already have an edge on that specific conference.
Having specialized knowledge about a specific conference also gives you an advantage over bookmakers since they are more interested in the general data they have on a specific conference, which has less value than the more in-depth knowledge you have.
Find Value Against the Public
College basketball also draws much influence from the public, especially in betting. That said, any sharp bettor out there would tell you that there’s a lot of money to be made in betting against the public. With that in mind, what teams often come to mind when you think about college basketball?
If you think of Duke, Syracuse, UNC, UCLA, or Michigan State, you’re not alone. It’s no secret that these are some of the best national college basketball teams. From endless coverage to the tons of news you can read about them online, it’s no wonder each of these teams has a huge following, and a deserved one since they truly are good at basketball.
That said, instead of following the herd when it comes to betting on a game involving these big names, you have a fairer chance of winning a much bigger payout when you bet against them. In a situation where a big name plays against a solid team without having that much publicity, you should expect a to jump on a line that overvalues the
big name.
For example, let’s say that Team B is playing UCLA, and the line is -18.5 in the NCAA odds. It might be ridiculous, but you could expect the bookmakers to know there will be action on both sides. Even though the big name is the winner, betting on the underdog will still be valuable because of the payout they offer if they cover their spread or outright win the game.
You should bet on the underdog if you want a bigger payout. You might have a reduced chance of winning, but if you win, you win big.
Read the Schedules
One major factor that can change the outcome of a game but a huge margin is fatigue. The teams’ schedule doesn’t only let us know when and where they are going to play but also lets us gauge how tired they are for their upcoming games. Players and coaches are humans, too, and they need rest; it’s inevitable for them to have a game or two that they are too tired to play.
They might be on TV a lot, but at the end of the day, these kids aren’t pros. They’re college students zipping across the country to play multiple games. Not only that, it’s normal for a conference play to make a specific team play games on consecutive days in different places.
This can be brutal for the players who not only have to play multiple games but also travel a lot and be on the road for multiple days at length. If you think a team is too beat up to play its upcoming game, you might be at a nice value play coming your way.
Final Words
There are just some of the tips that might help you win more big payouts in college basketball. These tips are super helpful and can even land you specific situations where you can spot great value and payouts. You should always react quickly for line shifts and determine how a team will play.
