NCAA Basketball Betting
NCAA basketball is something that most basketball fans in the US love. Seeing college teams compete against one another across a season that spans so many games gives fans so much to watch. The action is non-stop, with games being played throughout the week from the middle of Fall until March Madness comes around.
Betting on NCAAB is growing in popularity in the US as more people realize how fun it can be to wager on your favorite sport. If you’re new to betting on college basketball but want to learn, you’re in the right place. This expert guide will teach you all the tips and tricks for NCAAB bets and what kind of wagers you can place.
Types of NCAA Basketball Bets
Spreads
With college basketball games, the difference in the quality of the teams can be pretty significant. That means the winner of a game is pretty much predetermined. There is no betting fun to be had there. That’s where spread betting comes in.
Spread betting combines both the result of a game with the margin of victory. That means backing the winning team is not enough. You bet on the favorite to win by a certain number of points. Likewise, the underdog can lose within a margin of a number of points.
What does this mean practically? It means you can bet on the underdog, and if that team keeps the game close or wins, your bet will come through. It keeps the betting a little more interesting as the underdog becomes a viable option again.
Parlays
Parlay betting adds a little more thrill to wagering on the outright winners of games. That’s because you can combine multiple games into a single bet. Each of these games is called a leg, and you can have dozens of markets in a parlay. Not only that, but every leg you add to the parlay will increase the odds. This type of betting can provide some big payouts.
There is more risk with these bets as the whole wager is a loss if just one leg of your wager doesn’t come through. That means if you’re predicting the results of 10 games, and you get 9 correct, you receive no payout. It can be tricky, but it can also reward you generously. You can see how parlay betting can be beneficial thinking about how many games there are in an NCAA basketball season.
Totals
Total betting is entirely different from other kinds of wagering as it’s got nothing to do with the results of games. Instead, total betting is wholly focused on the final score. Not for one team or the other, but the accumulative game score. Before a game starts, a sportsbook will set a total on a game on college basketball. Your job is to predict whether the total cumulative score will be above or below that amount. This is also sometimes called over/under betting.
The great thing about this kind of wagering is that you can benefit from boring basketball games. Suddenly you can find yourself cheering for people to miss 3-pointers and free throws.
Futures
In theory, any betting is wagering on an event in the future. Future bets are specifically on important events in the far future. Rather than who will win a random game in any old game week, a future bet would instead be on which team will be NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Champions. Or it could be on who will win MVP, or which player will be drafted first in the NBA draft.
Futures bets are long-term predictions, and sportsbooks will reward you for placing these bets in advance. The further in the future the betting market you have chosen is, the better odds you will get. That’s why if you’re interested in NCAA basketball futures, you should place them as early as possible.
Betting on NCAAB with US Sportsbooks
These are the basics of betting on college basketball, but there’s so much to discover. Sportsbooks offer all kinds of promotions and different types of betting that will provide you with new thrills when you play. So what are you waiting for?
If you live in a state that has legalized online sports betting, you can join in the fun. If not, don’t worry. All you have to do is visit a state where it is legal. Once you are within state borders, you can legally place online sports wagers. To do this, download a sportsbook app. Find the NCAA basketball tab and start placing bets on college basketball.
