Best NCAAB Bets - Today's Top NCAAB Picks

It’s not uncommon to see NBA games end in blowouts, with some seasons being worse than others. The 2021-2022 season, for example, produced a range of headlines discussing the “blowout problem” of the league left and right.

It’s wildly different for NCAA basketball games – the talent is usually distributed more evenly, and teams are usually more on par with one another. There are a lot fewer instances where an obscenely stronger team dominates the weaker side. The unpredictability born out of it simply makes it more exciting.

There’s also a lot at stake for college basketball players. NBA players score millions of dollars each season, whereas college players are playing for their education – and perhaps more importantly, to have a chance to earn said contracts. They have a lot of incentive to do well and join the draft for the NBA.

March Madness

The unpredictability of each game paired with the sheer thrill of a single-elimination tournament make March Madness simply the pinnacle of entertainment in college basketball season. The combination of more teams having a chance at winning, a sense of urgency, and the pressure involved creates a unique sense of anticipation for fans. It usually features the biggest games of the season and accounts for most of the college basketball betting activities.

There are distinct nuances between NBA and college basketball betting, which ultimately make the latter slightly riskier than the former.

Arguably the biggest caveat is the lack of publicly available information about the teams and players compared to NBA – which usually influences the betting trends and helps bettors make more informed decisions.

The smaller sample size also handicaps the efforts to analyze. The college basketball season is shorter than the NBA season and has so many games to bet on, which means there is a smaller sample size of games to analyze – which doesn’t make statistical analysis any less significant, it simply makes it more difficult to conduct a deeper analysis.

We mentioned the unpredictability of college basketball. It's not solely because of the parity prevailing in the tournaments; the inconsistency of performance is also a big driver. NBA players are professionals and more often than not, dependable in delivering the most likely outcomes.

College players are younger and less experienced, making them more prone to fail to deliver consistent results. It’s also worth noting that most college players are emotionally driven, especially during high-stakes tournaments like March Madness – which can be a double-edged sword.

On one hand, it leads extraordinary talents, the likes of Adama Sanago or Jordan Hawkins, to deliver inspired performances. On the other, it can lead to unexpected upsets.

On the whole, these variables make betting a thrill – and making college basketball picks and predictions hard work.

Differences in Odds & Spreads

While college basketball bets are not hugely different from NBA, there are some differences in terms of betting odds, spreads, and other terms.

• Spread Differences: College basketball games often have larger point spreads than NBA games. This is because there can be a wider disparity in skill levels between college teams, leading to bigger spreads. Larger spreads can result in more attractive odds for underdog bettors in college basketball.

• Variance: College basketball is known for its unpredictability and potential for upsets, which can make betting more challenging but also more exciting for some bettors. NBA games tend to have more predictable outcomes due to the higher skill level and consistency of professional players. Due to this unpredictability, college basketball odds tend to be more attractive in comparison.

College basketball is massive, meaning you must specialize in a conference or region. It's not practical to follow only some NCCAB teams. The best strategy is to focus on your regional conference or nationally covered teams, increasing your chances of winning. It's a lot easier to research teams covered by local and national media. For example, If you are located in the south of the country, looking into teams from the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a wise choice.

You can watch the teams on TV, and nothing beats scouting done by your eyes. Read news reports and learn about injuries or shifts in the roster. Assessing a team's capabilities before a game is imperative. Logically you will be more informed about the teams you follow than any other team in the NCAA.

History tends to repeat itself in NCAAB, and checking the outcomes of previous college basketball matchups can indicate how a specific team performs against regular opponents.

Find out if a team is efficient from the 3-point line or prefers to score from the paint. Shooting percentage is a crucial parameter, especially from the free throw line, where teams can gain a massive advantage if they can reliably put points on the board. Research the defensive capabilities, can the team rebound on both sides of the court, and has a low turnover rate. Pay attention to the coaches. They have a significant impact on a team's performance. Head coaches with a spotless resume, such as Mike Krzyzewski, can lead a team to the NCAA tournament and the final four.

Mastering the betting types is not directly tied to basketball, but it's crucial to learn what aspect of a game you can wager on and the betting lines for each bet. Multiple bets are available, each best suited for a specific situation. You can wager on the outright winner of a game, attempt to predict which team will win the NCAA tournament or make it to the final four.

Other options are the guessing margin of victory or total points scored in a game. However, you must find favorable betting lines no matter which bet you want to use. Although oddsmakers use a similar methodology to create the odds, differences do exist, and the odds change as game day approaches. Strategic bettors keep track of movement in betting lines and use it as a signal for how teams are perceived before a game.

Prop bets are the most recent addition to a bettors box and are the most fun bet type. The concept revolves around hypothetical scenarios, challenging bettors to wager on different propositions. For example, will the Duke Blue Devils shoot free throws first, or if the Gonzaga Bulldogs make four technical fouls?

The options are numerous, and some bookies can be imaginative with the best NCAAB prop bets. Proposition bets can be for a team or individual players, and each bet will have adequate odds. However, not every prop bet is encountered in every sportsbook; some offer props only on specific leagues and limit the number of prop bets.

Parlay bet is a risky proposition, but it can offer huge payouts. It combines wagers on different games or one game into a single bet. To win a parlay wager, every leg of the bet must pan out. If you have a 6-team parlay and correctly predict the outcome of 5 games, but your last bet loses, the entire betting slip is a loss.

The appeal of a parlay bet is that the odds multiply with each successive bet, which can result in astronomic payouts. Bettors can use various bet types on a parlay bet and can even make a same-game parlay bet by wagering on different aspects of a single game, with Moneyline, point spreads, and total bets.

Bookies invented point spread to encourage action on both sides of the game by offering bettors the chance to predict the margin of victory or how many points a team will lose. Before the start of a match, points get points deduced, while the underdog gets points added.

Typically, this will look like Kentucky Wildcats -8.5 and Missouri Tigers +8.5. This signals bookies expect the Wildcats to win by a margin over 9 points. You win the bet if Kentucky wins by nine or more points. However, if you wager on the Tigers, they need to win or lose by less than 8 points for you to win the bet.

It's the most basic bet offered by sportsbooks, requiring bettors to predict the outright winner of a game. Considering there are two teams in a match, bettors can wager on each, but the difference is in the odds.

One team will be favored to win the game, and this status gets reflected in the odds, which will have a minus sign. To illustrate the point, we will take the Kansas Jayhawks at -250, meaning a $250 stake can produce a winning of $100. The other option is to wager on an underdog, a team expected to lose. In this case, the odds have a plus sign; for example, Iowa State Cyclones +150, and a $100 bet can generate $150 in winnings.

Totals are known as over-under and do not focus on which team will win. Instead, it offers bettors the chance to wager on how many combined points will get scored during a game. Players receive a number, an average projected by bookies.

For example, a game can have a total of 160.5 points, and the option is to wager if both teams have a combined score of more or fewer points than the offered average. Most sportsbooks make it possible to place total bets on halftime scores or bet on over/under for each team.

NCAAB futures bets are longer-term, forecasting if a team will win a division, a conference, or a tournament. Futures are offered on player awards. They get called futures, not only because they predict the outcome of an event at a later date but also because they get settled at the end of a season.

The odds often change as teams experience injuries, a series of unexpected wins, or losses. Bets get settled at the odds offered at the time the bet was made. The most common futures bet is on national championship results, such as March Madness.

College basketball consensus picks are a great way to start for newbies. As the name suggests, it involves betting in line with the public consensus. You can see which direction the public sways in percentages: if 80% thinks San Diego State Aztecs will beat Creighton Bluejays, it’s a sign that it’s a relatively safe bet.

Besides providing somewhat safer options, knowing the public consensus also helps you make informed NCAA basketball picks against the spread.

NCAA basketball offers a diversity of bets because of the large pool of available games. We analyze the options by focusing on a team's recent results and players' form. Our team finds the best value by comparing odds from different sportsbooks, checking to see how the betting line is moving as game day approaches.

Our staff prefers to find bookies that usually publish their odds days in advance. It's not only important to pick the best bets and place the bet at the right time, considering that betting lines tend to move, and the biggest value is offered several days ahead of games. Making a bet sooner can result in a higher payout. However, the odds are not the only guiding parameter. We analyze the teams and stay away from highly risky propositions.

One perk of using online bookies is promotions that can boost winning chances by allowing players to bet for free. We search for promotions dedicated to NCAA basketball. Our team tracks down generous welcome match deposit bonuses, odds boost, and risk-free bets, promos. The method used to assess if a promo is worthwhile relies on finding a large bonus amount and inspecting the wagering requirement to see if they are on the low side.

NCAAB sportsbooks allow bettors to choose a ceiling on how much cash they can infuse into their account per day, week, or month. These deposit limits are a great option to stay within a predefined budget and safely manage a bankroll. It's not possible to easily change the limits once they are set.

Similar to deposit limits, bettors can set a cap on losses over a fixed period. For example, if you are not ready to lose more than $200 per month, you can put that amount as your loss limit, and once you lose $200, you will not be able to wager more for the rest of that month.

Operators enable members to deactivate their accounts for a specific time. Another option is to elect to participate in a self-exclusion scheme. This option instructs the official licensing agency in your state to distribute your information to licensed sportsbooks, which will not allow you to partake in gaming activities.