Can you bet on College Basketball Props?
The biggest difference between betting on college basketball vs the NBA is betting on player props is not allowed in college hoops. It is also not allowed in college football, and that is because of the NCAA. They forbid any prop betting on individual players due to the amateurism of college sports.
Most other types of props are available to bet on, though, including game props. So, bettors can still back or fade individual team totals and other types of game props when betting on college hoops, just not player props.
How to Bet on March Madness
Of course, the most fun time to bet on college basketball is during March Madness. Luckily, how to bet on March Madness is the same process as regular basketball games: spread, moneyline, totals, futures, parlays, etc. Although, with that said, obviously the importance involved with the NCAA tournament makes the intensity at a much higher level.
As soon as the bracket is set and the 68 teams are announced, oddsmakers rapidly get started on pricing all the lines so the floodgates can open and sportsbooks can start accepting bets. Now that the stage is much higher, no longer can sharp bettors alone move a line by 3 points. The markets are going to be tight, and there are strategies on how to make the most out of betting on college basketball and March Madness.
Bet on ML Underdogs in the First Two Rounds
One of the most profitable, and also enjoyable, ways to enjoy March Madness is to bet on every underdog’s moneyline in the first two rounds of the tournament. Everybody loves cinderellas in the tourney, but every year there are multiple huge upsets that make it a profitable strategy to bet on every single underdog.
Last year the 15 seeded Oral Roberts upset the Ohio State Buckeyes, and who can forget the 1 seeded Virginia becoming the first ever 1 seed to lose to a 16 seed? Examples such as these happen on a yearly basis to make betting on underdogs not only fun but also a way to make money.
College Basketball Betting Strategies
Here is where the fun begins. Because of how many games there are in college basketball, if you can identify profitable betting strategies, you can strike gold. In this section we will detail some popular and profitable college basketball strategies.
Assign Home-Court Advantage
Everybody has heard the term home-court advantage, and the general rule of thumb that is commonly thrown out for the NFL is that home-court advantage is worth 3 or 3.5 points. Unfortunately, for college basketball it is not that easy. We still don’t have a great way of calculating home-court advantage. The dirty little secret is that home-court is not uniform across all of CBB- it varies by team and by year. So, don’t automatically assume that each team has the same benefit of being at home.
The unfortunate reality is that there is not one source of truth when it comes to calculating each school’s home-court advantage. So, college basketball bettors should keep a close eye on a team’s home-road splits against the spread (ATS) to determine the level to which they gain an advantage of being at home.
What is universally accepted across college basketball experts, is that home-court advantage lessens as the season goes on. There is between half a point to a full point difference in home-court advantage in November-December and after the new year. This is mostly because all of those scared freshmen playing in their first college basketball games are no longer scared freshmen.
Identify Early Season Trends
This is another strategy that is easier said than done, but incredibly profitable if able to be accomplished. The 2020 season for Kentucky was a trainwreck, but somehow they started the season ranked 15th in a pre-season poll. They ended the season 9-16, and even worse against the spread. It was a lucrative venture for those sharp bettors who identified at the beginning of the year that Kentucky was going to struggle and was able to fade them.
An easy, but albeit not perfect way to identify an early season trend is to pay close attention to the spread records. Some teams can start hot and fade off, but if you notice a team starts 12-1 or 13-2 ATS to start the season that probably means you are sitting on gold and the general public has not caught up to how good that team is.
Fade the Public
This is another strategy that applies to almost any sport, but consistently fading the public is a profitable way to bet on college basketball. This mostly applies to fading popular, top-ranked teams, or betting unders on big, nationally televised games.
The reason for this is because the public naturally wants to root for the big-named teams. So, the favorite is so heavily bet on that the spread is too high and there is actually a lot of value betting on the underdog ATS. The same thought process applies to betting the under in big games. Viewers are going to be watching this game and inherently want to root for points. So, they bet the over to a point where the total is higher than it should be, and you can take advantage of this by betting the under.
Research and Trust in the Data
There are tons of sources you can use to learn about each and every college basketball team. From Kenpom to ESPN, there are countless data sources out there that you can use to gather information. Important metrics such as offensive and defensive ratings from Kenpom can help you identify profitable bets to make.
Line Shopping
This is important for every sport, but especially for the NBA where there are so many different lines and props you can bet on. The Ohio State spread above is listed at -6.5, but let’s say you looked at every sportsbook in your state and you found them at -6 on DraftKings. That bet should be placed on DraftKings. A half point might not seem like a lot at the time, but gaining a half point for every college hoops bet placed can be the difference between profiting or not
Using OddsJam, you can always find the best lines as well as the most updated lines on the OddsJam odds page.
Track Your Bets
This one is obvious, but another important thing a sports bettor can do is just keep track of their bets. OddsJam offers a bet tracker completely free of charge, and it is one of the most useful things you can do.
Tracking your bets can help you stay disciplined with your system if you have a bad night or couple days, or it can help identify pitfalls in your strategy that you might need to update. Either way, you need to keep track of your bets so you know whether you are profitable or not, and take the next steps from there.