College Basketball

How To Bet On College Basketball

UConn vs Gonzaga Betting Preview

Let's look at one of the high-profile games played in December when two-time defending national champion UConn faced Gonzaga at Madison Square Garden. Gonzaga was favored by 3.5 points in the game, meaning that the Bulldogs would need to win by at least four points to cover as the favorite. If that happened, it would pay out with -120 odds. UConn had even odds to cover as the 3.5-point underdog. Those who bet online can also pick an outright winner when making college basketball picks today. Gonzaga had -190 odds to win the game compared to +160 odds for the Huskies. UConn won the game 77-71, so those who took the Huskies to cover would have won their best. Also, those picking the Huskies to win outright had to be pretty happy. The total was set at 153.5, and since the teams combined for just 148 points, those who went with the game to land under the total were winners.

What To Look For

It is always a good idea to check the college basketball betting trends. Some teams fare better as favorites than as underdogs. Once the conference season rolls along, enough games have been played for some college basketball trends to form. Look at the teams who cover the most and the ones with games landing under and over the total. Checking the series history is a key factor when making bets. Teams that have been longtime conference rivals will have trends to watch. The game could go either way if Duke plays North Carolina, regardless of the venue. However, it is different when Duke or North Carolina plays Georgia Tech or Wake Forest. It is always a good idea to check how many recent games between the teams went under or over the total. When two bitter rivals meet, things might be slightly more physical, and points might be harder to come by.

Betting On Futures Odds

There is no need to wait until March to bet on the national championship winner. If you have a strong feeling about which team will win it all, look at the sportsbook odds and place a bet. There are risks to betting early, especially when a team loses a key player to injury. However, there will be many rewards if that team wins the championship. Some people prefer to wait for the tournament field to be announced and make a bet on a team they think will win it at all at that point, but from the moment the previous champion was crowned, futures odds have been set for the following season’s champion. The UConn Huskies have won the last two national titles, and heading into the 2024-05 season, UConn was sitting at +800 to win a third straight title, but there are plenty of other betting options. Kansas, Duke, and Alabama joined Houston, North Carolina, and Gonzaga as other top contenders in college basketball odds. Iowa State and Kentucky are among the teams trending in the right direction in college basketball championship odds. If you feel confident about a team being the next champion, you can put down a bet at any point. If you think a small school will make a championship run, you can wager on them to win the title. The odds will be long, but hitting on a wager like that can give bragging rights and a very nice payout. There are also college basketball odds for every Division I conference championship in the country, so don’t feel limited to “National Title or Bust” bets. Women’s basketball championship odds are also available through the BetUS sportsbook.

Single-Game Betting

The easiest way to bet on college basketball is by picking out a single game and making some wagers. NCAA basketball lines are set for every game across the country throughout the regular- and postseason, so you have plenty of options, even within each game. There are two options for betting which team will win for the game result. The first is the point spread set at BetUS Sportsbook for every game. The team expected to win is favored by a certain number of points, and they need to win by at least that many for you to get a bet that pays out. Make sure to get your bets in before the opening tip. It could be as small as a single point or, in some cases, as many as 25 to 30 points, depending on the amount of a mismatch the game is. But if you’re confident that that team will win and cover or win by that many points, that’s the best way to go because it will give you better odds than if you bet on a straight-up win. Taking the underdog will give you a chance to win if that team loses by fewer points than the point spread. A five-point underdog losing by one, two, three, or four points would deliver a winner. The college basketball spreads help you get a win in a game, but they’re not the only way to wager on a game result. Also, the moneyline sets college basketball odds for which team could win without a point spread involved. When Washington State beat Boise State, there were +300 odds for the Cougars to pick up the outright victory. Stanford paid out at +105 with a win over Cal. Staying away from a heavy favorite to win outright is a smart way to proceed. When North Carolina topped Georgia Tech, the win came with -2500 odds for the Tar Heels to win, and there's not much of a reward for going with that as a bet.

Betting The Totals

There are other ways to bet on the game from a team standpoint. When Boston College played Wake Forest, the total was set at 134.5. Those taking the game to land over or under the total felt a little uncomfortable before Wake Forest won 72-66 to send the game over the total. You’ll usually get identical odds for either the over or under bet, but sometimes, the odds can vary slightly depending on how the betting has gone on the game thus far. There are also total bets that you can make for each team, as well as for the first or second halves. There are a multitude of college basketball bets you can make on the totals, with BetUS Sportsbook providing all that you could ask for.

Prop Betting on College Basketball

While betting on a game’s outcome or point total is fun, other options exist for making NCAAB picks on individual players. Prop bets are wagers made on an individual’s performance, whether scoring points, 3-pointers made, or any stat you can think of. Freshmen Cooper Flagg of Duke and Dylan Harper are among the players delivering on prop picks in the early stages of the 2024-25 college basketball season. College basketball picks and parlays with those two or other productive players can pay off. You could also make these types of bets with more obscure players, as the over/under for players’ stats vary depending on their expected performance. Any bet, whether on a highly-ranked player or team or a lesser-known player or team, counts the same as far as a win, based on the college basketball odds. So it’s not just betting on star players for your prop bets. Knowing players’ tendencies and recent box score results helps in this case. Injuries are also a factor to consider when making these prop bets. But after you do your research, you can make prop bets on almost any player that is expected to be in a game, making every play significant to your betting.

Individual Futures Bets

As you might have expected, there are even more options for betting on college basketball. The Player of the Year award has odds set for it each season, and you can make a wager on the player you think will earn the trophy. Heading into the 2024-25 campaign, some of the best odds to win the National Player of the Year award were going to North Carolina’s RJ Davis (+600), Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson (+650), Alabama’s Mark Sears (+700) and Kansas’ AJ Storr (+1800). But, if you thought a long shot like Illinois’ Kylan Boswell (+20000) or Alabama’s Chris Youngblood (+20000) would have a surprisingly great season, you could also wager on one in the college basketball futures odds. There are also odds set for the Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA Tournament, conference Player of the Year awards, and the top player in the country in individual categories such as scoring or rebounding. When the time comes for the NBA Draft, you can wager on your favorite college players and where and by which team they’ll be drafted. Much like the national championship odds, the odds for the top player to be drafted can be set as much as a year in advance by the basketball futures odds, so you can take a shot early on and watch how the player performs all season. Six of the first ten players taken in the top 10 picks in the 2024 NBA Draft were college players.

Making College Basketball More Exciting

As any sports bettor knows, wagering on any game can make it even more exciting. One of the biggest draws for the NCAA Tournament is the number of casual fans with brackets, so they cheer for every game. Betting on college basketball lets you have that feeling all season long. A game between two lower-tier teams in a small conference can be as exciting as a matchup between No. 1 and No. 2 in the country. The biggest thing you must have is knowledge of the game or player you’re betting on when making college basketball best bets. There are many options for wagering on college basketball betting lines, but the winning bets come from having some background knowledge. Keeping tabs on teams consistently covering and those failing to do the same is never a bad idea. BetUS Sportsbook provides insight and previews of many games throughout the season, helping you make informed bet choices. However, you can review previous results to feel confident about your wagers.