Games Become More Important as the Season Progresses
Ranked Teams Look To Rebound From Brutal Saturday
If you want to know why college hoops are so hard to figure out, check the first day of February. 11 teams went down to defeat on that day. That’s nearly half of the Top 25. When there are days like these, is it any wonder why college basketball odds are so difficult to predict when it comes to the regular season and the March Madness tournament? Onward to another week as the regular season heads toward conference tournament time and then the Big Dance.
Iowa State at Kansas Betting Analysis
There were schools that felt the wrath of the underdogs on college basketball lines when February started. Iowa State was shocked by Kansas State and Kansas fell to Baylor by 11 points in Lawrence. Both losses were unexpected but Kansas had a 21-point lead in the first half and fell by 11 points. Consider that a 32-point turnaround.
The Jayhawks are 15-6 and 6-4 in the Big 12, a down year for them. The Cyclones are 17-4 and 7-3 in conference but have lost their last two games. The loss to Kansas State snapped a 29-game home winning streak and had the Iowa State Daily write a headline saying the Cyclones were “embarrassed.” Ouch. Kansas will be looking for revenge on Monday as Iowa State won the first meeting 74-57. The Jayhawks are three-point favorites at BetUS.
Marquette at St. John’s Betting Analysis
Another of the ranked schools that suffered a loss was Marquette, which fell to two-time national champion UConn by eight points at home and now runs into a streaking Red Storm team on Tuesday that avoided the upset bug by downing Providence. St. John’s has won eight in a row and is a force in the Big East behind Rick Pitino. NCAAB picks and parlays like the Red Storm to make it nine in a row and for Kadary Richmond to have another Big game. He had 24 and the game-winning bucket with three seconds left against the Friars. The Red Storm are 10-1 in conference play and want to show they are a school to contend with in the big tournament.
Duke at Syracuse Betting Analysis
Don’t look now but Duke is on a roll, a huge one. The Blue Devils won their 15th straight game. Clobbering North Carolina on Saturday by 17. The rivalry has simmered as Duke, led by freshman sensation Cooper Flagg, has become a powerhouse again. The Blue Devils will go to Central New York as favorites on NCAA odds against the Orange on Wednesday. Talk about a school that has fallen from its once-dominant self, Syracuse is 10-12, 11th in the ACC, and has lost three of four. The Orange is 4-7 in conference and has lost four games at home overall. Do not be shocked if Syracuse gets blasted by Flagg and the Blue Devils.
South Carolina at Kentucky Betting Analysis
The Wildcats were stung by Coach Cal and the Razorbacks who upended the college basketball lines by winning at Rupp Arena. Kentucky catches a breather on Saturday in SEC play as one of the weak links in the powerhouse conference comes to Lexington. South Carolina is 10-12 overall and has lost nine in a row. Make it 10 as Kentucky won’t lose two in a row at home.
March Madness Odds Betting
March Madness only comes once a year, and everyone loves the excitement of the March Madness odds during the tournament and all the betting opportunities it brings. Still, the college basketball season has plenty of ways to wager on games.
The first week of November marked the start of the 2024-25 college basketball season, with several teams looking to have big years and capture the national title glory that UConn has enjoyed the last two seasons.
You can make College Basketball picks on a team to make a title run, on individual games, or even players’ stats by the season or the game. Just as many teams across the country are playing for March Madness glory, there are many betting options on college basketball.
Betting On A Champion
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, they’ve been anointed the favorite in the NCAAB championship odds. Before a single game had been played, 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 when looking at the college basketball odds. Iowa State and Kentucky are among the teams trending in the right direction in the championship odds. If you feel confident about a team being the next champion, putting down a bet at any point is an option.
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.
NCAAB 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 point 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. If you have San Francisco to upset Gonzaga and feel like you don’t need the help of a point spread, you can bet on the moneyline and get much better odds for the upset win.
To show the difference in the odds on a moneyline bet compared to a point spread bet, let’s look at that San Francisco vs Gonzaga game a little closer. Let’s say Gonzaga is favored by 5½ points. If you bet on San Francisco getting those 5½ points added to its score, you’d likely get -110 odds.
But, if you bet on San Francisco on the moneyline, which doesn’t get any points, meaning a straight-up win is required, you could have odds like +180. That’s certainly a better payout if you believe San Francisco will win outright.
Betting The Totals
There are other ways to bet on the game from a team standpoint. Let’s say you think Michigan State vs Illinois will be a high-scoring game, but you’re not sure which team will win. You can bet the total.
A total bet – or over/under – is taking the total number of points that will be scored in the game as set by the sportsbook and make your bet on whether the actual point total will be over or under that predicted number.
Michigan State and Illinois may have a total set at 165½, but you think it will be more of a defensive struggle. You can bet the under and cheer on the defense throughout the contest, hoping for a final score that adds up to 165 points or less.
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. If you think the Illini will start fast offensively, you can bet the over on their set first-half total.
There are a multitude of college basketball bets you can make on the totals, with BetUS Sportsbook providing all that you could ask for.