How to Bet the NCAA Tournament
Written March 16, 2009 by Jack Jones
Just about everyone knows how to fill out a bracket for the NCAA tournament, but not everyone actually knows how to bet it. There is a huge difference between picking the winner of a game straight up as compared to against the spread, especially during March Madness. Something that can be very helpful is to scout out the possible upsets you see in the tournament. What you’ll want to do is check the college basketball odds on those games, and see if the lower-seeded team that you like is actually the underdog in the game. Those are the kind of games you should look to bet on. For those of you that are new to college basketball betting, let’s just take a step back and give a little basketball betting 101.
The most common form of basketball betting is against the spread, you can also bet on the total of the game and on college basketball futures, but for now I fill focus on the point spread. The point spread, line, or odds on the game are most commonly expressed with the plus sign or the minus sign. The team with the plus sign in front of their number is considered the underdog in the game and the team with the minus sign is considered the favorite. An example of this might look something like this: North Carolina -27/Radford +27. What this means is that odds makers feel like North Carolina can beat Radford by 27 points. If your thinking is that the Tar Heels can beat them by more than that, you would bet on North Carolina -27. To win the game you would need UNC to win by 28 points or more. If they ended up winning by exactly 7 points, you’d get what’s called a push on your bet, which basically just cancels the bet out, you don’t win or lose anything. On the flip side, if you were to think that Radford could keep the game closer than the 27 point spread, you could take Radford +27. In this situation Radford doesn’t need to win the game, they just need to keep it 26 points or closer for your bet to win.
Something else you’ll need is an online sportsbook to take your bets on the games during March Madness. Head over to my article on college basketball betting to see which sportsbook best suits your needs. Once you sign up for an account you can also see what our experts are thinking with their college basketball picks on several games throughout the tournament.
If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:
- Radford vs North Carolina: NCAA Basketball Tournament Preview & Odds
- Odds to Win the 2009 NCAA Tournament
- 2009 NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket
- 2009 NCAA Tournament Odds: South Region
- North Carolina Odds to Win the NCAA Tournament
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