College Basketball Picks

Throughout the regular season we will breakdown each team in-depth, followed by a spread and/or a total prediction and breakdown. When it's time for March Madness, College Basketball is able to somewhat compete with the NBA in terms of a betting market. 

With that being said, there are a lot more games in College Basketball and that means a lot more spots to take advantage of the books. Sports betting is just becoming legal throughout the US and we’re here to provide you with quality and consistent free College Basketball picks and predictions.

The most popular and basic way to bet on College Basketball is against the spread. The “spread” refers to the number a sportsbook has set as an advantage for one side. This is the (+) or (-) you see next to a team’s name. Here is what that would look like if the Gonzaga Bulldogs were two-point favorites against the Baylor Bears:

If the Bulldogs were to win the game by exactly two points, both sides of the bet push, and your money is returned. If you want to back Gonzaga, they must win by three points or more to win the bet. If you want to back Baylor, they must either win or lose by less than two points. The (-110) refers to the amount you must bet to win $100. Against the spread, that number will typically be between 105 and 120.

It’s important to find the best value for your bet as different sportsbooks will typically have different odds. Referred to as “line shopping”, it’s a great idea to look around and find the most favorable odds for your desired bet. In the example above, you might find a book offering Gonzaga -1.5. That would give you the opportunity to pick up a win if they won by just two points, instead of the three needed elsewhere. You may also find a lower “vig”, meaning you won’t have to bet as much to win the $100. You’re doing yourself a huge disservice as a bettor if you fail to shop around for lines.

You will see many large spreads in College Basketball due to the talent disparity between teams. The difference in talent between an elite CBB team and a lower-level one is a lot wider than the difference between the best and worst NBA team. You must make sure you don’t get scared off as elite teams will often beat inferior opponents by 50+ points. This is also when line shopping comes into play as books will occasionally have lines that differ by multiple points.

Betting the total in College Basketball refers to betting whether you think the two teams will combine for over or under a certain number. This number is set by each respective sportsbook and will adjust throughout the week, as will the spread. Let’s use the same matchup from above in the example below.

In order for the over to win, the Bulldogs and Bears must combine for 156 points or more. For the under to win, the teams must combine for 155 points or less. Books are wrong a lot more often in College Basketball than they are in the NBA. We are here to pay close attention and take advantage of those faulty lines. There is far less information to go around for books to collect, and in turn a far greater edge to be gained if the time is devoted. It’s important to stay up to date with all news regarding College Basketball if you want to remain profitable long-term.

Betting the money line is a very common bet amongst casual bettors. This refers to betting the straight up winner of the ball game, opposed to betting against a spread. In order to gain their edge, books will essentially charge you to bet on the favorite and give you money to bet the underdog. Here’s an example and let’s assume the (-2) spread from above remains:

The favored team will always have the (-) next to their name and that number will indicate how much you must bet to win $100. In this instance, you would have to bet $170 on the Bulldogs to win $100. The (+) belongs to the underdog and that number represents how much you will win on a $100 bet. If you lay a $100 successful money line bet on the Baylor Bears, it would pay out $145 on top of your wager returned. If you don’t want to pay attention to how many points a team must win or lose by, a money line bet might just be for you.

You’re likely familiar with a parlay if you have bet on other sports. This is the way you can turn just a few dollars into thousands and the way many sports bettors get rich. A parlay is when you combine two to fifteen bets into one large wager – your odds will increase exponentially. In order for the increase in odds, every single one of your bets must hit or the entire wager is a loss. If you push one bet and win the rest, it will be excluded from your ticket and your winnings will be recalculated. You can typically combine many different types of bets here, though some books will restrict which bets can be combined into a parlay. If you’re looking to play it safe and hit big, a parlay bet is for you.

If you don’t have a strong lean on either side of the spread or total, this is a great bet to look into as it doesn’t rely on either team winning or any number being reached. You will instead bet on an individual player’s performance and whether he will do something or not. Here are a few examples:

Will Luka Garza score O/U 22.5 points?

Luka Garza combined points, rebounds, assists O/U – 31.5

Luka Garza – O/U 7.5 rebounds

You will also want to shop around on prop bets as every book will have slightly different numbers. There is nothing worse than losing a bet that you could have won elsewhere. You are best off betting player props as early as possible. They will change more than any other wager when the market get their hands on them. Player Props continue to gain in popularity as fantasy sports do as many casual bettors like to line their fantasy lineups up with their prop bets.

Whether you’ve bet on College Basketball before or not, you’re familiar with March Madness and the hoopla the entire country seems to fall under for close to a full month. It’s absolutely one of the most exciting sporting events in the entire world and there are countless betting opportunities to take advantage of.

March Madness is a 64-team single elimination tournament in which a total of 67 games are played. There are four different brackets within the main bracket and each one has seeding between 1-16. This is where the Cinderella miracle teams come into play and there is a ton of money to be made. Americans bet close to $8.5 billion dollars total during the 2018 tournament, and things will only grow as more and more states become legal.

We will be here to provide you with an in-depth breakdown of every March Madness game on the schedule. Not only will you get a pick for the spread and total, but our experts will also provide you with unique parlay and future bets, on top of a March Madness picks and predictions bracket. There is a huge market for March Madness and we are here to be your one-stop-shop.

At USSportsbonus, we pride ourselves on covering every sport from a detailed, well-researched angle. Make sure to come back for not just College Basketball, but any other sport you’re looking to place a wager on.

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