Jan 23, 2021 In a point spread bet, you don’t just bet on whether a team will win, but also whether that team will win by a specific amount. For instance, if a point spread is Detroit Lions +4, New England Patriots -4, you would bet on whether you thought the Lions would win and if they'd win by more than four points. Basketball is one of the most popular sports for betting in the world as it mixes thrilling, fast-paced games with dynamic outcomes that offer interested parties a variety of potential wagers to make. While basketball is one of the simpler sports to bet on, there is a groundwork of knowledge that potential basketball.

What is March Madness?

A popular annual NCAA men's basketball tournament, the event takes place over a three-week period and the betting action on the tournament brings in record handles for sportsbooks in the United States.

The tournament is a single-elimination format that consists of 68 teams and those schools are announced on “Selection Sunday” – which is an event in itself. The 2021 selection show takes place on Sunday March 14, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. ET and is televised nationally in the United States on CBS, one of the largest broadcast companies.

Pundits often try to predict the full bracket before the event and the term “Bracketology” is used in many sports betting circles. The brackets are divided into four regions, split up geographically in the United States. All of the March Madness games are played on neutral courts and the regional final takes place at a large venue.

Sweet 16

With over 350 NCAA men's teams eligible to compete and earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament, securing a spot in the Sweet 16 is a major accomplishment. When betting on March Madness futures or competing in a Bracket Contest, predicting the Sweet 16 is essential for all of your wagers. In order to reach the Sweet 16, teams will have to win their first two games and sometimes three if schools had to qualify from the 'First Four' matchups.

Eight schools compete in the 'First Four' games on Thursday March 18 from two venues -- Mackey Arena and Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall -- located in Indiana.

The March Madness the field of 64 is cut in half to 32 and eventually 16 after the first and second rounds are completed. Even though there are 16 teams still standing, it's quite common to see mismatches on paper as far as the seedings go. A double-digit seeded school have made plenty of appearances in this round and they're often listed as healthy underdogs by the oddsmakers.

This year's 2021 Sweet 16 matchups will take place from two venues from the state of Indiana. These games are also known as the Regional Semifinals.

• Bankers Life Fieldhouse
• Hinkle Fieldhouse

Elite Eight

Even bigger than the Sweet 16 is the Elite Eight and schools playing in this round know how high the stakes are. The winners will advance to the Final Four while the losers are sent packing after winning three or possibly four NCAA Tournament games in a row. The point-spreads are usually much tighter in this round since the top contenders are left standing and the oddsmakers have a better understanding of the remaining clubs. It's not uncommon to see higher seeds last this long in the NCAA Tournament and plenty of those long shots or underdogs receive plenty of attention from bettors looking for upsets and major payouts.

Similar to the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight matchups will take place at the same venues with one day of rest between the games. These games are also known as the Regional Finals.

For the 2021 NCAA Tournament, the Elite Eight will take place at Lucas Oil Stadium on Monday March 29 and Tuesday March 30.

The Final Four is put simply, the final four teams left in the NCAA Tournament and those squads will meet in a pair of semifinal matchups. The winners will advance to the March Madness championship while the losers join many other schools who just missed out on a trip to the title game. The Final 4 always takes place on the first Saturday in April, this year's event taking place on April 3, 2021 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Expecting at least one No. 1 seed to be playing in the Final 4 is very likely. Since the tournament expanded in 1985 to 64 teams, there have only been two years where the Final Four didn’t have a No. 1 seed which occurred in 2011 and 2006. Keep in mind that expecting all top seeds to advance is also rare. There has only been one instance where all four No. 1 seeds reached the Final Four, which took place in 2008 when Kansas, Memphis, North Carolina and UCLA earned regional bids.

Since the expansion of the NCAA Tournament occurred in 1985, Duke leads all schools with 12 all-time appearances in the Final Four while Kansas is next up with 18.

2019 Final Four Schools (Seeds)

Virginia (1)
Michigan State (2)
Texas Tech (3)
Auburn (5)

Lucky No. 11

The lowest seed to make the Final 4 was the No. 11. This happened four times since 1985 and most recently with Loyola-Chicago in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. Other teams included were Virginia Commonwealth (2011), George Mason (2006) and LSU (1986).

Along with that quartet, the only other double-digit seeds to make the Final 4 was Syracuse, who earned a trip in 2016 as a No. 10 seed.

UConn remains the lowest modern-day seeded team to win the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies of Connecticut accomplished the feat in the 2007 tournament as the No. 7 seed. Villanova, an eighth seed, captured the 1984-85 tournament over Georgetown.

Most Popular March Madness Tools

March Madness Bracket Explained

Betting on March Madness is one of the most popular sports betting events and it's format caters to the masses of not just sports bettors but for individuals who like to compete in a contests against friends, employees and strangers. The Bracket is a single-elimination contest where individuals must pick the winner of head-to-head matchups and forecast ahead before future matchups are determined.

Predicting a perfect March Madness Bracket is quite difficult and some experts have stated that you have a 1 in 9.2 quintillion chance. So if you see many websites and operators offering a guaranteed $1 Million Dollars for a perfect bracket, you can see that the odds are against you and the reward should be much higher. For those wondering, there has never

Nonetheless, the tournament has everybody glued to their Brackets especially for the first round since that's where many upsets take place. Going 32-0 isn't impossible and it's been done many times before but seeing your March Madness Bracket go unscathed through the opening weekend is rare and that would require you to post 16 more winners and improve to 48-0.

The Sweet 16 and Elite Eight weekend follows and participants will be following 12 games before the Final Four and Championship, which is a total of 63 games to predict. While the point-spread isn't used in the March Madness Bracket, predicting straight up winners isn't as easy as it looks -- especially when you don't know the matchups beforehand.

The VegasInsider.com Live Brackets is a great feature to follow your selections and our Printable Brackets will allow you to write-in your selections as you see fit.

March Madness Dates

The NCAA Tournament and March Madness Betting research begins on 'Selection Sunday' as the field of 68 teams are announced. After the brackets are filled in, the March Madness format is followed with all games being played at neutral sites.

• First Four - Thursday 18, 2021
• First Round - Fri/Sat, March 19-20, 2021
• Second Round - Sun/Mon, March 21-22, 2021
• Sweet 16 - Sat/Sun, March 27-28, 2021
• Elite Eight - Mon/Tue, March 29-30, 2021
• Final Four - Saturday, April 3, 2021
• NCAA Championship Game - Monday, April 5, 2021

Types of NCAA Tournament Bets

Bracket Pool

The March Madness Bracket Pool is a great contest that continues to rise in popularity among bettors and non-bettors. There is no barrier to entry and it's easy to participate, whether it be online or offline. All you need to do is find a group of colleagues and be on your way to predicting the outcome of the entire NCAA Tournament. The individual with the best prediction skills will be the overall winner of the Bracket Pool. Most pools start with an entry fee, decided by the pool leader, and all of the entries must be completed by the first matchup. That initial game usually takes place at 12:00 p.m. ET on the first Thursday after Selection Sunday, this year it will be on Friday March 19. For the 2021 March Madness event, your deadline to submit picks will be on Friday, Mar. 19, 2021.

Game Lines

The key to betting on March Madness is understanding the lines or betting odds. After 'Selection Sunday' takes place and the field of 68 is announced, the oddsmakers start to post opening lines on all of the matchups. Our Las Vegas Odds and Global Odds will begin to populate opening numbers for all of the matchups in the NCAA Tournament.

March Madness bettors can toggle between three different sections.

• Spread
• Money Line
• 1st Half

The game lines for the Spread show the point-spread odds, which are the most popular. Bettors playing totals or 'over/under' wagers are also listed on this page. The Money-Line odds cater to bettors looking to place wagers on the straight up outcome of a matchup, meaning the point-spread doesn't come into play. The 1st Half is catered to savvy bettors who like to get their juices going early. These bets are focused on the first 20 minutes of each March Madness matchup.

Point-Spread Bet

The point-spread was developed to provide a balance for both teams involved in a contest to entice bettors to potentially back the weaker team and receive points. The two squads in a game are listed with a title, either a favorite or an underdog. The favorite is usually the perceived better team in the game, as backing them means giving up several points.

Example - Point-Spread

Duke -10
Kansas +10

In the above example, if you wanted to back Duke as a 10-point favorite then you would need them to beat Kansas by 11 or more points to win your wager. If you wagered on Kansas, then you would need them to win the game outright or lose by less than 10 points.

Any victory by Duke by nine points or less would result in a loss, even though they won the game straight-up.

Assuming the final margin falls on 10 in this case, a ‘push’ occurs, which is a tie, meaning all tickets are refunded.

Money-Line Bet

In basketball, the standard betting practice is to lay (bet) $110 to win $100. When we learn about betting baseball and hockey, the money-line is the main form of wagering, meaning no point-spread. There is money-line betting in basketball in case you don’t want to worry about the points. However, the odds are adjusted accordingly for both the favorite and underdog.

Example - Money-Line

Duke -550
Kansas +400

In the above example, a straight-up wager on Duke would require you to invest more to win more since its been listed as a large favorite. Since Duke is -550, you would wager $550 to win $100. If you only had $100 to wager, then your return would be $18.18 (100/550). On the flip side, if you have enough faith in Kansas to beat Duke outright as a heavy underdog, then you can place $100 to return $400. You would receive $500, which includes your initial stake.

Over/Under Bet

Another popular betting option for March Madness games is the 'over/under' or what many may refer to as the total. This wager is a cooperative effort between the two teams to either go ‘Over’ or ‘Under’ the posted total. In March Madness, if Duke and Kansas have a game total of 150 ½, a winning 'Over' bet would mean the two clubs would combine for 151 points or more. On the flip side, a winning ‘Under’ ticket is 150 points or fewer between the two teams.

Parlay/Teaser

A Parlay is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers for a high payout. Parlay wagers can include point-spread, money-line and over-under wagers.

In order for the parlay bet to win, every one of the wagers must win or push (tie). If any of the selections lose, your wager loses, regardless of the outcome or cancellation of the other games. Depending on the sportsbook, a parlay could still be alive if one or more of the selections ends in a tie, postponed game or canceled event. If that happens, the parlay is knocked down a straight wager or a lower parlay.

The VegasInsider.com Parlay Calculator is a useful betting resource for March Madness and it provides bettors with a chance to calculate winnings based on the fixed payouts.

Similar to a parlay wager, a Teaser is a type of bet that allows you to combine your bets on two or more different games. The return isn't as high as parlays but bettors will gain an advantage with these bets by adding or subtracting points to either a point-spread or a total (over/under). The majority of sportsbooks will offer 4, 4.5 and 5 point teaser wagers for March Madness.

Example - Original Line

Duke -10
Over 150 ½

Example - Teaser Bet (4 Points)

Duke -6
Over 146 ½

A bettor taking Duke (-10) and the Over (150 ½) in a two-team Teaser for 4 points would lower the point-spread on Duke to -6 and also drop the Over down to 146 ½. For the Teaser to cash, Duke must win by 7 or more points and the combined points in the game must exceed 147.

Futures Bet

You can bet on a NCAA tournament championship pick throughout the season and during the year but the College Basketball Futures market always heats up in March. Betting and winning on the Men’s Division winner are obviously two different things but VegasInsider.com has all the resources to help guide you the right way. Figuring out how to make the bet is simple. All sportsbooks offer Future Odds and after selecting College Basketball Men’s Division winner, you’ll see the school and then the corresponding odds.

When you place a Future Odds wager, you’re locking up your money on an event that takes place at later time. The winner is crowned in April and bettors will winning wagers will be paid based on fixed odds when the bet was placed. To figure out your Win Amount, take the odds and multiply by the amount wagered.

Example
Duke 10/1 odds to win NCAA Tournament (Bet $100 to win $1,000)

Past NCAA Basketball Champions

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament determines winner of the national championship of the major college basketball teams in Division 1. The VegasInsider.com History page provides a comprehensive list of the past NCAA Basketball Champions and the betting results for the title game, which includes the outcome for the favorite-underdog and over-under.

Listed below are the last 10 NCAA Basketball Champions and their seeds.

• 2019 - Virginia (1)
• 2018 - Villanova (1)
• 2017 - North Carolina (1)
• 2016 - Villanova (2)
• 2015 - Duke (1)
• 2014 - Connecticut (7)
• 2013 - Louisville (1)
• 2012 - Kentucky (1)
• 2011- Connecticut (3)
• 2010 - Duke (1)

As one of the most popular sports to bet, sports bettors have been making
money on basketball for years and show no signs of letting up anytime soon.
While the sport itself is simple and the bets on the sports are also simple, the
strategy can sometimes be a bit confusing knowing where to start. Ultimately,
you will probably develop your own strategy to beat the books, but we can help
by giving you some tips to get you headed in the right direction to “making some
serious coin.” It’s our understanding that is how the cool kids say making
money.

The best way to utilize these strategy suggestions is to use them as a guide
for developing your complete betting strategy. While most of them are meant to
be taken literally, it’s important to remember that they are meant to be a piece
of your overall strategy, not the entire strategy. These tips should work
hand in hand with your own strategies and should help to direct the way your
mind works to develop your strategy. Basically, don’t let one tip below be the
only way you pick your bets. Use them as pieces of a more comprehensive betting
strategy based on your knowledge base.

Points in the Paint vs. 3-Pointers

Paying attention to how a team makes most of their points can be important
when looking at consistency. A team that relies heavily on 3-point baskets is
great, but it’s a lot easier to go cold on shooting 3-pointers than it is on
posting up and driving to the basket.

Keep this in mind when looking to pick game winners as well as if you are
making bracket bets for the tournament in college basketball. The winning team
in the NCAA tournament is almost never a team that makes most of their points
from beyond the arc. Those teams are great to look at for upsets, but not for
long-term consistency and deep runs.

Check the Team’s Schedule

Fatigue plays a huge role in the success of teams in basketball. Unlike
sports like football, teams play a lot of games and their schedules vary, often
with multiple games throughout the week. Take a look at how many games the team
has played recently and if they’re on a long road trip or something like that.
If a team is playing their fourth game in five days, you can bet that they’re
going to be tired which means they’ll be slower and less likely to perform well.

Looking at the location of these games is also important as away/road games
will definitely take a bigger toll on a team’s energy. Also, look at how far
they have to travel for their games. If they are going cross country back and
forth for every game, the travel is going to wear on them even more. You should
also take a look at what point it is in their season as the effects of this
don’t usually start coming in as heavily until after the first quarter of the
season. The later in the season it is, the more this is going to be an issue and
the more opportunities it will create for you.

Road Favorites After a Blowout Loss

A popular betting strategy is to take a look at teams that are favored in an
away game after getting blown out in their previous game. These teams are
clearly strong enough in talent to be still favored on the road after a big loss
which means they have a lot of actual talent and substance that the oddsmakers
still like.

These teams are also going to be fired up after getting embarrassed.
Teams that have been blown out by 15 or more points and are still road favorites
in their next game have covered the spread over 60% of the time in the last 10
years.

Big Home Underdogs

No one likes to lose at home in front of their own fans. This seems to be
true when it comes to basketball as well. Teams have a strong tendency to cover
the spread when they are big underdogs (10+ points) at home.

A lot of this has
to do with the emotional desire to impress at home, and a lot of it has to do
with the other team usually letting off when they’re up quite a few points.
They’ll put in second stringers and rest their big names because it only matters
to them if they win, not by how many points. Even though we care about the
spread, teams playing the game do not. A win is a win, and a loss is a loss to
them.

Watch for Moving Lines

One of the best ways to dominate sports betting of any kind is to recognize
that there are experts out there who are practical geniuses at sports betting.
If you’re one of them, this won’t affect you as much, although it always helps
to know what the other experts are doing. If you see a line moving one direction
after the public has bet heavily on the other side, you’re probably witnessing
the experts taking advantage of the uneducated public.

Historically, the general public has not been very smart when it comes to
sports betting. They bet with their heart instead of their head way too often
and are too eager to jump on trends that don’t mean anything. There’s a reason
sports books are so profitable. This creates a lot of opportunities for the
expert bettors. Here’s what we mean with an oversimplified example.

Let’s say the Orlando Magic are -6 points to win a game and they’re playing
the Knicks. All the sports outlets and the media start talking about how great
and underrated the Knicks are, and the public starts betting heavily on them.
The line moves quickly to the Magic -3 reflecting all of the public betting on
the Knicks. If you start to see the line moving back the other direction, like
back to Magic -4, you are probably witnessing the smart money taking advantage
of the public’s over-eagerness to get on trends. When you see this, you should
bet with the experts.

If you see a line moving one way and you think it’s way off because the
public is betting based on their hearts and popularity, definitely bet the other
direction. You may still want to wait a little bit to see if it moves any
further in what you think is the wrong direction. For example, in the above
example, after the public starts betting what you think is incorrect, the line
will move from Magic -6 to Magic -5. You could bet it right then if you think
it’s now a great bet or you could wait and see what happens. If the public keeps
betting it, the line will move further and further in your favor making your bet
much more attractive. The worst thing that can happen is the line corrects back
to its original point, and then you just don’t bet on that game. You can also
bet the game at -5 and then bet it again if it moves further if you think
they’re both good bets.

Finding the perfect timing to jump on moving lines is an art form and one you
will have to perfect as you go along. We also want to make sure to point out
that just because a line moves does not mean you have to bet on the game. You
should really only bet on the game if it fits with your strategy and you think
it is a good pick. You also want to be careful to make sure that the line
movement is from the experts correcting bad betting by the public, not the other
way around. The sportsbooks are great about putting out good lines, but they do
make mistakes. If they put out a bad line, the experts will start betting it
immediately, and it will correct quickly. Don’t confuse this with the public
incorrectly moving the line.

To make this all easier, here are some quick tips to go along with this
strategy.

• Know WHY the line is moving. Don’t just bet because it moved.
• Only bet if you think the new line is a good bet. Don’t just bet because it
  moved.
• You don’t have to wait to jump on a bad line, but timing and waiting can be
  beneficial as well.
• Sportsbooks are wise, but they still make mistakes too.
• Sometimes the public will be right.

Watch Out for Your Favorites

We mentioned a few times above that we can find opportunities to take
advantage of the betting public’s willingness to bet with their heart instead of
their head. The obvious caveat to that is that we don’t want ever to be the ones
that other people are taking advantage of. The best way to do this is to be
careful when we
look to bet our favorite teams and be careful who we get news
and advice from and how we choose to interpret it. Let’s look at each of these
briefly.

We all always want our favorite team to win. Because of this, our brains work
to find the ways that it is possible, even if it is not probable. This is great
when you are being a fan because it gives you hope and can make the game
watching experience much more enjoyable. As a sports bettor, though, it can
spell impending doom. This improbable hope can cut into your profits if you let
it bleed into your picks and strategy. The best advice is probably to avoid
betting your favorite teams unless you are sure of something with your strategy.
It’s tough to be unbiased, and there are usually a ton of other games to choose
from.

The second thing we mentioned is being careful who you get advice and news
from and how you choose to interpret it. The public loves to glamorize stories
and underdogs, and they are professionals when it comes to hyping up games that
might not actually be as close as they say it might be. It’s important for
you not to get caught up in these stories and let it affect your betting
strategy. The best way to protect yourself against this is to be careful of
where you get your news and information from and make your picks as independent
of other people’s opinions first. After you have made your pick, you can reach
out to others and read other opinions and see if it changes the way you have
chosen to bet. Just don’t let it control you and don’t become a member of the
dreaded “general betting public.”

Cherry Pick Your Games for Value

It is no secret that the odds makers are good at what they do. Most of the
lines they put out are going to be spot on and will make finding value a
challenge. That doesn’t mean that value does not exist. When there are lots of
games going on, it’s much more likely that you might be able to find some lines
with mistakes in them. Smaller games in popularity are also going to have less
time spent on setting their lines. There really is no secret to when to try and
find bad lines. The key is to have a strategy in place that helps you spot these
lines and take advantage of them.

One of the best ways to do this is to set up a system to where you determine
what you think the line on the game will be BEFORE you actually look at the
lines. Then you can bet on the games that look to have value to you. For
example, let’s say you are going to be betting NBA games and you want to bet
three games. You pick the following games

• UNLV vs. Gonzaga
• Florida vs. South Carolina
• Miami vs. Duke

Now, BEFORE you look at the lines and point spreads on these games you work
your strategy and try and figure out what you think the spreads should be. You
determine the following:

• You think UNLV will lose by 6 points.
• You think Florida will win by 4 points.
• You think Miami will lose by 2 points.

So if you were the odds maker, you would set the lines at:

Best Basketball Vines Clean

• UNLV +6
• Florida -4
• Miami +2

When you check the actual lines at the sportsbook, you see the following:

• UNLV + 8
• Florida -4
• Miami +1

In this situation, you would do the following:

1. Bet on UNLV because they can lose by eight points according to the
   book instead of the six you think they’re going to lose by. You think that
   UNLV will do better than what the oddsmakers think.
2. Don’t bet on the second game because you think the line is correct.
3. Bet on Duke because they only need to win by one point instead of the
   two that you think they are going to. You think that Duke will do better
   than what the oddsmakers think.

The point here is to determine how you think the teams will do and what you
think the spread should be before you look at what the book has posted. This
will protect you from being influenced by what they predict and will also make
it much easier to spot value bets.

Check the Lineups

This is a fairly basic tip that unfortunately is ignored way too often. When
you’re betting on games, make sure to check injury reports and rosters before
you make your wager.

Best College Basketball Bets Today

Let’s say you see the Golden State Warriors
are playing a game and are only -2 to win against the Knicks. You think this is
an incredible value and can’t believe the book would post such an awful line.
What you forgot to look up, though, is that Steph Curry, their star player, is
out along with two other starters. This happens a lot especially with long
seasons and a lot of games to be played.

Make sure that the players you are
banking on to help you win your bet are actually slated to play in the game. It
only takes a few minutes and can save you a lot of money in the long run.