College Basketball Betting

In a nutshell, betting on NCAAB is like betting on the NBA but with a lot more teams. Other than that, the basics are pretty much the same. In any single game there is a moneyline, a point spread, and a total. There are also futures and prop bets. Once you get acquainted with these terms you will be able to informed bets.

The moneyline is the simplest bet that there is but it isn’t all that simple either. It is simple in that two team play one another and you pick one to win. However, not all teams are made equal. Let’s have a look at an example of a moneyline.

• TEXAS TECH +135
• MICHIGAN STATE -160

One of these two teams is the favorite and the other the underdog. The minus sign is assigned to the former and the plus sign is assigned to the latter. In this particular case it means that sportsbooks, such as CashBet, believe that Michigan State is going to defeat Texas Tech. this is, mind you, a prediction; Texas Tech could overcome the odds and upset Michigan. Regardless of that possibility, most bettors would side with the favorite were it not for one thing. And that is the numbers assigned to the favorite and the underdog.

In order to nudge you away from the favorite and toward the underdog, oddsmakers make it so that the reward is greater than the risk in one case, and the other way around in the other. In other words, +135 means that you can win $135 on a $100 bet on Texas Tech to win. Conversely, in order to win $100 on MSU to win you would have to bet $160.

This is a more challenging type of bet. It’s not about picking winners and losers. It’s about determining by many points the winner is going to win or the loser is going to lose.

• TEXAS TECH +2½
• MICHIGAN STATE -2½

In our example, the point spread is 2.5 points. MSU remains the fave and TTU continues to be the dog. That means that bookmakers think Michigan is going to win by at least three points and that Texas Tech is going to lose by the same amount of points. Now, you may agree with that and bet on the fave to cover the spread; that is, win by three points or more. But you may also beg to differ and bet on the dog to lose by fewer than three points – or even win the game outright for that matter. What you can’t do is bet on either team to win or lose by the exact point spread.

At least not in this case, since you can’t score half a point in basketball. Of course, if the spread were a whole number, say three points, you would still have to be on either team to win or lose by more or less than that quantity. If the winning or losing margin were exactly three points, then your bet is a push. The money you risked would be refunded and of course, there would be no winnings for you. Sportsbooks like Cash Bet can change the spread in another effort to have customers bet evenly on both teams, and not just on one or the other. However, if the spread changed in the example above from 2.5 to 3.5, but you placed your bet on the former figure, then your bet is locked at 2.5 points.

In the previous two examples, you’re to a greater or lesser extent putting your money on one horse against another. In this case, though, you’re sort of rooting for or against, both teams to go over, or fall short of, a certain number.

• TEXAS TECH O 132½
• MICHIGAN STATE U 132½

In this example, a certain number is 123.5 points. That is the total number of points scored between the two teams or at least a projection. Your bet is to predict whether MSU and TTU will go higher or lower than that score. If you believe the former, then bet over; if the latter, then you bet under.

In a future bet, you wager on something that will happen after a certain period of time. Which team will win the national championship? Or whether certain teams will make the final four, elite eight, sweet 16, etc.

Prop bets involve more often than not an achievement by an individual player. For instance, how many points, or rebounds, or assists they will have in a single game.