College basketball is becoming one of the most popular sports to bet on due to the fact of the amount of games that are available to place bets on. For a five month span from November to March there is a plethora of games for which to bet every night. For the beginning bettor this can be very intimidating task. With so many options for what games to bet on, the beginning bettor might not know what to look for and be overwhelmed by the amount of choices to choose. However, I will outline what college basketball handicappers can look for in order to make this task less daunting than it may seem.
The most important factor to look at with college basketball is the fact the home court advantage is huge. These college players do not have the same maturity level as the pros that do this for a living. College kids are affected greatly by being away from their home hardwood and might play poorer because of it. Teams that are great at home might not be as good away from home, so remember that before you go and bet on one of the top teams in the nation away from their home court
Another factor that affects the college game and betting more than the pros is the rebound advantage. Teams that are better rebounders in college more often than not win the game. The reason being is the amount of shots missed in college is more than the pros and the team that can pick up those loose balls will be able to capitalize with a win.
You also should be able to learn how to read the schedule. There are three different parts to the college season which will affect the way a team performs. The three parts of the season are the non-conference, conference, and postseason. In non-conference play, college basketball teams will often schedule easier games against lesser opponents to build confidence and pad their resume for a postseason berth later in the season. You can consider this part of the season the warm up games for the better teams; however these games can be games that are harder to predict because of the lack of history between the teams. The next part of the college schedule is the conference schedule, when a team will only play teams from their specific conference. These games are often easier to bet on because these teams are very familiar with each other and in turn will know how to play each other. Finally the final part of the NCAA hoop season is the postseason, when teams that are better will hold nothing back, and should be bet on because of the talent level that they have. A rule of thumb is that the better team will more often than not, win in the postseason.
An important factor with college basketball betting is the amount motivation that each team has and cannot be taken lightly. Some underdog teams playing on the big stage in a non-conference game might have more motivation that the heavy favorite to make a good showing in order to enhance their tournament resume. Especially in non-conference games is when this comes into play, because it allows the little guy to make a little noise. So keep this in mind when betting on basketball games in November and December.
Also make sure you look around for the best games to lay down money on. With so many games every night the possibilities of which games to bet on seem endless. This can be used to your advantage. In other sports where there is a limited amount of games, the lines can be affected much more by bettors throwing money on one particular team. However with so many games in college basketball every night this does not happen as often. So if you see a college basketball game you would like to bet on and the line looks soft, then bet on it. With so many games on the table, even the odds maker have a hard time setting the correct lines and the more experienced bettors will find these games and jump all over them.
Look at the tempo of both teams as well. If a team plays a very up-tempo game with a lot of run and gun against a team that is not able to keep up because they play more of a half court set and try to move the ball around then something will have to give. Look at past times this has occurred for each team and who was more successful in getting the other team to play their type of game, if a basketball team has to play out of character more times than not they will not be successful in defeating the other team.
Finally, do not be afraid to pass on a college game, there are so many choices that you do not have to bet on all of them. Only bet the games you are comfortable with and also do not feel that you must bet on the big name teams. The betting action will very heavy on the big name games, such as North Carolina-Duke, but the payout is exactly the same on those high profile games versus if you bet games involving mid-major conference teams.When it comes to college basketball handicapping and betting, you need to be in control of your choices.
