A tricky part about gambling on college basketball conference games is the rematch. Usually in a NCAA conference two teams will play each other twice, both home and away. Sometimes this can fool the new bettor into simply looking at the last matchup between the two teams when making their decision on who to bet on. However, it is not as simple as that, but there are many factors that go into that second conference game that can make college basketball handicappers much more successful when betting on the second conference game.

You want to take a look at where the location of the second game is being held as a measuring stick for the game. Since these basketball teams play twice almost every year you can look at trends for how the teams fair against each other as home team and road team. For instance, if for the past 5 years, Indiana has beaten Michigan State in Indiana no matter how each team was doing, it would be a safe bet to believe that Indiana could do it again. Also, if the college teams seem to have a pattern of winning on the opponent’s home court, then it might be wise to take the away team to win the game. By simply looking at the site of where the game is being played, sports bettors will be able to read a lot into the possible outcome of the game.

Also take a look at the first game and see if there are any players that will or will not be playing in the second go around. For instance, if Arizona State is playing Arizona for the second time and Arizona State barely beat them without their star player who has returned for this game, then it would be a safe bet to believe that Arizona State should be able to get more production out of the team to easily beat Arizona again. If players are playing injured or have been struggling lately that could also make a big difference. Also, you should look at the first game and see if either team did anything out of character in the first matchup. For instance, if in the first game the entire team was in foul trouble and was unable to play their style of basketball because of it, they may have better luck the second time go around with a more sound strategy of how to get into their style of basketball. The first game is a good way to tell if the other basketball team will be able to make adjustments for the second game and how they will be able to accomplish it. The same can be said if a team was bringing up new players and the first game was played rather early in the conference season, those players might not have felt comfortable just yet, but over the past few weeks have played to their potential, this is the same idea as a star player not playing to form in the first game but coming around for the rematch.

Also, a new basketball coach for either side can be a big factor for struggling in the first game. If the new coach was having trouble with the team grasping his new offense or defense, or maybe he did not know how he could motivate his guys properly but has now figured out as shown by their last few games, it might be wise to bet on this team. This can happen a lot in conference play, where a team is not comfortable with a new system or even a new coach, but as the year goes on, they become much more comfortable with the new regime. Also the level of motivation that a college coach has to give his players for the second game might be of more importance, for instance, if the game is at the end of the season and the team is a bubble team, they might to win this game to stay alive, so astute college basketball handicappers should take a look at the motivation for each team at the second go around.

With all being said, a very important factor when deciding on who to bet on in a second conference game would come down to performance in the first game. After looking at that first basketball game, you must apply a few factors which I outlined above in order to get a better grasp of what to expect. If you look at that first game and figure out what factors played an important role in the game and what will/could be changed in the rematch, you will be much more successful as a NCAA basketball bettor in picking the winner of the second game.