We lost the 2020 NCAA Tournament, unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic. It was a tough way for a great and wide-open season of college basketball to wrap up. A lot of people tend to play the brackets or bet on NCAA Tournament games, but they do not take the time to research and study during the regular season. We’ll help you get prepared for the 2020-21 college basketball season so you can build your bankroll. Some beginners aren’t familiar with the basic workings of wagering. We’ll hit all of that below.

The standard form of betting is on the point spread, with all other bets expressing odds on the money line. The only real distinction between NBA and college in terms of betting is that the NBA plays quarters, while college basketball games are played in two halves. Let’s take a quick look at how a basketball point spread would work. Mid-major college basketball ATS and O/U betting tips for February 19-21. Analyzing NCAA basketball small-conference teams like Mount St. Mary's and Tennessee State. American odds for betting on the favorite work by showing how much money you would have to bet in order to win $100. Things are different when betting on an underdog. The positive number shows how much you can win if you risk $100. You may notice that this is similar to 'odds-on' bets in UK markets. With the spread, a team either has to win by a certain number of points to payoff or it can lose by a certain number of points and still pay the bettor. Spreads work in the following manner—the favorite team is listed with a negative number and the underdog has a positive number.

College Basketball betting: Ways to bet

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Access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list of today’s sports betting odds and lines.

Whether you’re a beginner, an intermediate bettor or you’ve been wagering your whole life, when you bet college hoops, it’s all about limits. The best rule of thumb for better success is to select just a few conferences on which to focus. If you try to bet all 353 Division I teams, the only thing guarantee guaranteed is that you will lose. That’s too much, even for the pro cappers.

For beginners, focus on one or two conferences, intermediate bettors can handle up to three, and the long-term guys can expand their focus to four or five conferences. Know them inside and out, study the injury reports each week and follow trends and statistics closely. Long-term players might also want to keep a spreadsheet with results and trends, and try and develop a statistical system.

College Basketball betting: Key betting terms to know

Most college hoops bettors wager on the spread. You either take Team A or Team B to win with a point spread. You can also bet the moneyline, which is simply taking one team or the other to win outright, regardless of the margin. In addition, you can bet the Over/Under on the total number of points in a game.

If you choose to bet a parlay, you bet two or more different things, and each bet needs to win for you to cash a winning ticket. Generally, the odds are much better with the more bets you include in a parlay, but the risk rises with each addition to the ticket.

How Does Basketball Handicap Betting Work

College Basketball betting: How do odds work?

Let’s say Michigan is favored by 7 1/2 points over Indiana with a total of 129 points. If you bet the favorite, you need Michigan to win by at least 8 points to cash. If you bet the underdog, you need Indiana to stay within 7 points in a loss, or win outright.

If you were to bet the Over, you would need a total of 130 or more points for a winning ticket. If you bet the Under, you would need 128 or fewer points for your bet to cash.

Get some sports betting action by placing a bet with BetMGM today. For more sports betting picks and tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.

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What Does +100 Mean In Betting

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“Wait, why does this NFL team have a -235 next to its name? What’s with New England Patriots (-15) vs. Miami Dolphins (+15)? Help! HEEEELPPPP!”

If that sounds like you, we’re here to assist you. If you’ve stared at a board at a sportsbook or just seen spreads and moneylines on the Internet and been utterly confused, don’t worry. It’s not just you. Those numbers can be confounding.

But hopefully, once you’re done reading this, you’ll completely understand how they work. As you prepare to dive into the world of sports betting, here’s a breakdown of how the lines work, starting with …

Spreads

It would be really easy to bet on a game if you could put money on a heavy favorite to win.

That’s where point spreads come in. Let’s look at an example:

Philadelphia Eagles (-4.5)

New York Giants (+4.5)

In this case, you can bet on either two outcomes: you can put money on the Eagles to win the game by 4.5 points OR MORE, which makes them the favorites. Or you can bet that the Giants will either win or lose by LESS THAN 4.5 points. They’re the underdogs.

Now, sometimes the spread “moves” during the days leading up to the game. Perhaps the Eagles’ spread ends up being -3.5 (in which they must win by 3.5 points or more to give you a victory in your bet). Your bet all depends on whichever spread you bet on, whether it was when the Eagles were favored by 4.5 or 3.5 points.

If you ever see “PK” or “pick” next to a team, it means there’s no spread and you can bet on who will win, no matter what the score is.

Moneylines

Let’s take that same example above but use moneylines:

Philadelphia Eagles (-200)

New York Giants (+150)

The team with a minus symbol is the favorite, and the number is how much money you would need to bet to win $100. In this case, you would have to bet $200 on the Eagles in order to win an additional $100.

The Giants are the underdogs. If they’re +150, that means you could bet $100 to win $150.

Note that you can bet any amount you want, but those numbers are always calculated and posted the same way, either in how much money you would need to wager to win $100 or how much money you could win by wagering $100.

How Do Basketball Betting Lines Work

Odds

If you’re betting on something like the team who will win the Super Bowl in the future, you might see it look like this:

New England Patriots — 3/1

How Do Basketball Betting Work

Baltimore Ravens — 5/1

How Does Basketball Betting Work

Kansas City Chiefs — 8/1

How Does Basketball Betting Work In

If you were betting on the Patriots and their 3/1 odds, you would win $3 for every $1 you spend. So if you bet $50 on the Pats and they ended up winning the Super Bowl, you’d win $150 (plus your original wager) back.

How Do Basketball Betting Odds Work

Good luck!