College Basketball Betting Strategy

by Tom Wilkinson

Where do we start when looking to develop a college basketball betting strategy? The first place I begin is with line value. With college basketball you are much more likely to get a mistake by the linemaker than with other sports, simply for the fact that there are so many games. The other factor that goes into weak lines in college basketball is the so-called garbage teams. What I mean by garbage teams is those teams in conferences that most people know very little about. Teams in the Southern Conference, the Horizon League, the Missouri Valley, and other similar no-name conferences are just not that well known to most people, including the linemaker. It is just difficult to see any of those teams on television and without watching them; it is a little bit harder to get a good idea of how the teams play, thereby the weaker numbers.

The best place to start when looking for line value with your college basketball betting strategy is with power ratings. It is extremely difficult to handicap college basketball without having an idea of what the line should be. There are many sets of power ratings for college basketball, perhaps more so than any other sport. You can sometimes find some interesting differences of opinion in regards to what the line should be on many college basketball games. This gives the informed bettor an edge, because he has a good idea of what the line should be. I don’t think any of us can be totally informed on every college basketball team, there are just too many of them. It is, however, possible to be fairly well informed on a certain number of teams. This can refer to a certain conference or a certain geographical area. I would recommend the conference, because the same teams will be playing each other throughout the season. If you can watch, listen, and read about a certain conference then chances are you will have a good feel for the games and a better idea of what the line should be on the games. That is the first place to start when developing a college basketball betting strategy. Find a conference that you want to follow, get as much information as you can about the teams, and get ready to pounce on the lines you see that are weak.

You have to remember that college basketball betting can be very intoxicating. There are a huge number of games to bet on, more so than any other sport by far. This gives you a great opportunity because you can find weak lines, but it also presents a danger if you don’t show discipline in your betting. The best advice I can give you for a college basketball betting strategy is to limit your focus to a certain conference or perhaps two conferences. If you can do that and keep up to date on what is happening with each team, your chances of finding good plays are pretty high. Hopefully you can find a conference that will give you a good chance to have a successful college basketball betting strategy this season.