College basketball odds, betting lines and spreads

There might not be a more exciting sport to bet on than college basketball and there is no better home for all things college basketball betting than Oddspedia. For those inexperienced bettors who want to learn how to wager on college basketball, the learning curve can be daunting. But don't fear, with real money at stake and a lot of information to grasp, Oddspedia has put together this step-by-step guide to assist new bettors wanting to enter the market. 

Now, instead of learning through trial and error, future bettors can educate themselves on Oddspedia. The level of detail provided in this guide ensures there is also something to learn for even the most experienced college basketball bettors.

How to bet on college basketball 

With so many different betting options such as moneyline wagers, point spread action, point totals, futures, prop bets, and even parlays, there is no shortage of ways to gamble on college basketball.

Bettors could put money on Connecticut to win the National Championship for a second consecutive year. They could wait for the season to arrive to place bets on individual games using point spread wagers or point totals. With so many options available, how is one supposed to choose which bet makes the most sense for them?

Read further to understand the ins-and-outs of each type of bet to figure out what makes the most sense for you.

College basketball moneyline

The moneyline is the same as betting on which team will win. The odds are set by oddsmakers who consider the win probability for both teams. The bigger the underdog, the bigger the payout and vice versa.

Odds are presented in a negative and positive format. A negative number indicates the favorite to win while the positive number indicates the underdog. Odds are usually in the hundreds outside of extreme circumstances.

Here is an example:

When the Connecticut Huskies took on the San Diego State Aztecs for the 2023 National Championship game, the Huskies were a massive favorite with -400 odds while San Diego State entered with +290 odds.

If a bettor wagered $400 on UConn, they would have won $100. If $100 was wagered on San Diego State and it cashed, the payout would have been $290.

College basketball spreads

Point spread bets are more complicated, but more balanced. 

Just like moneyline bets, underdogs have positive odds while favorites have negative odds, but winning the bet is tied to a different outcome. Betting on an underdog is betting that team will lose by less than the point spread or win. Betting on a favorite is wagering that team will win by more than the point spread.

There is a second set of odds that translate to the payout on wins also known as the vig; usually around -110.

Here is an example using the 2023 championship game:

The spread when the Huskies took on the Aztecs was -7.5 in favor of UConn. If someone took the Huskies against the spread, they would win if UConn won by eight or more points. If someone wagered on the Aztecs +7.5, the bet would cash if San Diego State lost by eight or more points.

College basketball totals

College basketball game totals are exactly what they sound like. Oddsmakers provide a point total for the game and bettors wager money on if the total points scored between both teams will be over or under.

In addition to the game total, each wager will come with its own vig; around -110. Many totals will feature a half-point to eliminate the chance for a push. The possible range for totals can vary in college basketball anywhere from around 75 points to beyond 200 points depending on the matchup.

For example, the total for the National Championship game between the Aztecs and Huskies was 132.5.

If a bettor took the over, they would win if the total score was 133 or higher. If someone took the under, the bet would pay out if the combined score was 132 or lower.

College basketball props

College basketball prop bets are not as common because they are not available in all states, but that is beginning to change as sports betting expansion continues across the country.

Prop bets are a wide-ranging term that covers many types of wagers tied to specific outcomes. Some prop bets are related to the team and others are related to individual players. The format is like point totals where once a total is set by oddsmakers, and bettors choose if the outcome will be more or less.

The options with prop bets are plentiful. You can wager on if a player will score more or less than a certain number of points, if a team will collectively reach a certain number of rebounds, how many turnovers will be committed by a player or team, and much more. Each bet will have its own vig and the diversity of options will depend on which sportsbook is being used.

Using last year’s Final Four as an example, one prop bet that was available was San Diego State guard Lamont Butler scoring over 8.5 points against Florida Atlantic University with a vig of -110.

By the final buzzer, Butler scored nine points which means the bet hit. If a bettor wagered $110, they would have walked away with $100 in winnings.

College basketball futures

College Basketball futures bets are long term bets and not based on one game.

Futures bets include making wagers on the eventual NCAAB Men’s National Champion, which teams will make the Final Four, regular season conference winners, conference champions, regular season win totals, season stat leaders, and more. These wagers are typically more difficult to win which means better odds for bettors.

For example, at the start of the 2022-23 college basketball season the North Carolina Tar Heels, Houston Cougars, and Gonzaga Bulldogs were all +900 to win the National Championship which led the nation at that time.

UConn, the eventual winners of the National Championship, started the season with +8000 odds to win. If someone had placed a $100 wager on the Huskies at that time, they would have eventually won $800.

March Madness odds

March Madness odds are like a big, exciting guessing game for college basketball fans. Sportsbooks set the odds for each team to win the NCAA tournament based on their performance, rankings, and other factors. It's a fun way for fans to root for their favorite underdogs or top contenders and see if their predictions pay off with a big win. It's all about the thrill of betting on the madness of March basketball.

If you're interested in wagering on the tourney, we've put together a list of the best March Madness betting sites.

NCAA Championship odds

*Odds from FanDuel Sportsbook

Final Four odds

Final Four odds are all about predicting which teams will make it to the last stage of the NCAA basketball tournament. Sportsbooks set the odds based on teams' strengths, rankings, and performances throughout the season. It's like making a bold prediction on who you think will be the last four standing in the tournament. It adds extra excitement and anticipation as fans cheer for their favorite teams to reach the pinnacle of college basketball success.

*Odds from DraftKings sportsbook

Wooden Award odds

The John R. Wooden Award is presented every year to the most outstanding men’s and women’s collegiate basketball players. Usually, the field is wide open, but as you will see below, that is not the case in 2023-24 in Men’s College Basketball.

Zach Edey of Purdue is a runaway favorite for the Wooden Award, but that means there is great value in other candidates if you get those odds early enough.

Here are the top-five players according to their odds to win the Wooden Award.

*Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook

Big East odds

The Big East is wide open. UConn -- the reigning NCAA Men’s Basketball National Champions -- leads the pack in terms of odds. This is a tougher futures market to bet on.

*Odds from FanDuel Sportsbook

College basketball parlays

A parlay bet has become a favorite of sports bettors today because of its ability to turn a small wager into a big payout. 

Instead of placing many different bets, a parlay allows multiple bets to be stringed together to increase the payout. But the catch is all bets must be won for the parlay to pay out. If even a single bet – or leg as each bet is known as in a parlay – fails, the whole bet is lost.

The more wagers added to the parlay, the bigger the possible payout. Depending on the sportsbook, bets from different sports and even the same game can be parlayed together. Fair warning: creating parlays is one of the most difficult wagers to win. Expecting to turn $10 into $800 is potentially a recipe for disaster.

Here is an (extreme) real life example:

During the 2022 March Madness tournament, one bettor turned a $1.10 wager into $532,000 in winnings by stringing together a 23-leg parlay and hitting (nearly) every bet. Combining those 23 wagers, this bettor received +90869356 odds on his parlay.

The most insane part of this parlay example is one of the bets on that 23-leg parlay pushed which means the odds he was paid out were lower than it could have been despite turning $1.10 into over half a million dollars.

College basketball opening lines

When odds are first posted for a game or for future bets, the initial odds or point spreads are considered an ‘opening line.’ This is important because it gives bettors a look at what oddsmakers think of the event without alteration from bettors moving the line. This is the most honest view of how the game could go. 

Many who use sports betting as a source of income jump on opening lines as quickly as possible because once everyone else starts taking that same bet, the line will move to reflect those incoming bets. These odds are living things that change and evolve from the time the opening line is set until the event or game starts. If everyone jumps on one bet, the line will move to reflect the public opinion of the bet.

For example, the opening line for Kansas to be the 2023-24 National Champions was +1800, but has bettors leaned away from them, they're now at +3000 with DraftKings sportsbook.

If someone was going to bet $100 on Kansas when the line first opened, they stand to win $1800. If that same person waited and bet $100 on the current line, then their winnings would be $3,100. While opening lines are not guaranteed to be best, tracking the opening line is key to ensuring the best odds are claimed.

College basketball 2nd half lines

Essentially, second half lines are bets that only utilize the second half of a game. This type of bet is one of the most underrated ways of wagering on college basketball for a few reasons.

The first reason is a safeguard against losses. When someone has already wagered on a game and by halftime it looks like a lost bet, many will look at second-half lines to recoup potential losses. It is an effective way to provide a little bit of insurance against other bets.

Another reason is these lines are only available throughout halftime in most cases, which means the line does not jump around much. Getting overly inflated or deflated odds depending on the circumstance is a good way to find strong value in a niche segment of college basketball wagering.

One last reason to look at second half lines is basic human instincts. Sports are not as mathematical as many believe. Even when a team is blowing out their opponent in the first half, many players will take their foot off the accelerator in the second half. According to stats, second-half underdogs of at least seven points have won against the spread 60% of the time since 2005.

In the 2023 National Championship game, the second half line was +3.5 for the Aztecs and -3.5 for UConn. If San Diego State was outscored by three or less in the second half, the +3.5 second half spread bet would hit. If the Huskies outscored their opponent by four or more in the second half, the -3.5 second half spread would win.

College basketball picks & predictions

Is it smart to take picks and predictions from experts and incorporate their opinions into your betting strategy? There is no right answer to this question, but seeking out more information to make educated wagers is the best process.

Will experts lead bettors astray? Absolutely. But that does not make the process of gaining more knowledge wrong.

Many experts pay close attention to all the sports they bet on which gives them a perspective many others lack and that can be said for college basketball betting as well. Additionally, the amount of time experts can spend on college basketball allows them to know all the details of the injury report, different shooting slumps players might be going through, tough matchups for different programs, and other extremely helpful information. 

For those who do not have the time to stay that up to date, taking in the opinion of experts is instrumental in their betting strategy. 

Understanding NCAA basketball odds and bets

How to read college basketball betting lines

When a sportsbook provides odds for a game, sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish what is what. Let’s look at what each wager will look like using the 2023 NCAAB Men’s National Championship game.

*Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook

Point spreads will always be in the single and double digits and will usually carry a half-point as well to eliminate bets from pushing. In this case, the point spread is -7.5 in favor of UConn.

Over/Under bets, or point totals, is the line set for a combined score. Usually, these numbers will be as low as about 75 and could go upwards of 200 depending on matchup. In this case, the Over/Under was set at 132.

The moneyline bet is usually in the hundreds but could go into the thousands depending on how much of a favorite or underdog a team is. In this case, UConn was a hefty favorite at -350.

As always, negative numbers are given to favorites while positive numbers are given to underdogs.

How to calculate winnings in college basketball odds

While sportsbooks and odds calculators can do this work for bettors, it is still important to understand how winnings are calculated using the odds provided.

First, the basics. When a bet is won, the original bet is returned along with the winnings. When betting on a favorite (negative odds), winnings will always be the same as or less than the amount originally wagered. When betting on an underdog (positive odds), the payout will always be the same as or more than the original amount wagered. Once a bet is placed with certain odds, those odds are locked in even if the line changes.

Let’s use the 2023 National Championship game as an example again.

*Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook

Winning a $10 bet on a +290 underdog means $29 is won and the original $10 wager is also returned for a total payout of $39.

Winning a $10 bet on a -350 favorite means a $2.86 win which leads to a $12.86 payout including the original $10 wager.

What to know when betting on NCAA basketball

Now that basic verbiage and the formatting of bets has been outlined, what else should bettors look for before wagering on college basketball?

First things first, always check injury reports on games you plan to bet on. Overlooking a single injury could be the difference between winning and losing a bet. Finding the best sportsbook to wager at is important as well. Most wagers these days are through mobile apps, but there are retail locations for bettors as well.

When looking for the ideal sportsbook to host wagers, look no further than Oddspedia’s own list of best sportsbooks which is created by factoring in many variables. Oddspedia has created its list by considering many factors from variety of wagers, how competitive odds are, what sportsbook promos exist, and even customer service response time and the reliability of the platform itself.

For more on Oddspedia’s list of best US sportsbooks to use, look no further.

Why compare NCAA basketball odds on Oddspedia

Odds comparison helps you win more on NCAA basketball

Let’s say you already want to bet on a particular team to win the 2023-24 National Championship. You could just go to the first sportsbook you find and put down a wager, but this would be the wrong way to get the most value for your bet.

The best thing to do is to see what the odds are with different sportsbooks. If you could increase your potential winnings by just doing five minutes of research, why wouldn’t you?

For example, let’s look at the odds for the 2023-24 NCAAB Men’s National Champion at a few different sportsbooks.

If a bettor wanted to take Kansas to win the National Championship right now, it would not matter which sportsbook they used, but if someone wanted to bet on Duke instead, there are three different odds at three different sportsbooks.

If the bettor wagered $100 on the +1200 odds from FanDuel without looking at other options, they could win $1,200, but if that bettor took the same $100 wager to Caesars, their potential winnings are $1400.

Take your time and compare odds at different sportsbooks and sports betting apps to find the best option for you.

Find the best college basketball odds for today

To simplify the process of wagering on college basketball, Oddspedia has one page that will feature the best odds for that day. 

Using Oddspedia as a resource to compare all those odds and what games are taking place that day is one of the best ways for new sports bettors to get involved. Having one webpage with all the information needed to accurately make educated wagers on college basketball can eliminate much of the confusion that inexperienced bettors have to contend with.

Track NCAA basketball line movement

As outlined before, the opening line is the unbiased prediction set by the oddsmakers, but after those odds are released to the world, they begin to shift and fluctuate.

This usually happens because most of the bets will lean in one direction which is bad for the sportsbook. For sports betting providers, the goal is to receive an even number of wagers on both underdogs and favorites. If many bets come in heavily weighted to one side, oddsmakers will adjust the line to get more people wagering the opposite direction.

Tracking those changes can provide valuable information for bettors which is why Oddspedia tracks the changes for bettors to provide that insight.

Find the best NCAA basketball betting sites

Oddspedia is the best place to start before placing a wager on college basketball because it compares all sports betting platforms so players can find the best sportsbook to place their wagers.

Going into the market alone and looking for the best options to place a wager can be over encumbering so instead of that, Oddspedia is here to help.

If comparing different sites is still too complicated, going with a sportsbook that offers a strong welcome bonus makes sense. BetMGM regularly boasts great promotions, but Caesars is considered one of the all-around best for college basketball wagering..

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