Preparing to Bet College Basketball
Prepare to bet
college basketball this season.
Key Points
– There are a few
factors every bettor should examine before they bet college basketball.
– Bettors should
know that coaching plays a much bigger role in the performance of college
basketball teams compared to other sports.
Preparing
to Bet College Basketball
If you love college
basketball, you’ll love it even more when you win more bets on the sport. A new
season comes around every November and smart bettors do some preparation in
advance of the season.
Even if you don’t
prepare right away, you can still get ready for the meat of the season which
usually starts after the holidays. Teams begin their conference schedules and
NCAA bracketology really begins to take shape. Having the ability to spot undervalued college basketball teams
can help produce winners throughout the season.
If you haven’t
already, here are a few strategies you can put in place to prepare to bet
college basketball this season.
Check
Returning Players
One of the best and
easiest places to start preparing to bet college basketball is by looking at
rosters. Bettors should research the teams or conferences that they plan to be
betting on during the season. Be sure to have an easy-to-use,
technology driven sportsbook too.
Check the rosters
for returning players. Nothing beats experience in college basketball. Teams
with a large percentage of returning players typically do better than similarly
talented teams made up of younger players.
Just because a team
lost three or four players doesn’t necessarily handicap them going into the
next season. There could be four or five players that received significant
playing time the previous year and all return.
It’s worth noting
that bettors should look into any transfers. In today’s day and age, the
transfer portal is a big deal and teams can greatly enhance their roster with
the addition of experienced players from other programs. Some coaches rely
heavily on the transfer portal. Be sure to check if the teams you are watching
have any impact transfers. That will affect how you bet college basketball
during the season.
EDITOR’S CHOICE: WHY BUY COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING PICKS
Bet
College Basketball - Coaching Changes
Coaching changes in
college basketball have a much greater effect than in most any other sport. The
influence of a coach’s system can have a profound effect upon the performance
of a team in a short amount of time.
When you bet college
basketball, remember this. A good coach with a bad team is more likely to
defeat a bad coach with a better team. If you think about it, there are plenty
of examples. A great coach takes over a poor team and they instantly qualify
for the NCAA tournament in the coach’s first year.
Think about a
coach’s style too. Virginia’s Tony Bennett has built a college basketball power
by playing what is known as the Pack Line defense. He has had relatively few
four- and five-star recruits until recently. That’s a great coach who wins
games with weaker talent. Teams that play against Virginia could be good
targets for team totals bets.
Too many bettors
overlook the impact of a head coach or even assistant coaches in college
basketball. Be sure to track any coaching changes.
Conference
Strength
As you prepare to
bet college basketball, one of the most important factors in determining a
team’s success will be the strength of the conference in which they play. In
most conferences, teams play all or a majority of the other teams in the
conference twice. The majority of a team’s games come in conference play.
Repeatedly facing
good teams in a conference helps teams get better. Familiarizing yourself with
all of the teams in a conference can help you as you bet college basketball
over the course of a season.
To help familiarize
yourself with a conference, be sure to have an online wagering
portal that allows you to check lines and odds, scores, and much
more.
It also helps when
March Madness rolls around. There are plenty of solid sleepers that come out of
strong conferences. Teams with what appear to be mediocre records go into their
conference tournament and the NCAA tournament and do very well. It’s because of
the tough conference schedule they played.
Impact
of Freshmen When You Bet College Basketball
Over the past decade
or so, college basketball has seen a number of freshmen that have an instant
impact on their teams and their performance. Zion Williamson, Chet Holmgren,
and Cade Cunningham are all examples of players who started immediately for
their college teams and had a profound effect on their teams’ performances.
It’s not that
freshmen are necessarily more talented than they have been in the past. Today,
first-year players are more physically and mentally prepared to play right
away. Many of them play one season and then declare for the NBA draft.
Williamson and Cunningham were No. 1 picks in the NBA draft. Holmgren was
selected No. 2 in 2022.
Coaches are more
willing to start freshmen now. They are aware that many of these top athletes
are likely “one-and-done” type players that will leave for the NBA after their
freshman season. If you like to bet college basketball, you might like betting NBA point spreads too.
It’s not just the
high-profile freshmen either. Other first-year players can provide much needed
depth for a team. When you bet college basketball, you will have more success
if you understand the impact of any freshmen or other first-year players.
Scheduling
The conference
schedule is a good indicator of how well or how poorly a time might perform
during a season. Don’t forget, teams also play a fair amount of non-conference
games particularly at the beginning of a new season.
A relatively easy
non-conference schedule can pad the win-loss record. However, it might result
in a record that isn’t all that indicative of how good (or bad) a team really
is. Every season, there are a handful of teams with 26, 27, or even 28 wins
that are left out of the NCAA tournament. It’s because their strength of
schedule wasn’t that great.
Teams that play some
quality opponents in the early season often find that they are better later on
because of it. Many teams like to play in early season tournaments that include
ranked teams. Playing these ranked teams helps them get ready for the
conference play as well as the end-of-season tournaments.
As part of any good basketball betting strategies, be sure
to look at a team’s schedule as a whole.
