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March Madness Betting Guide
March Madness is the most exhilarating time of the year for college basketball fans and bettors. With all the top teams in the country coming together for a huge tournament, there is an endless amount of betting action being offered by sportsbooks.
This March Madness betting guide will provide you with all the information you need to gain an edge over sportsbooks and find your path to profitability. You’ll find general information about March Madness, how scheduling works, advanced strategies you can use, and much more.
March Madness Betting Odds and Picks
Looking for March madness odds and predictions? Check out our most recent March Madness picks from our experts.
March Madness Schedule
The March Madness tournament’s schedule and structure are determined through a detailed process that involves seeding, bracketing, and geographic considerations. Understanding this process can be helpful for preparing your betting strategy.
The schedule is created through the following process:
- Selection Sunday
- Seeding
- Matchups
Selection Sunday
The 68 college basketball teams that will compete in the March Madness tournament are selected by the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee. 32 of these teams receive their bids automatically by winning their conference championships. The remaining 36 are selected by the committee based on their performance throughout the season, strength of schedule, and several other factors.
Seeding
Once the 68 teams are selected for the tournament, they are split into four regions that each contain 16 teams. The regions are the East, West, South, and Midwest.
Within each region, the teams are ranked 1 through 16. Teams ranked number 1 are the top seed in their region, as where the teams ranked 16 are considered the weakest team.
Matchups
The selection process follows specific guidelines in an attempt to create fair and balanced brackets. However, once the teams are selected, the matchups pair up the top-ranked seeds against the bottom-ranked seeds. For example:
- #1 seed vs #16 seed
- #2 seed vs #15 seed
- #3 seed vs #14 seed
- #4 seed vs #13 seed
- #5 seed vs #12 seed
- #6 seed vs #11 seed
- #7 seed vs #10 seed
- #8 seed vs #9 seed
Each round of the tournament eliminates half of the remaining teams. This begins with the first round, followed by the second round, then the sweet 16, elite eight, final four, and national championship respectively.
March Madness Bets to Consider
The March Madness tournament comes equipped with all the same bets you’ll find for other sports. This includes:
- Moneyline bets – The most straightforward bet, where you simply select who the winner will be. This is great for easy wins, or predicting profitable upsets from the underdogs.
- Point spread bets – Place a wager on the margin of victory. The favored team in the matchup must win by more than the point spread set by the sportsbook, while the underdog can either win outright or lose by less than the proposed spread.
- Over/under bets – Also known as total bets, simply place a wager on whether the total number of points in the game will be above or below the score set by the sportsbook.
- Prop bets – March Madness prop bets are fun bets that let you place wagers on specific outcomes or instances within the tournament or a specific game. The outcome of the game doesn’t affect this result, and most prop bets let you wager on the performance of a specific player or team in a matchup.
- Parlay bets – Parlay bets offer higher payouts than other bets, but are riskier in nature. This allows you to roll multiple individual bets into one single bet. Every bet within the parlay must hit to win.
- Live bets – Live betting is extremely fast-paced and lets you place wagers while the game is being played. Shifting lines can be very profitable for March Madness betting.
- Bracket betting – March Madness is popular for its bracket betting, which lets you place a wager on the outcome of every round of the tournament.
March Madness Bracket Betting
By far the most popular betting event for March Madness is bracket betting. Bracket betting can be difficult to succeed in, but is one of the most exciting bets you can make in the world of sports.
Before the tournament begins, bettors receive a blank bracket that has all the teams and original matchups filled in. From there, you simply need to fill in the bracket with winners and future matchups until you have it filled all the way out with the eventual winner of the tournament.
It’s crucial that you do research before attempting to bet on a March Madness bracket. One upset in the early rounds can destroy a bettor’s bracket, making it nearly impossible to recover down the stretch. While this is an extremely fun way to bet on the March Madness tournament, it has proven to be unpredictable and difficult to win.
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Advanced March Madness Statistics to Use
Using advanced statistics is the best way to ensure that you’re getting the most value for the wagers you place. Using these advanced statistics, bettors can make more informed decisions by evaluating teams on a deeper level than traditional stats allow.
By understanding the nuances of these metrics, bettors can identify strengths, weaknesses, and potential mismatches, improving their chances of making successful bets during March Madness.
KenPom Ranking
The KenPom ranking, developed by Ken Pomeroy, is a comprehensive statistical analysis of college basketball teams. It includes metrics such as adjusted offensive efficiency (points scored per 100 possessions, adjusted for the strength of the opposing defense) and adjusted defensive efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions, adjusted for the strength of the opposing offense).
How to Use It: Bettors can use KenPom rankings to compare teams objectively. A higher-ranked team in KenPom is generally stronger. Bettors can look for matchups where there is a significant disparity in the rankings to identify potential upset opportunities or strong favorites.
Four Factors
The Four Factors are key metrics identified by Dean Oliver as the primary contributors to a team’s success. These include:
- Offensive efficiency
- Defensive efficiency
- Offensive rebounding percentage
- Free throw rate
Offensive Efficiency
This measures the number of points a team scores per 100 possessions. It’s adjusted for the quality of the opposing defense.
How to Use It: Bettors can use offensive efficiency to evaluate a team’s scoring capability. Teams with high offensive efficiency are more likely to score consistently, which is crucial in tournament settings.
Defensive Efficiency
This measures the number of points a team allows per 100 possessions, adjusted for the quality of the opposing offense.
How to Use It: Bettors can use defensive efficiency to assess how well a team prevents their opponents from scoring. Teams with strong defensive efficiency can stifle high-scoring opponents, making them valuable picks, especially in close games.
Offensive Rebounding Percentage
This measures the percentage of available offensive rebounds the team grabs.
How to Use It: A high offensive rebounding percentage indicates a team’s ability to extend possessions and create additional scoring opportunities. Bettors can look for teams that excel in this area to identify those likely to dominate the boards and control the pace of the game.
Free Throw Rate
This measures how often a team gets to the free-throw line relative to the number of field goals attempted.
How to Use It: Teams with a high free throw rate can consistently score points from the line, which is crucial in close games. Bettors should consider this when evaluating a team’s ability to close out games and handle pressure situations.
Adjusted Tempo
Adjusted tempo is a measure of the number of possessions a team has per game, adjusted for the pace of their opponents. It indicates how fast or slow a team typically plays.
How to Use It: Bettors can use adjusted tempo to predict the pace of a game. A team with a high adjusted tempo plays fast, which can lead to high-scoring games, while a team with a low adjusted tempo plays slow, leading to lower-scoring games. This information is useful for betting on totals (over/under) and for understanding how contrasting styles might impact a game’s outcome.
Strength of Schedule (SOS)
Strength of Schedule measures the difficulty of a team’s opponents. It considers the quality of the teams played and how often those games were played.
How to Use It: Bettors can use SOS to gauge how battle-tested a team is. Teams with a high SOS have faced tougher competition, which can better prepare them for the intensity of March Madness. Conversely, teams with a low SOS may have inflated records due to weaker competition. This can help bettors identify potential overvalued or undervalued teams.
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March Madness Betting Tips
There is no amount of data you can use to guarantee that you’ll fill out a perfect bracket. However, there are several useful tips you can follow to ensure you’re making informed decisions about your bets and getting the most value possible.
Some of these tips include:
- Follow March Madness betting trends
- Use multiple sportsbooks for hedging
- Subscribe to a handicapper
- Consider travel and location
- Factor in experience and coaching
Follow March Madness Betting Trends
There are a plethora of forums and expert accounts out there to help give you additional insight into some popular March Madness betting trends. Identifying these trends can be great for finding value as well as understanding what to expect from shifting betting lines.
Do your research before you choose forums and experts to follow, and audit their background to ensure you’re getting real advice and not blindly following another person’s guesses.
Use Multiple Sportsbooks for Hedging
If you’re going to be betting on March Madness games, then it’s in your best interest to sign up for multiple sportsbooks. Not only can you use multiple sportsbooks to shop around for the best odds, but you can also use it to hedge your bets.
Hedging your bets is simple. Let’s say you place a moneyline wager on North Carolina beating Kansas. All you need to do is place a smaller wager on the opposite result – Kansas beating North Carolina. This serves as a form of “insurance” and ensures your bankroll doesn’t deplete too fast if you lose a few bets in a row.
Subscribe to a Handicapping Service
A handicapper can help save you a ton of time while also earning you more money. Most of the time, a good handicapping service will pay for itself many times over.
The role of a handicapper is to gather and analyze data and advanced statistics so that they can provide you with betting recommendations. This saves you time and provides you with all the context you need to make informed betting decisions.
Consider Travel and Location
Analyze the impact of travel and game location. Teams playing close to home or in familiar venues may have a slight edge. Teams that travel a long distance may start off slow or seem less prepared at the start of the game. This isn’t always the case, but it’s important to factor it into your bets.
Factor in Experience and Coaching
Consider the experience of the players and the track record of the coaches in the tournament. Veteran teams and coaches with a history of success in March Madness often perform well under pressure. Meanwhile, rookie players and coaches may make simple mistakes that cost their team big.
Be sure to look back on the regular season to see how well these coaches have performed in specific situations.
Don’t be Mad During March Madness, Get Premium Picks
The March Madness tournament is one of the best sporting events for bettors each year. With exciting bets, nail-biting games, and future NBA stars in the mix, there is no shortage of fun for spectators and bettors.
Looking to save time and maximize your winning bet profits during the next March Madness tournament? Sign up for our premium handicapping service and let us do all the hard work for you. We’ll break down advanced stats and analytics to provide you with the best betting recommendations you can find. Get started today and maximize your return!
