NCAAB Odds
College Basketball Game Odds
How Do Odds Work on NCAA Basketball?
The NCAAB odds are mainly in one of three formats: American, decimal, and fractional. The latter two are straightforward, though the American odds are the most used in sportsbooks. They manifest as either a negative number (e.g. -120) or a positive number (e.g. +105) to indicate the favorite and underdog, respectively.
College basketball -abbreviated as “NCAAB”- is the highest level of amateur basketball in North America. NCAA basketball is usually focused on Division-I, and there are plenty of NCAAB odds to bet on the sportsbook, from outrights to pregame lines. These college basketball odds are available all year, although most of it happens during the season, from October to the famous “March Madness”.
Types of Betting
Simpler than the point spreads, the moneyline is where folks can bet on a team to win straight-up. There are no points to cover, just win; however, as many college basketball games are not even, there will be a big disparity on the college basketball odds and predictions. It can be useful to turn to parlays.
This is how oddsmakers handicap the game to make it an “equal” betting field. Teams are assigned points to “cover” (hence the term “cover the spread”). The minus number, like -7½, means the team gets subtracted 7½ points. This is the favorite. The plus number, like +7½, means this team is given 7½ points. This is the underdog.
These NCAAB odds focus on betting on whether the total score between both teams is over or under the oddsmakers’ set total.
This is where bettors can place multiple bets on one ticket for a better payout. Bettors can use point spreads, moneyline, or even the totals for the parlay. The more bets in a parlay, the higher the payout. Remember, all bets on the parlay must win.
Teasers are like the point spread, but bettors can adjust the spread. By adding points on either side, bettors have a higher chance of cashing their bet for a lower payout. Alternatively, they can subtract points for a higher payout (also called “pleasers”).
The most popular form of futures are the outrights, where bettors can pick which NCAAB teams are going to win the championship, or which players will win the Player of the Year Award. These are available for most of the year.
Betting Examples
Betting on the point spread can be trickier, since it deals with added and subtracted points.
- North Carolina Tar Heels -4½ (-115)
- Duke Blue Devils +4½ (-115)
The final result is North Carolina beating Duke 87-81. The winning bet is for North Carolina, since winning by six was enough to cover the 4½-point spread as favorites. A bet on Duke would’ve fallen short, as they would’ve needed to win outright or lose by less than five.
With the -115 odds, a bet of $115 would be needed to return $100. This is one of the most standard betting odds, although -110 is also common.
