College Basketball Betting Strategies: Latest College Basketball Betting Systems 2025

Best NCAAB Betting Guide Strategies

While it may be tempting to deposit some money and start betting on your favorite NCAAB teams, there are college basketball betting systems you can use to put yourself in the best position possible.

Some tips we’ve devised below are a mix of college basketball betting strategies specifically and more generalized tips that you can take with you for any sport.

Best NCAAB Betting Strategies Explained

As mentioned, college basketball betting strategies come from the sport and more general tips to improve your overall betting experience. We must admit, however, that no amount of March Madness strategies can ensure a victory.

We’re here to provide you with nine college basketball betting systems, but first, we must review where each state stands in terms of college betting—some states have more limitations than others.

Below, we’ll look at each state and its college basketball betting systems, our tips, and get started with NCAAB betting.

College Basketball Betting Guide By State

• New Jersey: You can’t wager on teams based in New Jersey.
• Virginia: Unable to bet on in-state teams, college player props, and NCAA basketball live betting.
• Illinois: You cannot bet on in-state teams online or college player props.
• New York: You cannot bet on in-state teams or games, including teams playing in a tournament.
• Arizona, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia: You won’t be able to wager on college player props.

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The Best Strategies for Betting on NCAAB

1. Review Injury Reports

In the game of basketball, injuries matter quite a bit. This is a 5-on-5 game, so if there’s an injury to a key player, that can totally throw off the trajectory of a team and alter betting lines and live betting odds in NCAA basketball.

Injury reports are released regularly

So before betting, always check out injury reports or wait for the game to start and examine the live betting lines for the college basketball game you’re interested in.

2. Set a Bankroll Budget

When you deposit money into your account, it can be tempting to just use all of it on one game or a couple of games. However, if you’re playing under tight parameters, it’s best to set a budget to preserve the longevity of your betting stint.

• Depending on your budget, we’d recommend anywhere from 1% to 10%.

3. Dont Overthink It

With a sport like basketball, as also covered in our NBA betting strategy guide, it can be easy to get into the statistical weeds and start talking yourself in and out of particular bets to make based on them.

We’re here to remind you that, sometimes, less analysis is better so long as you focus on the strengths and weaknesses of each team.

Also, don’t be afraid to simply pass on the wager or wait to bet live if you don’t have a strong enough feeling.

4. Futures Betting 

Futures betting is a great way to make some money in college basketball. With so many teams and the uncertainty surrounding the NCAA Tournament, odds fluctuate pretty regularly.

If you’re savvy with hedging these bets, you can put yourself in a great position to cash in on the same great odds.

5. Review the Schedule

This is a more general tip that you can use for all sports, but it tends to pop up most in basketball. The amount of time a team plays over a set number of days and the travel involved tends to impact this sport more than others.

This doesn’t need to be the key to the analysis, but it’s an easy data point to remember should teams play multiple times within just a few days.

6. Hedging Live Betting Lines with College Basketball 

With live betting, you can bet on NCAAB games as they unfold in real-time. You can use this as an opportunity to either save your pregame wagers or double down on them.

Basketball is a rapidly evolving sport, so odds and lines will change with each basket. Think quickly on your feet and make a judgment call to limit losses or pad your winnings even more.

7. Review Key Statistics 

As we mentioned in the section about overthinking bets, you don’t always need to analyze down to the very last advanced analytic, but there are some statistics to focus on when you dive into betting point spreads and other betting markets.

• Rebounding: When teams can generate rebounds, this means they’ll get more opportunities to score points. When betting on a team that can crash the boards, you’re putting yourself in a good spot.
• Turnovers: The turnover margin is important because it illustrates how well a team handles to ball and one that doesn’t.
• Offensive and Defensive Efficiency: As the stat reads, these demonstrate how well a team scores and defends opponents. If there’s a stark difference between the two, this could open up plenty of possibilities for betting.
• Opponent Points Per Game: This shows how many points a team gives up to the opponent. If the opponent has high points per game number and also does well in the pace of play metric, this could cause issues for the team in question.
• Individual Player Stats: Basketball is a great sport for looking into individual players. A lone player could dictate how a game unfolds. For example, Alabama’s Brandon Miller is one of the best players in the country and can drastically impact the flow of a game.

8. Focus on Specific Teams or Conferences

With so many teams in college basketball—well over 300—it’s impossible to follow all of them close enough to make sound and reasonable bets.

• Instead, you should focus on a particular conference or team so that way you limit the amount of data points you need to recall.

9. Coaching Is Important

In college basketball, there’s a reason why there are some blue blood programs like North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana, UConn, and others.

The reason? Coaching

Coaches like Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, John Calipari, Bill Self, Tony Bennett, and others are looked at as the most successful coaches in the sport.

Whenever you’re betting on the game, consider the coaches involved, especially if the lines and odds are close—this could be a valuable tiebreaker.

Getting Started Betting On NCAAB Betting

• Explore our online sportsbook reviews and analysis to see which site sounds best to your style of play and has a welcome bonus that you can fully utilize.
• Visit the desktop site or download the mobile app for the site you wish to play at.
• Complete the registration process. A link to this is usually found in the upper right-hand corner of the app/site. Here, you’ll provide information such as your name, date of birth, address, last four digits of your social security number, and more identifying information.
• After you’ve created an account, navigate to the cashier page, select a deposit method, and complete the process.
• Head back to the homepage and navigate to the NCAAB betting section. Here, you’ll choose which games and bets you want to make.
• Add your selections to the betslip and confirm your wager.
• Wait for the results.

Conclusion on NCAAB Betting Strategies

With about 30 games in the regular season and a 64-team NCAA Tournament, there are plenty of opportunities to bet on the sport. College basketball has a knack for delivering some of the biggest upsets in sports, so going into wagering on the sport and having tips and tricks up your sleeve to put you in the best possible scenario is more than helpful.

We hope that, with these nine tips that are a mix of “general betting” and for NCAAB specifically, you can set yourself up for the most success possible.

Remember to browse our reviews on each online sportsbook to see the best fit for you. Refer to our guide above about getting started on NCAA betting.