College Basketball Betting 2025

NCAA basketball point spread bets involve placing a wager on which team you think will win the game and the points margin they’ll win by. Looking to bet spreads? Make sure you have a strategy in mind – start by finding expert college basketball betting picks to point you in the right direction.

Most bettors who wager on basketball prefer to place bets against the spread (ATS) and college basketball fans are no different. The idea behind this type of bet is to provide bettors an equal playing field between the opponents and give each team a small handicap.

Bookmakers use the point spread as a way of leveling out the chances of either team winning the game by providing an advantage or disadvantage based on the margin of victory or defeat for a given team. Bettors then need to choose if a team wins by a certain amount of points (the favorite) or doesn’t lose by a certain amount of points (the underdog).

Usually, betting against the spread requires you to risk $110 for a chance to win $100. Consider the following example:

• North Carolina -5.5 (-110)
• Duke +5.5 (-110)

In our hypothetical scenario, North Carolina is the favorite which means if bettors take North Carolina, they need to win by 6 or more points to cash the bet. On the flipside, if you put your money on Duke, you’re going to win the bet if they win the game outright or only lose by five points or less.

An NCAAB moneyline bet is a type of bet that provides betting odds focused on who will win the game, regardless of how many points. The more uneven the game, the larger the numbers you’ll see.

In college basketball betting, the moneyline isn’t as popular as betting against the spread, but it’s still popular among casual bettors due to its simplicity. When you bet the moneyline, your goal is to predict which team will win the game outright – the number of points doesn’t matter. Moneylines use $100 increments to express the odds and determine payouts and the more uneven the game, the bigger the numbers you’ll see.

A minus sign (-) in front of the odds indicates the favorite and the number listed shows how much money you must wager to win $100. A positive sign (+) in front of the odds indicates the underdog and the number show how much money you will win for a $100 wager. It is rare, but sometimes if the matchup is too extreme or one-sided, a book will take the moneyline option off the board.

Here is an NCAA moneyline example:

• Kentucky -220
• Kansas +180

In this case, Kentucky is the favorite, so if you bet $220, you would win $320 which is your $220 from your original bet along with $100 in profit. Kansas, on the other hand, is the underdog, which means that if you bet $100, you would win $280 which is $100 from your original bet and $180 in profit.

Essentially, college basketball over/unders are when you wager on the final combined score of both teams, and if the score will be under or over a certain number.

Totals in college basketball betting is different from betting the moneyline or against the spread as it requires you to pick the final combined score of both teams. This wager is strictly scoring based with nothing to do with the final match outcome. The bookmakers determine this number through past performance along with current matchups and the bettor must choose if the final combined score will land on either side of this number.

For example, if the total for an NCAA game is set at 141.5 and a bettor wagers on the under, this means that if the final combined score is 142 or more, the bet loses. If the teams combine to score 141 or less, the bet wins. As a sports bettor, there are many factors to consider before wagering on totals such as injury reports, matchups, recent schedule and performance.

Parlays let you place different types of bets, in one single bet.

Parlays are often referred to as accumulators or multipliers, as they allow you to combine many straight wagers of various types into a single bet. Wagering on a parlay is different from placing each of those bets separately as the odds offered on parlays are significantly higher.

In order for a parlay bet to cash, all single bets within the parlay need to be a success. For example, if you place a four-team parlay (four bets in one) and only three of your predictions are correct, your bet loses. Consequently, parlays are much riskier which makes them best suited for veteran bettors and high rollers.

Bet on the future outcome of a college basketball event, like a championship or draft.

Much like in the case of NBA, many betting sites allow you to put your money on NCAA futures. The most popular wagering options are almost always tied to the outcome of the NCAA championship or March Madness.

Bets of this kind can be placed before the season starts and throughout the season with the odds varying on many factors. With a futures’ bet, keep in mind that the money you invest in this will be tied up until the result happens, which can take weeks and months. That’s also why you need to be able to go to the safest online sportsbooks.

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