March Madness delivers a chaotic schedule, young talent, shocks galore and basketball bliss but how can you go about placing winning bets throughout the competition?
Here we aim to help answer that very question with our March Madness betting tips. If you are thinking of betting on March Madness, you can expect tips on teams, players and general betting techniques.
Let’s look at some March Madness Betting Tips
The MVP Contenders
One of the most exciting aspects of March Madness is the fact it gives everyone the chance to watch the next generation of stars. With so much hype taking to the court though it is hard to separate the good players from the truly great players.
From a betting perspective, that means things can swing in two different directions; it can be hard to nail down who will stand out the most but, at the same time, the player markets can offer the potential for serious value to be had.
The obvious name that springs to mind is Chet Holmgrem of the Gonzaga Bulldogs.
His team, who we’ll talk about later, provides him the opportunity to go deep into the tournament and that means he’ll have plenty of time on the court to showcase his talent.
You’ll quickly see why so many people are backing him to head to the NBA in the upcoming draft. His stats for the season currently read as 14.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists whilst his 62% conversion from the field is mighty impressive.
If you’re looking for a longer shot then someone like Paolo Banchero of the Duke Blue Devils could be worth a few dollars of your money.
Earlier in the campaign, he was ranked right up there with the best of them but a dip in performance has seen attention turn away from him. If he clicks again during March Madness though then he has the potential to light the place up; his rebounding in particular is sensational as proven by his game average of 8.1.
Betting on total points
Points betting is a great way of boosting both your bank balance and enjoyment of watching March Madness without being completely obsessed with who wins the game. There are a few key things to consider when deciding how to place your wagers in this respect.
Firstly, bookmakers will offer different points of entry in the total points market; you’ll get offered the option to bet over or under a certain threshold. Depending on the threshold of points and your selection of over or under, the odds on offer to you will alter.
So, how should you go about making your predictions? Well, there are two key components to the game; that’s the teams. You’ll want to understand how well they score individually and also how their games tend to score. For example, the Gonzaga Bulldogs hold the highest points per game average in college basketball of 88.3.
If they were playing Purdue, who average 81.6 you’d likely be looking at a high scoring encounter. Before you go staking your hard earned cash though, you want to check out recent results too; if either team has a form guide that suggests something drastically different to the points total you’re looking at then the value of your bet will change.
Again, let’s keep with our Bulldogs-Purdue example. 81.6 plus 88.3 puts the combined points at just over 169. Gonzaga’s last five matches, however, have not broken that mark once with the peak score being 162 and the average just 144. Purdue meanwhile have maxed out at 156 total points and averaged 137. That doesn’t mean the two sides couldn’t go over 169 points but you’re probably better off looking at a lower threshold.
Who will win the tournament?
The final betting market we’re going to explore for our March Madness betting tips is the outright of who will win the tournament. We’ve already touched on a few of the big names and the beauty of March Madness being such a large tournament is that every team comes at a pretty decent starting price; that creates opportunity for punters.
The Bulldogs have long been favourites to win March Madness. Given they have the much fancied number one draft pick, Holmgren, on their roster and that they’re the highest scoring side in college basketball it’s very easy to see why. They also boast Rasir Bolton and Drew Timme in their side; that’s a combination of talent that can punish you from pretty much anywhere on the court.
Talking of punishing teams from anywhere on the court, the Arizona Wildcats shouldn’t be discounted from winning this thing.
They’ve got five players that hold a three point conversion north of 35% with four players posting game average points in the double digits; leading that category is Bennedict Mathurin with 17.1 ppg. Christian Koloko is also a big player for them.
The other team worth a real mention is the Kentucky Wildcats. Sahvir Wheeler is a walking assist giver with an average of 7.0 per game throughout the latest season whilst Oscar Tshiebwe leads the NCAA in rebounds at 15.3 per game. Throw in the fact he leads the team in blocks and steals and his 16.9 ppg and a field goal conversion of near on 60% and you can see why the Wildcats will be in contention.
