There is no doubt that most of the madness in March surrounds the sheer excitement of betting on the annual NCAA Tournament. A field of 68 teams takes aim at winning a national championship, but in the end only one team is cutting down the nets in this three-week, single game elimination free for all.
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Leading up to the Big Dance is a number of smaller dances known as postseason conference tournaments. The great thing about betting on these tournament games is the excitement of knowing that the overall winner gains an automatic spot in the field for the NCAA Tournament. This remains true from the ACC all the way to the WAC. The conference tournaments is where Cinderella teams get their start. Its where potential national champions start their run. Its where the actual brackets for the NCAA Tournament are formed.
Betting on conference tournaments is a great way to add to all the excitement college basketball brings to the table in the month of March. Along with betting lines for all the tournament games, online sportsbooks expand the betting options with NCAAB futures odds to win each conference tournament title. More often than not, the favorite going into its conference tournament does not end up winning it all. Often times you can find some tremendous betting value in teams that finished the regular season playing at a much higher level than their overall record might indicate.
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Talent and team depth are extremely important factors to take into consideration when betting college basketball in the month of March. A close second in conference tournaments are emotion and motivation. These two driving forces can carry a team much further than it was supposed to go. At the very least, it will allow an heavy underdog to cover a hefty spread. Quite a bit of value is on the board betting underdogs come tournament time. They already know that they are playing with house money with nothing to lose. That in itself adds value to a team getting points.
There is already a good sense of familiarity in conference tournament matchups. Many of the teams have already faced one another once or twice in the regular season. Familiarity between opponents does lead to a better level of predictability when they face one another again. This adds a bit more importance to betting trends over the past several meetings.
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Another important betting trend is a team’s recent performance on the road and at neutral-site locations. Some teams can tear it up on their home court only to like a completely different squad playing at a different venue. Most of the conference tournaments are played at a neutral site. This not only levels the playing field between closely matched teams, it also provides a slight edge to the teams that have a proven track record winning away from home both straight-up and against the spread.
Soft lines are another opportunity to win big betting conference tournaments. With so many games being played in consecutive days, the online bookmakers do not have nearly the same cushion for setting the betting lines as they did during the regular season. If you look close enough, you should be able to spot at least a one or two soft lines on a daily basis. Any double-digit spread should attract some added interest in light of all the factors discussed above.
The best way to approach these conference tournaments is betting on the teams that you have been following all season long. Now is not the time to start expanding the range and scope of your college basketball betting strategy. Save that for the upcoming NCAA Tournament when your handicapping skills will be put to the ultimate test.