Vegas March Madness Betting Strategy

  1. March Madness Betting Tips
  2. Vegas March Madness Betting Strategy Against
  3. March Madness Betting Games
  4. Vegas March Madness Betting Strategy Odds
  5. March Madness Betting Odds
  6. Vegas March Madness Betting Strategy
  7. March Madness Vegas Odds

Here we cover the basics of betting on the 2021 NCAA basketball tournament during March Madness. Get our betting pick, betting odds, and more. Vegas Insider prepares you for the 2021 NCAA Men's Tournament which takes place from March 14 through April 5. March Madness betting picks. In the main 64-team field of the NCAA Tournament, always remember that there’s bound to be some massive upsets that no one saw coming.While it might feel safe and like the best idea to pick the bluebloods of the Big Dance to make it to the Final 4, don’t forget about the underdogs. Throughout the history of the tournament, we’ve seen a shocking upset each.

Contents

What is March Madness?

A popular annual NCAA men's basketball tournament, the event takes place over a three-week period and the betting action on the tournament brings in record handles for sportsbooks in the United States.

The tournament is a single-elimination format that consists of 68 teams and those schools are announced on “Selection Sunday” – which is an event in itself. The 2021 selection show takes place on Sunday March 14, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. ET and is televised nationally in the United States on CBS, one of the largest broadcast companies.

Pundits often try to predict the full bracket before the event and the term “Bracketology” is used in many sports betting circles. The brackets are divided into four regions, split up geographically in the United States. All of the March Madness games are played on neutral courts and the regional final takes place at a large venue.

Sweet 16

With over 350 NCAA men's teams eligible to compete and earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament, securing a spot in the Sweet 16 is a major accomplishment. When betting on March Madness futures or competing in a Bracket Contest, predicting the Sweet 16 is essential for all of your wagers. In order to reach the Sweet 16, teams will have to win their first two games and sometimes three if schools had to qualify from the 'First Four' matchups.

Eight schools compete in the 'First Four' games on Thursday March 18 from two venues -- Mackey Arena and Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall -- located in Indiana.

The March Madness the field of 64 is cut in half to 32 and eventually 16 after the first and second rounds are completed. Even though there are 16 teams still standing, it's quite common to see mismatches on paper as far as the seedings go. A double-digit seeded school have made plenty of appearances in this round and they're often listed as healthy underdogs by the oddsmakers.

This year's 2021 Sweet 16 matchups will take place from two venues from the state of Indiana. These games are also known as the Regional Semifinals.

March Madness Betting Tips

  • Bankers Life Fieldhouse
  • Hinkle Fieldhouse

Elite Eight

Vegas March Madness Betting Strategy Against

Even bigger than the Sweet 16 is the Elite Eight and schools playing in this round know how high the stakes are. The winners will advance to the Final Four while the losers are sent packing after winning three or possibly four NCAA Tournament games in a row. The point-spreads are usually much tighter in this round since the top contenders are left standing and the oddsmakers have a better understanding of the remaining clubs. It's not uncommon to see higher seeds last this long in the NCAA Tournament and plenty of those long shots or underdogs receive plenty of attention from bettors looking for upsets and major payouts.

Similar to the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight matchups will take place at the same venues with one day of rest between the games. These games are also known as the Regional Finals.

For the 2021 NCAA Tournament, the Elite Eight will take place at Lucas Oil Stadium on Monday March 29 and Tuesday March 30.

The Final Four is put simply, the final four teams left in the NCAA Tournament and those squads will meet in a pair of semifinal matchups. The winners will advance to the March Madness championship while the losers join many other schools who just missed out on a trip to the title game. The Final 4 always takes place on the first Saturday in April, this year's event taking place on April 3, 2021 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Expecting at least one No. 1 seed to be playing in the Final 4 is very likely. Since the tournament expanded in 1985 to 64 teams, there have only been two years where the Final Four didn’t have a No. 1 seed which occurred in 2011 and 2006. Keep in mind that expecting all top seeds to advance is also rare. There has only been one instance where all four No. 1 seeds reached the Final Four, which took place in 2008 when Kansas, Memphis, North Carolina and UCLA earned regional bids.

Since the expansion of the NCAA Tournament occurred in 1985, Duke leads all schools with 12 all-time appearances in the Final Four while Kansas is next up with 18.

2019 Final Four Schools (Seeds)

Virginia (1)
Michigan State (2)
Texas Tech (3)
Auburn (5)

Lucky No. 11

The lowest seed to make the Final 4 was the No. 11. This happened four times since 1985 and most recently with Loyola-Chicago in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. Other teams included were Virginia Commonwealth (2011), George Mason (2006) and LSU (1986).

Along with that quartet, the only other double-digit seeds to make the Final 4 was Syracuse, who earned a trip in 2016 as a No. 10 seed.

UConn remains the lowest modern-day seeded team to win the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies of Connecticut accomplished the feat in the 2007 tournament as the No. 7 seed. Villanova, an eighth seed, captured the 1984-85 tournament over Georgetown.

Most Popular March Madness Tools

March Madness Bracket Explained

Betting on March Madness is one of the most popular sports betting events and it's format caters to the masses of not just sports bettors but for individuals who like to compete in a contests against friends, employees and strangers. The Bracket is a single-elimination contest where individuals must pick the winner of head-to-head matchups and forecast ahead before future matchups are determined.

Predicting a perfect March Madness Bracket is quite difficult and some experts have stated that you have a 1 in 9.2 quintillion chance. So if you see many websites and operators offering a guaranteed $1 Million Dollars for a perfect bracket, you can see that the odds are against you and the reward should be much higher. For those wondering, there has never

Nonetheless, the tournament has everybody glued to their Brackets especially for the first round since that's where many upsets take place. Going 32-0 isn't impossible and it's been done many times before but seeing your March Madness Bracket go unscathed through the opening weekend is rare and that would require you to post 16 more winners and improve to 48-0.

The Sweet 16 and Elite Eight weekend follows and participants will be following 12 games before the Final Four and Championship, which is a total of 63 games to predict. While the point-spread isn't used in the March Madness Bracket, predicting straight up winners isn't as easy as it looks -- especially when you don't know the matchups beforehand.

The VegasInsider.com Live Brackets is a great feature to follow your selections and our Printable Brackets will allow you to write-in your selections as you see fit.

March Madness Dates

The NCAA Tournament and March Madness Betting research begins on 'Selection Sunday' as the field of 68 teams are announced. After the brackets are filled in, the March Madness format is followed with all games being played at neutral sites.

  • First Four - Thursday 18, 2021
  • First Round - Fri/Sat, March 19-20, 2021
  • Second Round - Sun/Mon, March 21-22, 2021
  • Sweet 16 - Sat/Sun, March 27-28, 2021
  • Elite Eight - Mon/Tue, March 29-30, 2021
  • Final Four - Saturday, April 3, 2021
  • NCAA Championship Game - Monday, April 5, 2021

Types of NCAA Tournament Bets

Bracket Pool

The March Madness Bracket Pool is a great contest that continues to rise in popularity among bettors and non-bettors. There is no barrier to entry and it's easy to participate, whether it be online or offline. All you need to do is find a group of colleagues and be on your way to predicting the outcome of the entire NCAA Tournament. The individual with the best prediction skills will be the overall winner of the Bracket Pool. Most pools start with an entry fee, decided by the pool leader, and all of the entries must be completed by the first matchup. That initial game usually takes place at 12:00 p.m. ET on the first Thursday after Selection Sunday, this year it will be on Friday March 19. For the 2021 March Madness event, your deadline to submit picks will be on Friday, Mar. 19, 2021.

Game Lines

The key to betting on March Madness is understanding the lines or betting odds. After 'Selection Sunday' takes place and the field of 68 is announced, the oddsmakers start to post opening lines on all of the matchups. Our Las Vegas Odds and Global Odds will begin to populate opening numbers for all of the matchups in the NCAA Tournament.

March Madness bettors can toggle between three different sections.

  • Spread
  • Money Line
  • 1st Half

The game lines for the Spread show the point-spread odds, which are the most popular. Bettors playing totals or 'over/under' wagers are also listed on this page. The Money-Line odds cater to bettors looking to place wagers on the straight up outcome of a matchup, meaning the point-spread doesn't come into play. The 1st Half is catered to savvy bettors who like to get their juices going early. These bets are focused on the first 20 minutes of each March Madness matchup.

Point-Spread Bet

The point-spread was developed to provide a balance for both teams involved in a contest to entice bettors to potentially back the weaker team and receive points. The two squads in a game are listed with a title, either a favorite or an underdog. The favorite is usually the perceived better team in the game, as backing them means giving up several points.

Example - Point-Spread

Duke -10
Kansas +10

In the above example, if you wanted to back Duke as a 10-point favorite then you would need them to beat Kansas by 11 or more points to win your wager. If you wagered on Kansas, then you would need them to win the game outright or lose by less than 10 points.

Any victory by Duke by nine points or less would result in a loss, even though they won the game straight-up.

Assuming the final margin falls on 10 in this case, a ‘push’ occurs, which is a tie, meaning all tickets are refunded.

Money-Line Bet

In basketball, the standard betting practice is to lay (bet) $110 to win $100. When we learn about betting baseball and hockey, the money-line is the main form of wagering, meaning no point-spread. There is money-line betting in basketball in case you don’t want to worry about the points. However, the odds are adjusted accordingly for both the favorite and underdog.

Example - Money-Line

Duke -550
Kansas +400

In the above example, a straight-up wager on Duke would require you to invest more to win more since its been listed as a large favorite. Since Duke is -550, you would wager $550 to win $100. If you only had $100 to wager, then your return would be $18.18 (100/550). On the flip side, if you have enough faith in Kansas to beat Duke outright as a heavy underdog, then you can place $100 to return $400. You would receive $500, which includes your initial stake.

Over/Under Bet

Another popular betting option for March Madness games is the 'over/under' or what many may refer to as the total. This wager is a cooperative effort between the two teams to either go ‘Over’ or ‘Under’ the posted total. In March Madness, if Duke and Kansas have a game total of 150 ½, a winning 'Over' bet would mean the two clubs would combine for 151 points or more. On the flip side, a winning ‘Under’ ticket is 150 points or fewer between the two teams.

Parlay/Teaser

A Parlay is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers for a high payout. Parlay wagers can include point-spread, money-line and over-under wagers.

In order for the parlay bet to win, every one of the wagers must win or push (tie). If any of the selections lose, your wager loses, regardless of the outcome or cancellation of the other games. Depending on the sportsbook, a parlay could still be alive if one or more of the selections ends in a tie, postponed game or canceled event. If that happens, the parlay is knocked down a straight wager or a lower parlay.

The VegasInsider.com Parlay Calculator is a useful betting resource for March Madness and it provides bettors with a chance to calculate winnings based on the fixed payouts.

Similar to a parlay wager, a Teaser is a type of bet that allows you to combine your bets on two or more different games. The return isn't as high as parlays but bettors will gain an advantage with these bets by adding or subtracting points to either a point-spread or a total (over/under). The majority of sportsbooks will offer 4, 4.5 and 5 point teaser wagers for March Madness.

Example - Original Line

Duke -10
Over 150 ½

Example - Teaser Bet (4 Points)

Duke -6
Over 146 ½

A bettor taking Duke (-10) and the Over (150 ½) in a two-team Teaser for 4 points would lower the point-spread on Duke to -6 and also drop the Over down to 146 ½. For the Teaser to cash, Duke must win by 7 or more points and the combined points in the game must exceed 147.

Futures Bet

You can bet on a NCAA tournament championship pick throughout the season and during the year but the College Basketball Futures market always heats up in March. Betting and winning on the Men’s Division winner are obviously two different things but VegasInsider.com has all the resources to help guide you the right way. Figuring out how to make the bet is simple. All sportsbooks offer Future Odds and after selecting College Basketball Men’s Division winner, you’ll see the school and then the corresponding odds.

When you place a Future Odds wager, you’re locking up your money on an event that takes place at later time. The winner is crowned in April and bettors will winning wagers will be paid based on fixed odds when the bet was placed. To figure out your Win Amount, take the odds and multiply by the amount wagered.

Example
Duke 10/1 odds to win NCAA Tournament (Bet $100 to win $1,000)

Past NCAA Basketball Champions

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament determines winner of the national championship of the major college basketball teams in Division 1. The VegasInsider.com History page provides a comprehensive list of the past NCAA Basketball Champions and the betting results for the title game, which includes the outcome for the favorite-underdog and over-under.

Listed below are the last 10 NCAA Basketball Champions and their seeds.

  • 2019 - Virginia (1)
  • 2018 - Villanova (1)
  • 2017 - North Carolina (1)
  • 2016 - Villanova (2)
  • 2015 - Duke (1)
  • 2014 - Connecticut (7)
  • 2013 - Louisville (1)
  • 2012 - Kentucky (1)
  • 2011- Connecticut (3)
  • 2010 - Duke (1)

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To paraphrase the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, “In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of… college basketball.”

Every year from the end of February to the beginning of April, the NCAA pits the top 68 college basketball teams in the country to see who the best is.

And each year, millions upon millions are wagered on the games.

March madness betting strategy

It has become so popular that multi-billionaire businessman Warren Buffett offers a prize of $1 million every year for life to the person that picks a perfect March Madness bracket. The odds of that happening are about 1 in 128 billion.

March Madness Betting Games

But Buffett isn’t the only one offering money. Many websites, including sites that feature fantasy sports, offer prizes for picking perfect brackets and offer prizes for picking certain percentages of winners.

Everyone wants a piece of the $1 billion in revenue that March Madness generates, including sportsbooks.

Origins of March Madness

The idea for a national college basketball championship started with the idea of Harold Olsen, the head coach of Ohio State University. He had been lobbying for a national championship for some time.

In 1939, the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) agreed to hold the first national collegiate basketball championships.

The first tournament featured eight teams. They were broken down into an Eastern tournament and a Western tournament. The teams were:

East – Tournament held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. March 18-19

  • Brown University
  • Ohio State University
  • Villanova University
  • Wake Forest University

West – Tournament held in San Francisco, California. March 20-21

  • The University of Oklahoma
  • The University of Oregon
  • The University of Texas at Austin
  • Utah State University

The regional championships took place over two weekends. The East regional tournament took place on March 17th and 18th. The West took place on March 20th and 21st. The winners of each tournament, Ohio and Oregon, met in Evanston, Illinois, on March 27.

Oregon won the first championship with a score of 46 to 33.

The first tournament was not a financial success. The tournament wound up with a debt of over $2,500 ($46,000 in 2019 dollars). Because of the loss, the NABC considered not running the event again. However, the NABC made a deal with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to cover the losses and to take over the tournament going forward.

The tournament would remain relatively the same for the first 12 years of its existence. The first major change came in 1951 when the number of teams was increased from 8 to 16.

Between 1951 and today, the number of teams has increased in the following manner:

  • 1953 – Tournament was increased to 22 teams
  • 1953-1968 – Tournament participants varied between 22 and 25 teams
  • 1969 – Tournament was permanently increased to 25 teams
  • 1975 – Tournament increased to 32 teams broken down in the following manner:
    • 16 conference champions
    • 12 at-large (wild card) teams from each conference
    • 4 teams that qualified via Eastern College Athletic Conference tournaments
  • 1978 – A seeding process was initiated
  • 1979 – Tournament increased to 40 teams, with 24 teams given first-round byes based on conference tournaments
  • 1980 – Tournament was increased to 48 teams
    • 24 teams received automatic spots
    • 24 teams received at-large spots
    • 16 teams received first-round byes
  • 1981 – The Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) was created to rank teams. It was particularly helpful for at-large bids
  • 1983 – Tournament was increased to 52 teams
  • 1984 – Tournament was increased to 53 teams
  • 1985 – Tournament was increased to 64 teams
  • 2001 – Tournament was increased to 65 teams
  • 2011 – Tournament was increased to 68 teams

March Madness

The origins of the name “March Madness” actually come from high school basketball. In 1939, an official with the Illinois High School Association named HV Porter used the phrase to describe the Illinois basketball in a poem. The phrase spread over the next few decades to describe high school basketball in the Midwest.

The term became associated with NCAA in the 1980s when Brent Musburger, who was from Chicago, started using the term to describe the college tournaments.

Vegas March Madness Betting Strategy Odds

In the 1990s, IHSA bought the trademark for the term March Madness. They then sued an NCAA licensee for using the name in a video game. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that they both had rights to the trademark and created the concept of “dual-use trademark,” letting both organizations use the name.

Eventually, the two would form a company that would protect the trademark and license the name.

In the late 2000s, the IHSA would give the trademark to the NCAA, but retained the right to use the name for their tournament.

Other Names Used in the Tournament

  • Selection Sunday – The day that all the teams are officially announced for the tournament.
  • First 4 – This refers to the first four games of the tournament. Eight teams play each other for a berth in the first round of the tournament.
  • Sweet 16 – This is the name for the last 16 teams in the tournament play. This is also an “imported” name from the high school leagues. The Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) created and owns the name, and the NCAA licenses it for the tournament.
  • Elite 8 – This is the name for the quarterfinals of the tournament. The name also comes from the IHSA and is managed by the joint corporation that manages the March Madness name.
  • Final 4 – The semi-finals of the tournament, where the last four teams play to determine the two teams that will vie for the championships.

The Current Format

The current format of the tournament is held over a three-week period. The First 4 starts off the tournament with a two-day event. It usually occurs the second or third week of March on Tuesday and Wednesday. This sets up the final 64 in the first round. An example of the schedule looks like this:

  • First 4 – First week
  • First/Second Rounds – First week
  • South Regional – Second week
  • West Regional – Second week
  • East Regional – Second week
  • Midwest Regional – Second week
  • Final Four, National Championship – Third week

It should be noted that the tournament as it is currently set up is held in 14 cities, with the First 4 held in one city, the first and second rounds split up in eight cities, the regionals held in four different cities, and the Final 4/National Championship held in another city. All cities except the First 4 and the Final 4 are in the regions that the teams normally play in.

The teams are all announced on “Selection Sunday,” which is the Sunday prior to the First 4. All the teams are put into brackets for the single-elimination tournament.

These brackets play an important role in how people will bet on the games.

Seeding the Teams

The rankings for the 68 teams in the tournament are done by a selection committee. The committee is made up of ten conference commissioners and athletic directors within the NCAA who are elected for five-year terms.

The members of the committee rank the teams from 1 to 68, then the teams are broken down by region.

The seeds are distributed among the regions in order, so the first-seeded teams in each region are placed first, the second are placed second, etc., until all 16 teams are distributed for each region.

The matchup of the teams can be affected by a number of factors, including if teams are in the same conference, the venues the team play in (no team can play on their home court), rematches of previous season or regular season tournament games, and more. Because of this, a regional seed can be moved around to accommodate these requirements.

Once these seeds are worked out, the brackets are then established.

Betting on the First Round

The first round of the tournament has the most opportunities to bet. It also provides the best opportunities to win.

The First 4 are a bit hard to find winners. These are all the lowest-seeded teams in the tournament. This isn’t to say that they’re horrible teams because Division I Basketball has 347 teams in the United States. So the eight that make it to the First 4 are better than 279 other teams.

The First 4 are tough to pick winners in most cases because they’re generally all evenly matched. Occasionally, a clear winner can be picked, but in most cases, it could be hard.

The full first round is another story, however. The brackets are set up in each region in the following way:

  • The number 1 seed faces the number 16 seed
  • The number 2 seed faces the number 15 seed
  • The number 3 seed faces the number 14 seed
  • The number 4 seed faces the number 13 seed
  • The number 5 seed faces the number 12 seed
  • The number 6 seed faces the number 11 seed
  • The number 7 seed faces the number 10 seed
  • The number 8 seed faces the number 9 seed

So, you can see, the “bracketology” of the tournament places the first versus the last place in each region against each other, second-best versus the second to last, etc. So placing a bet on at least half of the games is statically an easy choice because it is unlikely (but certainly not impossible) that a 16th seed will beat a number 1 seed team. The same could be said for an 11th seed beating a 6th seed. The closer the seeds are, however, the harder it may be to choose a winner.

Another thing to consider is the overall seeds. A number 1 seed in a region could be the number 1 seed for the tournament as a whole, while the number 16 seed in a region could be the number 64 seed overall.

While seeds are important to consider, another important factor to consider is the team’s record. And I’m not just speaking overall wins and losses, but wins and losses against their road schedule.

In NCAA basketball, a team is limited to 31 games each season (not including pre-season or tournaments during the season). It is possible for a team to have a majority of their games at home. If this is the case, the team could have made it to March Madness with a majority of home wins and heavy losses at away games. This is important. All NCAA Tournament games are away games. So take that into account when betting.

Another thing to look at is how a team does during in-season tournaments. Schools may take part in any of the 50+ regular season tournaments that are offered. Looking at how they perform under that pressure is important to see how they’ll perform in the ultimate tournament for college basketball.

Also, how is the team looking as they enter the tournament? Did they get a great start, and in their final games, did they “drop the ball”? If a team is limping into March Madness, it’s probably a good bet that they won’t last long.

History is another thing to consider. While in theory, each team is a completely new team every four years, the coaches and staff can be at a school for decades.

Bettors can look to historical winners such as UCLA, which has won 11 National Championships. They also may look to multiple-time winners who’ve won recently like Kentucky, North Carolina, or Duke.

You can also look at the historical statistics of the brackets. One common occurrence is that of the number 5 versus the number 12 bracket. In this bracket, historically, the number 12 seed beats the spread against the number 5 seed about one-third of the time. One number 12 team usually beats the number 5 team outright.

Betting on the Second Round

So now that the first round is done, the wheat has been separated from the chaff. We can get a clearer picture of who’ll excel and who’ll be knocked out. Or will we?

Second-round betting can be just as complicated as the first round. Now we’re down to 32 teams. 16 games to bet on.

We can certainly look at seeding again. Higher seeds are likely to beat lower seeds. The matchups on the second round look like this for each region:

  • Winner of 1st seed versus 16th seed faces the winner of 8th seed versus 9th seed
  • Winner of 5th seed versus 12th seed faces the winner of 4th seed versus 13th seed
  • Winner of 6th seed versus 11th seed faces the winner of 3rd seed versus 14th seed
  • Winner of 7th seed versus 10th seed faces the winner of 2nd seed versus 15th seed

So with these games, you can see that there can be a big disparity in the teams playing each other from a seeding perspective. This is certainly a way to choose a winner.

But I like to look at the first game. Did the team blow out the other team? A 1st seed should have a decisive victory over a 16th seed, at least in my opinion. If they struggled, it might be a sign of weakness. In that same vein, if there was an upset or a blowout in an evenly matched game in the first round, I definitely want to take that into consideration in my betting and go with the team’s momentum in that case.

History can come into play here, too. If a team has a habit of winning the first round and blowing it in the second, then I’m going to bet on that streak continuing.

I also look at other factors like if any players were injured in the first round that may affect the team’s chances of winning or if an injured player who couldn’t play in the first round can now play in the second.

I like second-round betting more than the first because I have a better idea of who really wants the championship and who’s just there because they won a few games in the season.

Later Round Regional Betting

Once the tournament is down to the “Sweet 16,” betting can become harder. After all, 52 other teams have been knocked out of the tournament. If a team has made it this far, then they’re either lucky or skilled.

It is still important to know that in the Sweet 16 and the Elite 8, the teams are still playing other teams from their region, so there may be some familiarity. Maybe not a big familiarity, as a region could have a situation where teams rarely play each other, but at this level, it’s fair to say they have had some sort of history.

So look at that history. This is where I look less at the season record and more at the head to head record of each team. How have they done against each other overall? How have they done against each other in the last decade? That will be how I put the weight behind my bets.

Betting on the Final 4

The Final 4 betting can sometimes be easier than that of the Sweet 16 or the Elite 8. The reason is that these teams are all from different regions and conferences.

Anyone who follows sports knows that in some cases, a team dominated a conference because the conference is weak overall.

So in cases where a team that is in a weak conference gets pitted against a team from a tough conference, I go with the team from the tough conference. I don’t care if the weak conference team is undefeated. I’m a firm believer that iron sharpens iron. So if a team has been playing monsters all year, they’ll prepare for monsters, and vice versa.

Betting on the National Championship

This is going to be the toughest one to bet on. These two teams have overcome the other 66 teams in the tournament to make it to the last two.

I tend to look at factors that I used in other rounds, such as in-season tournament play, the teams’ away record, the teams’ overall record, injuries, history of how they have done in previous March Madness tournaments, and how well they’ve done in the tournament overall.

I find that this data helps in selecting a winner, but nothing can measure desire or heart. Sometimes, the team can have all the stats but lose the big one because the other team wanted it more. But the numbers always help.

Prop Bets

I’m a big fan of prop bets. Here are some common March Madness Prop Bets:

March Madness Betting Odds

  • NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player
  • The highest single-game point total for any player during NCAA Tournament
  • The lowest single-game point total for any team during NCAA Tournament
  • NCAA Championship Winning Conference
  • Will a major media outlet release an NCAA Men’s Basketball violations investigative report during the tournament?
  • Total buzzer-beating shots in Round of 64 during NCAA Tournament
  • How many #1 seeds will reach the Final 4?
  • Will a Big 10 team win the tournament?
  • Will a Big East team win the tournament?
  • Will a #1 seed win the tournament?
  • Will a #2 seed win the tournament?
  • Total overtime games in Round of 64
  • Largest margin of victory
  • All four No. 1 seeds reach Final Four

Many more prop bets are available. After all, you can have a prop bet on each game, each round, each conference, and more.

Conclusion

The three weeks in March that the NCAA holds its annual tournament to crown a national champion is a basketball fan and bettor’s dream. With literally hundreds of bets to choose from, opportunities to win just like your favorite college team abound.

Vegas March Madness Betting Strategy

And with the popularity of the tournament, it is easy to not only place regular bets but prop bets too. You can even find bets that I’ve mentioned in passing, such as guessing the brackets to win money.

March Madness Vegas Odds

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