MARCH MADNESS POINT SPREAD

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The March Madness Point Spread: Getting the Jump on Oddsmakers

March Madness Point Spreads At Bodog Sportsbook

March Madness delivers some of the most entertaining college basketball of the year. With so many games on the board every round of March Madness guarantees at least a few major upsets. For bettors wanting to get a jump on the action by learning how to bet on the March Madness point spreads, here are some things to keep in mind:

Understanding NCAA Basketball Point Spreads

The point spread is the number of points allocated and shown with a "+" sign for the favorite and a "-" sign for the underdog. The favorite has to win by more than the point spread in order for you to win if you bet on the favorite.

During March Madness, the NCAA basketball point spreads are much more affected by the general public because it tends to attract a larger number of novice bettors than the regular season. Oddsmakers take that sudden surge into account and adjust their point spreads accordingly. But for bettors who have been following the regular season and are familiar with different teams from different conferences, they can still get the jump on oddsmakers early on in the tournament.

Location, Location, Location

Linesmakers adjust their March Madness point spreads for travel and home-court advantage during the NCAA Tournament much like they do during the regular season, but they don't always adjust them enough. This small oversight gives the informed bettor added value when it comes to wagering on teams playing in "friendly" courts and against teams forced to travel across the country.

Last year, for example, Oklahoma State played "neutral site" games at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City; Duke played "neutral site" games at the Charlotte Coliseum in North Carolina and Illinois advanced to the Final Four with two wins at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. At the same time, Pittsburgh had to travel to Boise, Idaho while Stanford was forced to play its first round games in Charlotte.

As soon as the selection process is completed and the participating schools are announced, placed and seeded, it's a good idea to take a close look at the schedule to determine the teams' travel times.

The Madness that is March

With the bulk of the games being played during the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, if there are any surprise victories to come out of that first round you can pretty much expect oddsmakers to overreact in setting their March Madness point spreads. This leaves the door open for sharp bettors to take note and take advantage of second-round opportunities.

However, oddsmakers tend to get stingy with their March Madness point spreads with big-name schools like North Carolina (so you're not likely to gain much ground there), but for lesser-known schools like last year's Bucknell squad, for example, there was still good value to be found for bettors looking to take that leap of faith.

Final Four Point Spreads At Bodog Sportsbook

A Look Back at Last Year's NCAA Point Spreads

Looking at March Madness point spreads from a sportsbook's perspective, here are some key stats from the 2005 NCAA tournament (*based on closing lines):
Favorites straight up were 46-15 (2 games closed at Pick'em)

* Round 1 favs were 26-6
* Round 2 favs were 10-5 (one Pick'em)
* Sweet 16 favs were 4-4
* Elite 8 favs were 3-0 (one Pick'em)
* Final 4 favs were 3-0

Favorites ATS were 30-33 (2 games closed at Pick'em)

* Round 1 favs were 15-17
* Round 2 favs were 9-6 (one Pick'em)
* Sweet 16 favs were 3-5
* Elite 8 favs were 0-3 (one Pick'em)
* Final 4 favs were 3-0

It was interesting to see how much point spreads affected Round 1 (11 of 32 games had the favorite win but not cover). Six games had point spreads that opened, closed or moved through the closing margin of victory. In other words, getting the best line on that game by shopping for lines could have made the difference between win/loss/push in nearly 10 percent of the games!
Best games for the sportsbook were (in order):

* Round 2 - NC State +4 upsetting UConn
* Round 2 - Wisconsin-Milwaukee +3.5 upsetting Boston College
* Elite 8 - Villanova +10.5 covering against North Carolina
* Round 1 - UAB +4 upsetting LSU
* Round 2 - Texas Tech +2 upsetting Gonzaga

Best games for bettors were (in order):

* Round 2 - Kentucky -3 over Cincy
* Round 1 - Arizona -5.5 over Utah State
* Round 1 - Boston College -7 over Penn
* Round 1 - Iowa State -1.5 over Minnesota

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More articles from the March Madness Betting Guide:

* Previous - Filling Out Your March Madness Basketball Brackets
* Next - The History of March Madness

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