1. The pinnacle of college basketball betting is the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament that takes place at the end of each season and determines the eventual national champion. The USA’s best March Madness betting sites for 2021 are offering NCAAB odds for the final 68-team tournament now, and we’ve provided a detailed roadmap below to guide you along the way.
2. $1,000,000 perfect bracket contest for March Madness. Here’s a little more info on why these NCAA betting sites are the best in 2021. Our Site Rankings Are Never For Sale. If a college basketball betting site wants a positve review from us they have to earn it, period.
3. Complete March Madness NCAA Tournament coverage at CBSSports.com. Stay connected with the latest news, scores, stats, highlights and March Madness live.

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What is March Madness?

NCAA Basketball Betting 2021 - Many fans enjoy the rush of a real money bet on the big games. While the heated tournament inspires everyone from your mechanic to the President of the USA to set their bracket, it's much easier to bet on individual games at online gambling sites.

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.

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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.

• Bankers Life Fieldhouse
• Hinkle Fieldhouse

Elite Eight

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)

One of the most popular and fun betting styles when it comes to basketball,
specifically college basketball, is bracket betting. Every year the college or
NCCA basketball champion is determined by a 64 team tournament run in March.
This tournament is commonly referred to as March Madness, The Big Dance, and a
whole slew of other names that barely do it any justice. For college sports fans
or any sports fan for that matter, it is one of the greatest times of the year.
Billions of dollars are bet every year on the event, and one of the most popular
ways is the bracket bet. To fully understand this type of bet and how to get
involved, we need to make sure you understand the details of the tournament
first.

The March Madness Tournament

Division I college basketball decides their champion in March and early April
of every year. 64 teams are invited to play in a single elimination style
tournament played over the course of a few weeks. There is a rigid selection
process for teams to get into the tournament as just making the tournament field
is an accomplishment of its own. The first 32 teams selected receive automatic
bids (entry) for winning their conference tournaments which are played right
before the big tournament. 30 of the remaining 32 slots are awarded by a
selections committee that votes based on a wide variety of criteria to give the
slots to the best teams that deserve it. The remaining two slots are given to
the winners of two play-in games. The four teams deserving of the last two slots
will play, and the winning two teams will secure the last two slots in the
tournament bracket.

Teams are placed into four different regions based on seeding. The four best
teams are given number one seedings and are each placed in one of the four
brackets. The same goes all the way through 16 with each region having 16 teams
ranked 1-16. The teams are matched up to play based on a lot of criteria, but
the main gist is the better your seed, the easier your route to the
championship. For example, the one seed gets to play the 16 seed in the first
round. This should be a much easier game for them than having to play any of the
other teams in their bracket. This is done to reward regular season play.

Once teams are placed into the bracket, that is their fixed spot for the
tournament. There is never any reseeding at any point in the tournament. Each
region will play down to a winner who will then face the winner of one of the
other regions. The two winners of those games will face off in the championship.
The tournament is single elimination. Lose one game, and you are out.

The stages of the tournament are referred to as different rounds. The first
four games to get the last two slots in the 64 are referred to as the First Four
Games and are NOT considered the first round. They tried to refer to this as the
first round for a couple of years, and it was too confusing. Each team will play
twice in a weekend if they win their games. Here are the different rounds and
how many teams are playing in each.

First Weekend

Round of 64

This is the opening round with all 64 teams competing.

Round of 32

This is the second round of the tournament with all winners of
their first game competing.

Second Weekend

Sweet 16

This is all the winners of the Round of 32 competing.

Elite 8

This is the fourth round of the tournament with the Sweet 16
winners competing.

Third Weekend

Final 4

This is the fifth round of the tournament and a remarkable
achievement for a team to reach. The winners of these two games will play for
the championship.

Championship

This is the final game. The winner of this single game is the
Champion.

Basketball Bracket Bets – How They Work

Basketball bracket bets are simple and complex all at the same time. Most of
all they’re a lot of fun. After the teams have been selected and put into their
slots on the bracket, you will pick the winner of every game all the way through
the championship. This all takes place before the first game is even played. You
may be wondering how you will know who will play in the next round games?

Because there is no reseeding, you are able to “piggyback” off of your
earlier round picks to make your next round picks and so on. Basically, the more
correct picks you make in each round, the more opportunities you have to get
correct picks in the following rounds. You will have a projected champion
selected before the first game even starts. Certain point denominations are
awarded in each round for each correct pick. We will talk more in a minute about
these.

Let’s look at a simplified example to make this clearer. Each of the four
regions is going to have 16 teams in it. We are going to look at one sample
region. Keep in mind that you will basically be doing this for all four regions
and then also picking the winners of the games that are played between each
region in the final four. Each team is placed into their prospective slot
based on their seeding. As you can see, the number one seed gets an easy game
playing the 16 seed and so on and so forth. We have “named” each team after
their seed to make things easier in this example. (The number one seed is also
named “Team 1” for this example).

When the bracket comes out, you can easily see the first round games that you
are supposed to pick. We are going to focus on the top two games in particular,
but the same things we will see apply to the entire region, all future rounds,
and all other regions throughout the entire bracket. We decide that we think
Team 1 will beat Team 16 and we also decide that Team 8 will beat Team 9. So we
will select them and write them in on the next two lines like this

Remember all of this is taking place before the first game is played. We now
need to pick a winner of the second round game between Team 1 and Team 8. Let’s
say we think Team 1 will win. We will put them on the next line and continue
this for every game in the entire bracket all the way to the championship.

Let’s look at a few outcomes that will make this even clearer. Let’s say Team
1 absolutely blows it and Team 16 beats them in the first round. We would get no
points for a correct pick there. Let’s also say that Team 9 beat Team 8,
so we get no points for that first round pick either. We’re now unable to get
ANY points in the second round game between Team 16 and Team 9 because we have
Team 1 winning that game.

None of our picks can be changed once they are set before the tournament, so
you are just out of luck here. This does happen a lot so prepare yourself for
it. If we then selected Team 1 to win the next game on the bracket, we would not
be able to get any points there either. All of your future picks are dependent
on your earlier picks which are what makes bracket bets so interesting.

Let’s say that Team 1 DID win the first game, but Team 8 lost. This is what
the bracket would like going into the second round.

In this scenario, we can still get our second round points if Team 1 beats
Team 9 in the second round game. The only points we would miss out on if they do
were the first round points between Team 8 and Team 9.

As we said earlier, you are awarded points for making correct picks. The
player with the most points at the end of the entire tournament is the winner.
Depending on which bracket league you are playing in, the points will be
somewhat different. The typical way they are laid out is more points are awarded
for later round picks. For example, you may get one point for every correct pick
in the first round, and then you might get three points for a correct second
round pick and so on. Some leagues will also award additional points for picking
upsets (IE: One seed losing to a 16 seed).

These point systems will vary with every league there is, but they usually
will follow this same line. What is most important is to look at the rules and
the scoring before making your picks. Certain scoring systems will push you to
take more chances while others will push you to be more conservative. We will
cover that more in depth in the strategy and tips section below.

Basketball Bracket Bets – How the Betting Works

Bracket bets are done in a few different ways. The one thing that is
consistent with all bracket bets is that you are competing against other
players, not the house. Players pay an entry fee and then compete to get the
most points out of the group. The two methods of betting are either in a private
group with friends, family, and coworkers or in a big pool on an internet gaming
site. Both of these are run exactly the same, there are just a few differences.

A private group amongst friends is usually a lot smaller with smaller payouts
for the winner. You might have 15-20 people paying $10 or $20 to play, with
first place getting a couple hundred dollars and maybe second place getting a
few bucks back. Online bracket pools typically are much larger with all
different buy-in sizes. You might have a bracket pool online with the same $20
buy-in, but it might have 1000 people in it. That means the total prize pool is
$20,000 and first place is probably getting somewhere around $5,000 with the top
10% of finishers getting something.

Which format should you play? Honestly, it is completely up to you.
Personally, we play both as we like the fun and camaraderie of the small private
groups, but we also like the rush and potential gains of the big tournaments.
You can also find higher buy-in bracket pools online if you’re really confident
in your picks.

The important things to remember about either format are the following:

• Don’t be late. All of your picks must be in and finalized BEFORE the start
  of the first game. In most formats, this will be before the first game of the
  round of 64, but in a few rare instances, they include the play-in games which
  are a day or two earlier.
• You will not be paid out until the entire tournament is over. Even if
  you’re a lock to win, you won’t be paid until the entire event is over. It’s
  only a few weeks and usually, comes down to the wire between a few players.

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Benefits of Basketball Bracket Bets

Every Game Matters

The biggest benefit of bracket bets is they suddenly make every single game
important to you. Unless you went to school at one of the schools, the game
between Northwest Southern Third Left Middle School College vs. Upper Third
North Texas the Fourth University might not be important to you. With bracket
bets, though, this game is just as important as the rest during the first round.
If you’re someone who is looking for action and enjoyment, this covers every
single game of the tournament with one bet.

Profitable

Bracket bets can be extremely profitable mainly because they attract so many
amateurs or recreational gamblers. These recreational gamblers will do no
homework on most of the games and are much more likely just to pick their
favorite teams. Because of this, most of the brackets entered are going to be
extremely easy for you to beat with just a little bit of homework on the games.
If you are an expert on college basketball, you can stand to make a lot of money
by dominating bracket bet pools online.

Weeks of Fun

Not only does every game become important for only one bet, you get to enjoy
games that matter to you for the entire month of March. If your bracket does
well, the excitement goes up as the month moves into the later rounds. Even if
you’re a serious bettor looking to make a profit, you can’t deny that these bets
are some of the most fun ones you will make all year.

Tips and Strategy Advice

Use Your Time Wisely

If you have all of the time in the world, then spend all of the time in the
world on each game to make the best prediction possible. If you don’t have all
the time in the world, you need to be strategic about where you spend your time.
Focus on the first round games with teams that you think are going to go deeper
in the tournament. As each pick piggybacks off the earlier round, it’s important
to get as many teams that will be going deep in the tournament through. Some of
these will be fairly easy to pick like the 1 seed vs. 16 seed games, but some
like the 8 vs. 9 games will be a bit more challenging and require a bit more
time. The point here is to not spend a million hours on games that might not
have as much of an impact later in the tournament.

Work Backwards

A popular strategy for bracket bets is to work backward by selecting your
champion first and then selecting your final four teams and then working
outwards from that. This ensures that the teams that you want to be in the
higher point rounds will be there. Almost all scoring structures give more
points, sometimes a lot more, to correct picks in the later rounds. A lot of
popular point structures give one point for a first round pick and 32 points for
a correct champion pick.

Use Vegas Lines

Ncaa Bracket Betting Sites

A lot of people that don’t have a lot of time to make their picks will do so
based on the seeding. The problem with this is that there are some specific
rules that will move the seeds around a bit having better teams a little lower
than they should be. The seeding is also done by a group that are not experts in
games and aren’t as equipped to predict who is better than who. Vegas and online
sportsbooks, on the other hand, will set lines based on who they think are going
to win the game and by how many points. This can help you to spot “upsets” that
aren’t really upsets. You can find teams with worse seeds that are actually
favorites against the teams they’re playing. While this isn’t an actual upset,
it will be one on the bracket sheet, and a lot of amateur players are going to
miss it.

It can also show you good spots to pick potential upsets. If you see a game
with an extremely close line where a team is supposed to only win by a point or
two, you may be looking at a potential upset candidate. Remember, Vegas is
smart, but they aren’t always perfect. Take their suggestions and mix them with
your own thoughts and predictions and you’ll be all set.

Upsets

There are two things you need to know about upsets.

Ncaa Bracket Betting Sites 2019

1. They are going to happen
2. They are less likely than a lot of new bettors think

Number one is something a lot of people forget to notice. They think that the
best team or higher seeded team is always going to win. We see time and time
again that this is just not the case with college basketball. This is probably
what makes it so dang exciting. Remember to include some upsets in your picks,
or we can almost guarantee you will be wrong a lot. The 5 vs. 12 seed games are
great as well as the closer seeded games.

Number two is the check and balance on number one. It’s always fun to root
and hope for the underdog to pull off the upset, but you don’t want to get too
crazy with the upsets. Remember, teams are usually seeded higher for a reason.
It’s because they are supposed to win. That being said, we have seen some crazy
years, and some crazy things happen, so nothing is out of the question. The best
advice is to look at each game individually and pick the team that you really
think is going to win. If that ends up being tons of upsets, great. If that ends
up being only a couple upsets, also great.

Ncaa Basketball Betting Picks