4 Betting Tips To Consider for Regular Season College Basketball

As football season winds down in December and January, many bettors redirect their free time and attention to college basketball – a seemingly endless sport with hundreds of games every week, from November through the end of February.

Because there’s so much game inventory, college basketball odds become a favorite winter pastime for many bettors – even some who didn’t grow up loving the sport or watching it obsessively, as my family did.

If you’re new to college hoops, or even a returning veteran looking to add a few new angles to your betting repertoire, here are a few tips to consider. 

Treat the AP Top 25 With Extreme Skepticism

College basketball is a sport with a lot of parachute fans who randomly drop in to bet on games. The market can sometimes reflect that lack of attention, with highly ranked teams often playing as overweight favorites. 

As a general rule, bettors should be skeptical of a team’s market evaluation and price point once they enter the AP Top 25. 

Sometimes, the most dangerous place for a team to be is in those final poll positions. There’s no substantive difference between the No. 27 team and the No. 22 team, but you can bet opponents hosting the latter will be fired up to score a ranked win. 

There is data that backs up bettors who fade ranked teams. Since 2005, home dogs playing against teams ranked between No. 11 and No. 25 in the AP poll are 962-847-38 ATS. That’s good for a 3% ROI – a modest winning edge in college basketball. And if you’re watching college hoops closely, you can probably improve that edge by adding extra filter levels to your targets. 

Another related strategy, and a personal favorite of mine: Target unranked favorites hosting AP Top 25 underdogs. If the market says the ranked team is the dog, with all the public love ranked teams typically receive, then you know the unranked team has a good chance to cover. 

Specialize With a Lesser-Known Team or Conference

In online sports betting, it’s always wise to find a corner of the world where you can be more knowledgeable than the sportsbook that’s taking your action.

In sports like the NFL or major college football, that’s basically impossible. Those markets are quite sharp because of all the many thousands of bettors that shape the lines. 

College basketball is different. There are more than 350 Division I teams, so there are random pockets where bettors can pay close attention and find a real edge over the sportsbook.

There’s a guy I follow on Twitter who exclusively bets on America East men’s basketball. He probably knows more about that conference than almost anyone. He knows what it means if the sixth man from the New Jersey Institute of Technology has a bad ankle and is going to miss a game. 

This is a strategy that’s accessible to virtually anyone with ESPN Plus. Watch a ton of OVC basketball, or specialize with a random team like the Chicago State Cougars. 

Carve out a niche where you can say you know more than the market.

Identify Lookahead Games and Sandwich spots in Conference Play

Once conference play starts, most teams have quirky ebbs and flows to the way their schedule plays out. This is especially true in the best conferences, like the Big 12 or SEC, where the regular-season championship doesn’t just run through one or two good programs. 

Use the schedule – and the fact that most of these players are 20 years old – to your advantage. 

When an aspiring contender has that season-defining game just a few days away, they might lose focus on the home game against the sub-.500 team. Or, when a decent squad has to play a lesser or equal opponent in between two high-profile games, there’s a good chance they will fail to cover. 

Here’s a specific example from this year’s schedule. Colorado is looking to get back to the NCAA Tournament this season in the rugged Big 12. To close out January, the Buffs will host Kansas on Jan. 20 and go to Iowa State on Jan. 29.

In between, they’ll play an assuming home game against UCF on Jan. 24. There’s a good chance Colorado will play as a favorite in this game, yet fail to cover. 

The sandwich game: shockingly predictable. 

Unders are Inherently Unpopular (and Thus Inherently Valuable)

Unless you’re brand new to online sports betting, you’re probably aware that most people just prefer to bet overs. 

“Life’s too short to bet the under,” they say.

Actually, life’s too short to blow a bunch of your bankroll betting stupid overs, but I’ll save that soapbox for another day. 

People love to bet favorites and overs. As VSIN’s Steve Makinen pointed out in his 2025-26 college basketball betting preview, about 7-in-10 totals bets are on the over. 

That’s a staggering ticket discrepancy for an entire six-pack market. Because of that, it’s reasonable to surmise that totals are regularly shaded a few points too high, opening up fundamental value for routine under bettors.

There are plenty of successful strategies for betting unders, and you’ll pick more than one up if you spend enough time focused on college basketball totals in particular. 

My personal favorite is to target low totals (125 or under) since the market is loudly implying that an under is the right side. If college basketball bettors don’t like the under to begin with, you can imagine how unpopular an Under 118.5 is. 

And yet – it wins! Often! 

One betting system I’ve built tracks closing totals under 125 in a six-conference grouping that includes the MAAC, Mountain West, West Coast Conference, NEC, America East, and Conference USA. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, qualifying games are 35-17 to the under, good for a whopping 28% ROI. 

Fortunately, you don’t necessarily have to bet trash unders like this if you don’t want to. Just understanding the principle is often good enough to find a few good bets.