Basketball Odds Explained

On the home page of this site you will have seen the NCAA basketball odds for upcoming games. These odds include the spread, the moneyline and the over/unders. These three types of bets are the most common NCAA basketball bets you will find online.

Spreads

The spread is the amount of points the online sportsbook thinks the favourite would win by in a typical game.  This can also be described as a handicap for the underdog.  If you place a spread bet on the favourite, then the team must cover the spread in order for you to win your wager.  Similarly, if you place a bet on the underdog, you will win the bet if the underdog wins the game or if the favourite team fails to cover the spread.  For example:

Pittsburgh +6.5
Connecticut -6.5

For a bet on Pittsburgh to pay out the Pittsburgh Panthers must win or lose by 6 or less points.  For a bet on Connecticut to pay out the Huskies must win the game by 7 or more points.

The odds for a spread are -110 for both teams unless otherwise stated.

Moneyline

A moneyline bet is a wager on the team that you think will win the game with no handicap or spreads.  To win the wager your team simply has to win the game.  The odds vary a lot for these types of bets with bets on the favourites paying out less and bets on the underdogs paying out more.  For example, continuing with the Pittsburgh vs Connecticut example the moneyline would look like this:

Pittsburgh +250
Connecticut -300

This means that a $100 wager on Pittsburgh would payout $350 for a $250 profit, while a $100 wager on Connecticut would payout $133.33 for a $33.33 profit.

Over/Under

The bookies will give a total number of points they think the game will have with both teams points included.  You can then place an “over” wager, which means you think more than this number of points will be scored or an “under” wager, which means you think fewer than the over/under number of points will be scored.  For example:

The Pittsburgh vs Connecticut over/under is 134.

If you think more than 134 points will be scored than you should place an “over” wager and vice versa on the “under”.  The typical betting odds for over/under bets is -110 unless otherwise stated.