ed welch
March Madness is still more than a month away but that doesn’t mean the best online betting sites can start prepping for the Big Dance and take a look at the odds to win the NCAA Tournament. February is a great month to catch up college hoops and get a good look at the possible contenders and bracket busters before the postseason begins.
Here are some things to look at as you get your mind ready for March Madness betting.
Cinderella’s slipper
The NCAA Tournament has been especially erratic in recent years with mid-major teams playing a huge role in those unpredictable outcomes. Keeping tabs on the possible Cinderella teams that could make a deep run or even the ones who could stir things up in the opening round of the bracket is a great way to stay ahead of the curve.
Rankings are available for the mid-major programs and from there you can peel back the layers to see what makes these teams tick. Some upstarts play a controlled pace and are deadly from 3-point range while others like to up the tempo on both ends of the floor. Also examine those mid-major teams and their non-conference schedule to see how they did against elite competition.
Injuries and returns
The college basketball schedule is a tough road for young players and injuries will take their toll over the course of the season. How a team responds and plays during these rash of injuries is very important because it can either prove their dependence on key talents of help the development of depth to the roster.
If you can find a team playing well despite injury issues, then make sure you note when those missing bodies come back to the lineup. The injection of these returnees can be the final piece of the puzzle for some teams as they make a run toward March.
Coaches and experience
Do a quick scan of the tournament champions and their head coaches for the past 20 years and you’ll notice that some of the same names keep popping up. Not only do these top head coaches recruit heavy and bring in the best basketball players but they know what it takes to survive March Madness.
That said, some of these coaches and their power programs are loaded with projected one-and-done freshmen, who will bounce from the NCAA to the pro after just a single season. If you can find teams with these NBA-ready talents which are supported by experienced players, that can be a telltale sign of a potential NCAA champ.
Advanced stats
Perhaps the most famous NCAA basketball metrics are the KenPom ratings, which are used to really drill into each teams’ makeup, factoring in their strength of opponent.
One of the better stat sets in define future national championship teams are the adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency stats. Almost every past bracket winner has ranked among the Top 20 in both advanced metrics.
