2024 NCAA Bracketology

2024 NCAA Tournament Predictions - College Basketball Picks

There is truly nothing in sports like college basketball action. There are literally hundreds of teams competing with one another, all hoping for the chance to play on the biggest stage in March 2024 when college basketball games dominate the sports landscape. Here is a betting guide to help fans better understand the college basketball season and college basketball betting odds.

2024 NCAA Regular Season Schedule & Overview

The college basketball season runs from the early part of November 2023 until early April 2024. During November and December 2023, teams mostly play opponents outside of their conference. Then throughout January and February 2024, teams almost exclusively face the teams inside their own conference.

In March 2024, we have March Madness, where the season hits fever pitch with conference tournaments and then the NCAA Tournament, which decides the national champion. In early April, the college basketball season concludes with the Final Four, which is one of the biggest sporting events of the year.

2023-24 NCAA Predictions

In 2024, the 68-team NCAA Tournament will begin on March 19 with the national championship game being played on April 8. But who will qualify for the tournament or be playing in the Final Four is a tough question to answer. Traditional powerhouses like the North Carolina Tar Heels, Michigan State Spartans, or Kansas Jayhawks are accustomed to reaching the Final Four. However, Florida Atlantic and San Diego State surprised everyone by getting to the Final Four last season.

While basketball is obviously a team game, the best college basketball teams tend to have star players leading the way. Among the biggest stars in college basketball this season are Zach Edey of Purdue, Armando Bacot of North Carolina, and Tyler Kolek of Marquette. Kansas also has two elite stars with Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar Jr. both leading the way for the Jayhawks.

Top Contenders & Picks to Win

There are literally dozens of teams capable of winning the college basketball national championship. Teams like Kansas, Purdue, Houston, Arizona, and reigning champion UConn are among the leading favorites to win the national championship in 2024. However, since the NCAA Tournament is a one-and-done tournament, anything can happen, which inevitably leads to upsets and surprises. Therefore, even teams like Penn State, South Carolina, Colorado State, BYU, or Oregon State that are under the radar can come out of nowhere to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. In 2023, three of the four teams in the Final Four were in the Final Four for the first time, which is a sign that anything can happen in college basketball.

College Basketball Betting Tips, Odds & Previews

With so many variables, making college basketball predictions can be difficult. With hundreds of teams, it’s almost impossible to have working knowledge of all of them. With NCAAB betting, it’s usually a good idea to focus on specific conferences. Once you get to know the teams in one conference and can start making successful NCAAB picks in games involving those teams, feel free to start branching out into other conferences.

Also, try not to overthink things with college basketball. Performing a deeper analysis of a matchup can sometimes do more harm than good. Of course, following injury reports and taking recent games into account is important. However, college players are far more inconsistent with their performances from one game to the next compared to pros. This means that underdogs often deserve more consideration in college basketball than in other sports.

Types of Bets & How to Bet on Basketball

There are always several betting options for college basketball matchups. The most common is betting against the spread . This means the team that’s favored will have to win by a certain amount of points in order to win the bet. For example, if you bet on a team that’s favored by 5.5 points, if that team doesn’t win by six points or more, you lose the bet. Conversely, if you bet on a team that’s a 5.5-point underdog, if they win the game or lose by five points or less, you will win the bet.

With moneyline bets , the spread is taken out of the equation and the winner of the game is the only thing that matters. The catch is that betting on a team that’s favored by 5.5 points will have a smaller payout than betting on a team that is a 5.5-point underdog, so there is a risk-reward tradeoff.

The third type of betting on a college basketball game is betting on the point total. This bet ignores the winner and loser and only focuses on the total number of points scored by the two teams. Each game will have an assigned point total with bettors choosing whether the total points in that game will be higher or lower than that number. Therefore, this is often called over/under betting .

Finally, futures or outright betting is also popular in college basketball. This means placing a wager before the season or during the season on what a specific team will accomplish. For example, it’s possible to bet on a team to make the Final Four, win the national championship, or win its conference championship.

Thanks to our 'Bet Builder' function, you can place same game multi bets and place multiple selections on the single betting slip. This is an easy way to boost your odds on a specific fixture! Learn more with our same game multi betting guide .

For more information, be sure to check out our basketball betting guide , or online sports betting guide to help get you started with betting on NCAA and other upcoming sporting events in 2024 and beyond!

How to Watch Free Live Streams of NCAA Games

At Stake.com, it’s possible to watch free streams of college basketball games. Go to Stake and look at a list of upcoming games. If there is a streaming logo next to the matchup, it means you’ll be able to stream the game at Stake once it begins.

Bet on Basketball with Best Odds on Stake Sportsbook

Stake.com is among the best places to place bets on college basketball. In addition to offering live streams of games, the site is easy to navigate and comes with a diverse selection of betting markets and lucrative sports betting bonuses and monthly betting offers that add to the fun.