How To Bet The First Round Of March Madness

The NCAA March Madness tournament is arguably the most exciting time of the year for basketball fans, players, and bettors. The first round of March Madness consists of 64 teams, with the potential for upsets and drama. In this article, we’ll take a look at how to bet on the first round of March Madness, where 32 games occur over a two-day period, providing plenty of games for bettors to place wagers.

First Step To Earning Profits

The first step to having a successful March Madness betting run is to handicap for teams’ road and neutral-site records but in terms of the moneyline and the spread. This is important due to the fact that if a school had an excellent year but most of their success came from their dominance at home, they could be overvalued in the NCAA tournament.

Seeds To Focus On

For some reason, the 5th vs. 12th seed matchups have historically resulted in a third of the 12th seeds winning, making them potentially favorable bets both straight up on the moneyline along with the point spread. Usually, at least one 12th seeded team will win outright, and these teams usually have up to ten points to work with as underdogs on the point spread.

Additionally, lower seeds such as the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th seeds can be solid bets on the point spread, especially if they’ve won their respective mid-major conferences while going up against a respectable team from one of the power conferences. These schools came out on top in their respective mid-major conferences for a reason, and the gap between these lower seeded teams and the higher seeded teams are likely quite slim, especially in a one-game winner-take-all format in a neutral venue.

Take Small Favorites

Historically, slim favorites have done quite well for themselves, especially if they turn out to be the lower seed in the matchup. Additionally, it’d be prudent to handicap for the strength of the conferences of different teams since some teams come from stacked conferences whereas other teams come from relatively weaker conferences, which means that their actual records may not indicate their true overall strength. In basketball, momentum can also be a huge factor, especially in the context of young basketball players, and this should be taken into consideration. A middle-ranked team that has strung off consecutive wins to reach the NCAA tournament should not be taken lightly as the power of momentum will be heavily on their side, especially if matched up against a team that has stumbled to get into the NCAA tournament. While quite obvious but often missed, teams that have been playing extremely well heading into the NCAA tournament will likely continue to do so, and vice-versa.


With the sheer variety of games in the first round of the NCAA tournament, as well as the second round, bettors will have plenty of options to choose from. The key here is to focus on games where you believe there’s value along with managing your bankroll since you may find yourself wagering on more than 10 out of the 16 available games on one day of the tournament’s first round. Be sure to not wager too much money on a single game and spread your bankroll to accommodate for the possibility of betting on a bunch of games all within a single day.

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