NCAA Basketball Odds
The state of Ohio has college basketball covered from A to Z with the Akron Zips, Cincinnati Bearcats, Ohio State Buckeyes, Miami RedHawks, and Xavier Musketeers all strong D1 basketball programs. From the Big East to the Big Ten, NCAA basketball is a big deal in Ohio.
With legal Ohio sports betting a reality for the 2024 NCAA Basketball Tournament and beyond, NCAA basketball betting is a similarly big deal in Ohio. Below, find out how you can get in on all the NCAA basketball betting action, including the latest NCAA basketball odds direct from Ohio online sportsbooks.
NCAAB odds
Here’s where you’ll find the latest NCAA basketball game lines from Ohio’s top online sportsbooks:
NCAAB championship odds
Here are the odds on individual teams to win the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament from Ohio online sportsbooks:
NCAAB Final Four odds
Here’s where you’ll find the latest futures odds on teams to make it to the Final Four:
Ohio State Buckeyes basketball odds
Check the feed below for the latest Ohio State Buckeyes game odds, championship futures odds and Final Four futures odds at Ohio sportsbooks.
Dayton Flyers basketball odds
Check the feed below for the latest Dayton Flyers game odds, championship futures odds and Final Four futures odds.
Cincinnati Bearcats basketball odds
Check the feed below for the latest Cincinnati Bearcats game lines, championship futures odds, and Final Four futures odds.
Best sportsbooks for NCAAB betting in Ohio
Here are the pros and cons when it comes to college basketball betting:
Sportsbook | NCAA Basketball Betting Pros | NCAA Basketball Betting Cons |
---|---|---|
DraftKings Ohio | -Full slate of NCAAB game lines, futures, props -March Madness promos -Free and paid bracket contests -$50 bonus bet and 20% bonus on first deposit up to $1,000 for new players | Higher vig on game lines |
FanDuel Ohio | -Full slate of NCAAB game lines, futures, props -March Madness promos -Free and paid bracket contests -No-sweat bet up to $150 for new players | Futures odds may be better elsewhere |
BetMGM Ohio | -Full slate of NCAAB game lines, futures, props -March Madness promos -No-sweat first bet up to $1,500 for new players | No free March Madness bracket contests |
How to bet on college basketball
College basketball betting can be all about picking the winning team in a single game, but it can also be more than just that. For example, you can pick a team to make the Final Four or win the tournament. You can also bet on team regular season win totals or player stat lines in games. With more than a dozen college basketball teams in Ohio alone, and all the ways you can bet on NCAA basketball, the homegrown betting opportunities are plentiful, never mind the fact that you can also bet on teams and games from across the country.
You might be able to bet on Ohio State to beat Michigan in a midseason Big Ten rivalry game at -175 or give away 3.5 points on the spread at -112. However, you can also bet the over on 137 points at -110, or bet that Ohio State forward Justice Sueing will score more than 20 points in the game at -115. You can also combine these bets with others, making for thousands of NCAA basketball betting options here in Ohio at sportsbooks such as PointsBet Ohio, Caesars Ohio and others.
Calculating bet payouts
Online sportsbooks will use American odds as the default option, appearing as a positive number for underdogs and negative for favorites. Just click on these odds and plug the amount you want to wager into the bet slip to show how much you stand to win if you bet. Alternatively, you can use the odds to calculate a potential payout using one of these formulas:
- Positive odds: Bet x (odds / 100) + bet = potential payout
- Negative odds (use a positive number in the calculation): Bet / (odds / 100) + bet = potential payout
This means that if you bet on Ohio State to beat Michigan at -175, a winning $10 bet on the Buckeyes would give you a $15.71 payout. On the other hand, a winning $10 bet on the Wolverines at +145 would get you a $24.50 total payout. No matter what your bet is, or the odds are, you can calculate the potential payout using one of the above equations.
Shopping lines for college basketball games
Because college basketball lines change, and if heavy betting on one side or the other forces that change, that line will only change at the sportsbook where the betting occurred. So if you want to place a bet, it can be beneficial to shop around for the best college basketball betting odds. Shopping around is as simple as checking the line at multiple Ohio sportsbooks. Even small differences in the sports lines can have an effect over time.
Best college basketball bets
Here’s a more detailed look at the types of college basketball bets you can place at Ohio sportsbooks:
- Point spread: A bet on one team to win a game with a line set by oddsmakers factored into the final score. Bet on Ohio State to beat Michigan at -3.5 (-110), and Ohio State has to win the game by four or more points for you to get paid. If Ohio State wins the game by three points or fewer, you lose. At -110 odds, if Ohio State covers the spread (wins by four-plus), you’d receive a profit of $100 plus your bet back on a $110 bet.
- Moneyline odds: A bet on one team to win a single game, straight up. Lock in your bet at the currently posted odds. Bet on favorites Ohio State to beat Michigan at -175, and get paid $100, plus your bet back on a bet of $175 if Ohio State wins. Bet on the underdog Wolverines at +145, and get paid $145, plus your bet back, on a $100 bet if Michigan wins.
- Over/under: A bet on whether the total combined score in a game will land over or under a line that the sportsbook has set. Bet the over or the under on Ohio State and Michigan combining to score 137.5 points or more, for instance.
- Parlays: Combine two or more bets into a single wager. Get paid better odds than the individual bets because you must win all bets — aka legs — to get paid. Put together moneyline bets on favorites Ohio State over Michigan and Cincinnati over Akron and make more money than you would betting the games individually, as long as they both win.
- Teasers: Combine a series of spread bets into a parlay and you can move the spreads to your advantage. You must move each line by the same number of points. Giving underdogs more points and allowing favorites to give away fewer makes teasers easier to win, which is why teasers pay less than traditional parlays. Combine Ohio State (-3.5) over Michigan and Cincinnati (-6.5) over Akron, and you could move the Ohio State line to +1.5 and Cincinnati to -2.5.
- Futures: Examples include betting on a team to win the NCAA tournament, make the Final Four, win a conference tournament or win more or less than a set number of regular season games. The odds will be available for much of the year, and change alongside a team’s chances. When you place a bet, you lock in the currently posted odds. Bet on Ohio State to win the NCAA tournament ahead of the season at +1800 odds, or place a futures bet on the Dayton Flyers at +15000 odds, and win big if they can do it.
- Props: An example of a player prop would be betting on Buckeyes forward Justice Sueing to score more than 20 points in a specific game at -115 odds. You’d win $100, plus your bet back, on a bet of $115 if he can do it.
3 top NCAA basketball betting tips
Here are three tips to help you have a better time when betting on college basketball:
- Perform focused research: Research one college basketball conference or region. Read and watch everything you can about the teams and players there. Turn random picks and guesses into more educated picks.
- Watch games: Develop your own opinions on the players and teams you watch. There’s no substitute for this kind of research.
- Identify upsets: Many college basketball games pit huge favorites against longshots. The outcomes are predictable, except sometimes they’re not. Upsets are a reality in NCAA basketball, especially during conference tournaments and March Madness. Look closely for these upsets as the long March Madness odds on big underdogs can turn even a small bet into a big payday. Seeing the deep runs of VCU and UCLA, for example, and their starting odds for the First Four, are a great case in point. Try to find those trap games for big favorites, where they might be looking past the opponent, or rivalries where underdogs can often punch above their weight. Finding just a few upsets can pay off big.