With the NHL trade deadline coming to an end today, sports handicappers are now focusing on the NBA as the top major sport. After a near four month lockout, the NBA was forced to adjust their season to 66 games, which in turn requires the implementation of back to back games on a regular basis. As one can imagine, if you are preparing for the March Madness betting tournament, handicapping back to back games in the NBA can give you an excellent read on which teams to wager upon. Here is a guide to assist you in your research.
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The basic handicapping system for back to back NBA games, called for the bettor to take the home underdog, when the road favorite was a favorite in the game the night before. Essentially, the theory suggested, that because it was hard to win on the road, you could take a weaker home dog in the second of back to backs for the road team since they were due for a let down. However, in the last four years the system has experienced a bit of a backfire, as the road team has gone 58-42-one since 2008-2009. Thus, sharp bettors using the system, would suffer a loss of 22 units.

Now, what’s interesting to note, is that if you used the same system, except bet the over instead of the spread, you would have won at a resounding 58 percent. Basically, the let down that was taking place amongst the road favorites, allowed for the weaker home teams, to score more points. In other words, the total would go over the allotted number, because of the lack of defense from both sides. This in turn translates to a win loss record for the sports betting system of an identical 58 – 42 – one.

With the March Madness betting tournament just around the corner, fans and handicappers of other sports leagues, are beginning to acquaint themselves with the different wagering methods used in college hoops. Whether you are new or more experienced, refreshing your memory on college basketball betting totals, can go a long way in helping you turn a profit. Totals, comparable to the major sports leagues, takes into account how many points the two teams in a game will combine to score. If you think the teams will combine for less points then the sportsbooks number, you will take the under and vice versa for the over.

For all intents and purposes, the sportsbooks spend much less time focusing on college basketball lines, then they do on the NBA. Not as much value is taken into account for college referees in comparison to NBA referees. While most handicappers take the role of the referee into account in order to determine how a game will fair against the spread or total, in college basketball that simply isn’t the case. The best way to alternatively handicap the college basketball games is by looking at how the teams carry the pace of the game. Two lesser teams are more likely to play at a slow pace, as the plays take time to develop, and there are plenty of missed shots. At the same time, two powerhouse teams are such, because they can increase the tempo and overwhelm their opponents.

For instance, in the Syracuse v St. John’s game a few weeks back, the game featured a quick team in Syracuse taking on a slower team in St. John’s. Since Syracuse received a few players back from injury, the game quickly became a blowout and went over the total. All five starters for Syracuse scored in double digits as well. Thus they were able to over take St. John’s defense without much issue.