NCAA Tournament First Round First Half Totals

Taking a look ahead to next week, the 2014 NCAA Tournament will be upon us. March Madness draws in almost everyone, including 40 million Americans.  There are not too many people who are not involved in at least one bracket pool or trying to find the diamond in the NCAA tournament odds somewhere.

The tourney also increases the action at sports books as a lot of college basketball betting is done on the games.  It’s reported that over $2.5 million is wagered in hopes of cashing in one last time before the season is over.

Today we will look at what has been a solid piece of handicapping advice in the NCAA Tournament over the last two years.

Consider this.  The opening matchup is the biggest game of most players’ season. With the one-and-done format, it is hard to think there won’t be any first game jitters. There is the added intensity of the game.  The neutral court.  All of this means teams could struggle to find there touch.  They should be playing hard on defense.  Taken together you can wee why the under in the first half of opening round games might be a smart play.

Let’s take a look at the 1st half totals for opening round games the past 2 years:

Now, here is the real gold.  Elite teams (1-3 seeds) have the talent to get easier hoops against the 14,15,16 seeds.  Thus, they may not be as prone to the lower scoring 1st half.

That means all other games are 31-7 (81.6%) to the under in the first half.  This includes just games involving seeds 4-8!

When you look at the odds don’t forget over unders.  Especially in the 1st half where there is a great opportunity to cash on the UNDER!  This is a March Madness betting strategy that you don’t want to miss.

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