How Do College Basketball Computer Picks Work?
For college basketball picks, Odds Shark has a supercomputer algorithm for picking sides and totals for every college basketball game. The table above displays computer-calculated picks based on the past 100 games of the college basketball season. When making college basketball picks, the algorithm factors in many variables like a team’s recent play, home/away splits, injuries, historical matchups and the betting odds for a game.
If this isn’t making sense, that’s OK because Odds Shark has configured a few key terms to help you interpret and utilize the computer picks located above. Below we will break down how the units and profits work from the computer and its overall record with college basketball picks for the spread, total and moneyline.
Units Of Profit For Picks: Opening and Closing Odds
In order to keep track of betting records and profits, the computer will generate an opening and closing line. It uses that to calculate the past 100 college basketball picks made based on a bettor placing $100 on each game and whether it was or wasn’t profitable.
“To Win” indicates any straight-up or moneyline bet that the player wins. “ATS” or “against the spread” is a representation of the record based on wagers placed against the spread. “Totals” or “O/U” shows the record for both OVER and UNDER college basketball picks.
Picks Record: Opening and Closing Odds
There are three important columns for the college basketball computer picks table that shows results for the most common sports bets placed for NCAA basketball. The first one is “To Win” which represents moneyline bets, where the computer is picking the winner of the match, regardless of any winning margin.
The second column is for “ATS” or “against the spread.” This type of wager for college basketball picks is when the computer picks a team to win by a certain number of points (the favorite) or not lose by more than a certain number of points (underdog).
The third and final column has to do with college basketball game “totals” or “O/U” where the computer picks the OVER or UNDER for the final combined score in a game. These totals are set by oddsmakers and also have an “opening” and “closing” total by tipoff.
Looking For Expert College Basketball Picks?
Finding a reliable source for free college basketball picks can be difficult but Odds Shark has got you covered. Our supercomputer generates expert consensus NCAA basketball picks that can point you in the right direction and help you become a profitable bettor.
Review our computer’s predictions and cross-reference them with yours so you can take advantage of these free picks before you place any money on the college basketball bets.
Here’s how our computer would pick a college basketball game. For instance, let’s use a hypothetical matchup between the Duke Blue Devils and Kentucky Wildcats. Here’s how the matchup’s moneyline odds would look at the sportsbook when bettors are ready to wager:
Duke -180
Kentucky +225
For a moneyline bet, Odds Shark’s computer has a college basketball picks algorithm for predicting a win; in this case, it’s backing the favorite in Duke. Bettors can tell who the favorite is based on the minus sign (-) in front of the numeral. The underdog, Kentucky, is shown by the plus sign (+) in front of the numeral.
Besides forecasting a winner, bettors can also use this information to see a predicted score for each college basketball matchup. This can assist you when deciding on ATS or totals bets, showing how many projected points will be scored and how many points a team would win by.
Consensus Picks and Public Betting
Consensus data can also be a great tool for bettors ready to wager on college basketball picks because then you can see which side of the matchup the public is on.
Fading the public isn’t always the best strategy, but it can be a useful tool to see the number of bets and where the money is going on a game and which side is taking the most action.
Odds Shark’s college basketball computer picks give you an edge that is necessary to beat your bookie and weighs the public data when giving out its pick.