When it comes to college basketball betting Saturday, just like NFL Sundays, there is a tough divide that has to be treaded in order to avoid spoiling the positives with the negatives of the day. While the Saturday is kind enough to gives the college hoops fans a ton of pay head lines to wager on, it is also harsh enough to give the college hoops fans a little too many lines to wager on at times, and that is the double-edged sword that needs to be handled with care.

It may seem at first like a huge benefit to have so many games available to bet on, but that also means that by stretching out so many per head options on the same day, players run the risk of paying too little attention to the games that they are playing, and that could result in some tough beats. With the game wagering week usually ending on Sundays, there has been more than enough occasions where players turn a solid week in to an awful one with a series of losses on Saturday, the day before cashing out. Rather than getting carried away with wagering on every game, some notable advice would be to stick with what you know, and focus in on a couple of specific games. Treat NCAA basketball Saturday like any other day and focus on specific matchups, and just like any other day you will make a profit and not run the risk of becoming overexposed.

When it comes to college basketball betting, there are two distinct approaches that the majority of players seem to take. Some players will jump right in to the action hoping that the pay head bookies will slip up with so much of their attention still on the NFL, NBA, and NHL, and that they can find a line that isn’t where it should be. Meanwhile, other players will take a more reserved approach to the sport and wait for a few games before playing any wagers in order to get a sample of what to expect from the teams early on. While it is hard to argue against either one of these approaches since neither appears to have a distinct advantage, perhaps there are more important factors to consider when betting on the NCAA early season.

The number of returning players is the most important factor to consider when betting on college basketball early on, as those players will be key to their team’s success as the freshman figure out where they fit at the college level and develop chemistry with their teammates. No position is more important than point guard, so for teams with returning point guards that are considered quality players, they are among the best to wager on early. Another key to learning more about these teams early is to focus in on one or two schools and try to make sure that you find where their strengths and weaknesses are in order to project how they will perform. With the Betonline bookies so stretched trying to figure out so many different lines, inside knowledge could be enough to outsmart them.

Sports betting basketball handicappers are shifting their focus from the professional to college ranks this season, as the former is currently entrenched in a lockout. With so many college players returning to school for another year due to the NBA lockout, fans and handicappers alike have plenty to choose from when it comes to picking the best stars. Here are a few MLB betting college basketball impact players heading into the 2011 – 12 seasons.

Kent Bazemore Old Dominion Monarchs – Last season, the Old Dominion Monarchs were considered by many to be one of the best defensive minded teams in the entire NCAA. One of the main reasons for the team’s success was relative unknown Kent Bazemore, a junior who elevated his game to help Old Dominion reach the March Madness tournament. At six feet five inches tall, Bazemore is one of the smaller players in the NCAA. Nevertheless, if Bazemore can duplicate his two and half steals per game and 30 blocks on the season from a year ago, Old Dominion will once again play in the March Madness tournament.

John Henson North Carolina Tar Heels – As part of the big three in North Carolina, the six foot 10 inch tall John Henson is the defensive catalyst of the team’s success. Last season, Henson was the ACC defensive player of the year, as he helped guide the Tar Heels to an extended run in the March Madness tournament. This year, along with Tyler Zeller and Harrison Barnes, Henson will have an opportunity to repeat as the ACC’s defensive player of the year, while working on his offensive game.

Aaron Craft Ohio State Buckeyes – When you play on a team that includes arguably the best freshmen in the game in Jarred Sullinger, it was easy for fans and experts alike to not even notice Aaron Craft last season. While many will argue that Sullinger was the reason for the team’s success, it was actually Craft’s vision and defensive prowess that allowed OSU to maintain their strong play.

With the NBA draft now a distant memory, it is once again time for college basketball betting enthusiasts to examine which schools have the best draft classes heading into the 2011 – 12 seasons. Last year, a plethora of players many of us believed were going to be one and done type players, chose to stay in college due to a possible strike in the NBA. As a result, their schools will remain strong, but will also have to contend with these other schools that had excellent recruiting months. Here is our sports betting look at the top recruiting schools this offseason.

Michigan State Spartans – The Spartans started off strong last season, before dropping off and ultimately not going very far in the March Madness tournament. As a result, the Spartans coaching staff, made sure that this offseason was going to be a big one from a recruiting stand point. The crown jewel of Michigan State’s class is a six foot six inch small forward named Branden Dawson. While Dawson is no Kalin Lucas, he still provides the Spartans with that much needed go to player in big game situations.

Ohio State Buckeyes – Regardless of the return of power forward Jarred Sullinger, the Buckeyes once again possess one of the best draft classes in school history. This offseason, the Buckeyes recruited center Amir Williams and point guard Shannon Scott, two stand outs in the McDonalds High School game. Small forwards Sam Thompson and LaQuinton Ross provide the Buckeyes with different options for the low post heading into 2011 – 12.

Texas Longhorns – After losing their big three of Canadians Tristan Thompson and Corey Joseph, as well as American Jordan Hamilton, to the NBA Draft, the Longhorns rebounded rather nicely. Texas loves Canadians, as they recruited point guard Myck Kabongo who is considered to be the best point guard in this year’s draft class. Similar to last two first overall NBA draft choices John Wall and Kyrie Irving, Kabongo is considered to be a one and done player.

Last night the March Madness betting world took center stage, as the Butler Bulldogs took on the Connecticut Huskies. In a league plagued by schools being suspended, it was a nice sports betting surprise to see the Connecticut Huskies a team on probation walk away as NCAA March Madness champions. Here is a recap.

On Monday April 4, 2011 the college basketball betting world, was disgusted at the final. In what can best be described as one of the most boring games in NCAA history, the Connecticut Huskies defeated the Butler Bulldogs by a score of 53 – 41. The game went well under the total predicted, as both teams put on a defensive clinic. In fact, overall the Butler Bulldogs emerged as a team we always knew they were, a pretender. During the game, the Bulldogs shot 18 percent overall, and despite leading after the first half 22 – 19, never really were in the game.

The second half of the game was all about the Connecticut Huskies, in terms of scoring ability and just flat out being the better school. There is no betonline.com scam, Connecticut normally plays in the Big East Conference, and going into the Final Four this past weekend, they were the only one of 11 Big East qualifying teams to have made it past the Sweet 16.

During the game last night, the Connecticut Huskies showed the world that despite being put on probation for illegal recruiting tactics, Jim Calhoun similar to Mike Krzyzewski in the 2010 Butler v Duke final is a far superior Head Coach to Brad Stevens. Connecticut also showed that playing in a much tougher conference all season and then region in the March Madness tournament, gave them the fortitude to perform at a high level. The victory for Connecticut is bittersweet going into the offseason, as Kemba Walker is headed to the NBA draft, and Jim Calhoun is headed for a suspension for the aforementioned illegal recruiting tactics.

PayPerHead.com, an online sportsbook service provider for local agents, today unveiled a new campaign featuring Vince Curatola, Johnny Sack of The Sopranos fame.

The campaign leads with Vince asking “Five bucks a head, that’s what I wanna pay…” and the website, featuring video and voice overs by Vince, walks you through the product, the process and the competition.

“Five bucks a head is really an industry first given our level of service,” a spokesman from PayPerHead.com explained. “And we very carefully and in great detail delineate on the website exactly what you get and at what price level at PayPerHead versus the other serious players, such as PPH International.”

As a sportsbook agent, what you get is a lot, including not only the traditional online sportsbook but an optional casino, live poker, in game live betting, mobile betting, tools for managing players and their funds, layoff and scalp accounts, even a “sharp check.” “We have the sharpest lines out there and one of the most experienced stages anywhere offshore,” the spokesman said, “so if we start seeing sharp action from one of your players, we can give you a heads up. What you want to do with him is up to you.”

The choice of Vince Curatola has intrigued many. “We always liked Vince’s character on The Sopranos, as John “Johnny Sack” Sacramoni,” the PayPerHead spokesman said. “He had a certain style, always classy, but never over the top; there’s a calmness and authority about him that we really admire.  He brings that serious business demeanor to PayPerHead.com, the first sportsbook-service to EVER feature any kind of celebrity in its marketing.”

With post-up books like BetUS, Sportsbook.com and SportsInteraction stopping taking US players, Bodog and others struggling with “Ecom” processing problems, the street scene is heating up and players are posting daily in forums looking for a “local out.” Players want the biggest choice of markets, including live in-game betting, and the convenience of anytime betting online or via their mobile device, but more and more say “they want to bet online but prefer to settle in cash on Monday.”

Is this the future of online sports betting? It very well could be. And with firms like PayPerHead.com investing in marketing in an unprecedented way (celebs, who’d have thunk it?!) and in product (they also offer live poker, casino and in-game betting), expect to see this sector grow significantly this season.

For more information, see PayPerHead.com.

With just under 48 hours until the next round of March Madness betting 2011, many bettors including ourselves, are now scrambling to readjust our final four bracket. The first week of the 2011 March Madness betting tournament was one of the most thrilling opening weeks in the last decade, as many teams came out of seemingly nowhere to advance. Here is our new March Madness final four prediction.

After one week of March Madness action, three of the four teams bestowed with the honor of being a number one seed in their region remain in the tournament. The Pittsburgh Panthers fell to Butler, while the Ohio State Buckeyes, Kansas Jayhawks and Duke Blue Devils all survived to live another day.

On the other hand, several teams with lower seeding came up huge in the first three rounds of the tournament to really surprise a lot of bettors. For instance, after being named as one of the bubble teams that needed to play in the first round, Virginia Commonwealth University has seemingly grown as the tournament has carried on. Otherwise known as VCU, Virginia Commonwealth could become the first team to make it all the way to the final four after playing in the at large bid games.

For our final four prediction, we are keeping Ohio State as the champion of the East and despite a strong effort, we feel that VCU will fall to number one seed Kansas in the Southwest region. That leaves the West and Southeast as the two regions that we need to readjust.

In the West region, we originally had Texas as the representative, but they fell to Arizona. Instead, we will take Mountain West Conference Champion San Diego State Aztecs to represent the west. The Aztecs have taken their game to the next level and look to be getting stronger as the tournament progresses.

Meanwhile, in the Southeast, we believe that the Butler Bulldogs will be the representative, as they too have taken their game to the next level. After shocking the world a year ago by emerging as a fifth seed all the way to the National Title game, the Butler Bulldogs have proven once again that they are for real as an eighth seed. Firstly, they defeated Old Dominion in the first round on a last second tip in to ruin our bracket, (that is no betonline com scam). Then they beat Pitt on free throw with 0.8 seconds left in the game. To say Butler has been as lucky as they are good would be an understatement.

This past weekend saw the end of the 2010-11 college basketball betting regular season. With less than two weeks before the 2011 edition of the March Madness betting tournament, each conference will now enter their own mini tournaments. The conference tournaments are used to decide which teams will automatically qualify and which will be forced to play their way into the tournament. Today we focus on the Big East tournament, which could see as many as 11 of the 16 teams qualify for the madness.

If the 2010 – 11 Big East Conference regular season play is any indication, the Big East Tournament coming up later this week may be the best part of the entire season. Put March Madness on the back burner for a week, as your attention should be glued to the Big East Tournament set for the weekend of March 11 to March 14 from New York. This year’s tournament could be an indication of things to come in the March Madness tournament as 11 of the 16 teams in the conference could make up parts of three brackets in the Madness tournament.

Over the last two months, all 16 schools to make up the Big East have literally torn a strip off on one another for our handicapping pleasure. What’s perhaps most astonishing about the Big East, is that without the inter-conference tournament even starting yet, there has already been 28 games involving ranked teams. What’s more five of those 28 games have involved teams ranked within the top 10.

Meaning to say, not only is the Big East a conference full of talent, but it is one made up of some of the best talent in the entire NCAA. In fact, we will go out on a limb and say that the winner of the Big East tournament goes far in the March Madness tournament.

The March Madness betting tournament takes place annually every March and features over 68 teams battling for the opportunity to be named as National Champion for that season. While 68 teams start the tournament, it’s fair to assume in the sports betting world, that the tournament truly begins at the round of 16 stage. For the sports bettor unfamiliar with how to bet on the March Madness tournament, here is a guide on how to do so.

March Madness betting is similar to college basketball wagering, in that handicappers can use the point spread, money line and totals on each game. Today we will look at how to bet on March Madness and pass along some tips when using each method. The one method we will be looking at is the point spreads line.

1. Point Spread – The point spread is an advantage created by the sportsbook to make the underdog look more appealing. Essentially, when you play the point spread, your goal is to bet on whether you believe the favorite will win by the amount of points set up in the spread. Tip: In a game featuring seeds 5 to 12, you should take the underdog to cover the point spread because the teams seeded within these numbers are closer in skill level than those teams seeded one and 16 and onwards. Here is how it appears.

BYU

Florida +10

In this example, BYU is the favorite and bettors taking them on the point spread need the Cougars to win the game by 11 or more points. However, we suggest you take Florida in this matchup to cover the point spread, as they have a good defense and high scoring offense. Meaning to say, if you take Florida on the point spread, you need the Gators to lose the game by nine of more points, or win the game outright.

In less than a month the NCAA basketball betting online world will be front and center as the 2011 edition of the March Madness betting tournament to crown a National Champion in college hoops will be underway. While the AP top 25 takes most of the college basketball betting attention, there are many teams on the rise that could surprise in the tournament. Here is a look at some of the underdogs for this year’s tournament.

The UCLA Bruins and North Carolina Tar Heels will be back in the March Madness tournament, for the first time since 2009 as both schools appear to have turned a corner. Last week, the North Carolina Tar Heels, with a team made up mostly of freshmen and sophomores took the Duke Blue Devils, last season’s March Madness winner to the limit in a thrilling game. The Tar Heels weren’t able to come away with the win, however they showed the rest of the NCAA that a March Madness berth is on the mind this season.

Meanwhile, the UCLA Bruins are making lots of noise this college hoops season, a big change from last year’s team. The Bruins are currently riding a five game win streak and have won nine of their last 10 games. UCLA is 18 and seven this season with a nine and three record against the rest of the Pac 10. The Bruins are led by Malcolm Lee and Joshua Smith, who appear to be destined for good careers at the college level.

In years past, saying that the UCLA Bruins and North Carolina Tar Heels were underdogs, would have got us laughed at. However, this season, with such young rosters, both squads appear to be in Cinderella mode as opposed to heavyweight contender. Meaning to say, both of these teams could make serious runs in the March Madness Tournament, en route to surprise final four finishes.