FADING THE College Basketball TOP 25!

Now that football is all but over some bettors turn their focus to college basketball. Just in time for conference play to really heat up. Many bettors haven’t watched much CBB this year so its easy to start laying points betting on the Top 25. If you do that in conference play the losses will ultimately start to mount and your hard earned bankroll will diminish. To make some money in the last 6 weeks before the tournament, more times than not you need to fade the top 25. This weeks AP top 25 poll (Feb 2 – Feb 8) combined to win 61 percent ATS in non conference play. Since conference play has started that ATS record is just 49 percent. That’s a pretty big difference. Here are 3 reasons why.

1. Teams make their own non conference schedules and beat up on cupcakes for 2 months. Reality hits when the calendar flips to January and the real competition begins and many of the teams aren’t ready for the spike in competition. That doesn’t mean the better teams will suddenly start racking up losses. It means the blowouts they enjoyed in November turn into competitive games against fierce rivals.

2. Teams start hitting the road in front of hostile students (many of whom have a few hours of beer pong under their belts before stepping in the arena), heckling opposing players and just looking to rush the court. Playing on the road in college basketball is arguable the toughest in sports. Tightly packed arenas with student sections basically on top of you, it can be intimidating for young players. College basketball is getting younger and younger and going on the road in these major conferences is like nothing they’ve experienced or get used to.

3. The coaches and players from middle of the pack teams know how important these games are. Teams play their asses off to get that signature win or 2 and pad their resume to impress the selection committee. Wins against a top 25 team will go a long way to punching a tourney ticket come March. The difference in athletic ability isn’t as glaring and the coaches know one another so well. Therefore blowouts are rare with many games coming down to the wire.

Top 25 teams have good looking records and shiny tournament resumes but when it comes to the betting more times than not, fading the the top 25 is the right play.