March Madness Final Four Betting Trends

Final Four betting is finally upon us, and BetUS Sportsbook will be there with all of your sports betting needs as the last four teams standing fight for college basketball’s ultimate prize. Before placing your bets, check out these Final Four trends…

Dog Days of Spring

Since 2002, everything in the Final Four has revolved around the underdog. The puppies are 9-4 against the basketball betting line, including a ton of outright victories. Granted, most of the lines are tight, thus making the fact that there have been a bunch of upsets a lot more moot. In fact, no team has been favored by as many points in the Final Four as North Carolina is against Villanova this week. Florida was the biggest favorite of the bunch since 2002 when it finally ended the great run of George Mason in ’06 as 6.5-point favorites. Going back through 14 years of Final Four games shows that playing underdogs on the moneyline may be the way to go. Underdogs are 15-13 ATS and 12-16 SU in the L/28 games. If either Michigan State or Villanova finds a way to pull off the upset, playing moneyline dogs could make for a huge weekend.

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Carolina Crazy

Under HC Roy Williams, the Tar Heels have been absolutely unstoppable in the NCAA Tournament. They are 8-1 SU and ATS over the last two tournaments and are an astounding 15-8 ATS and 19-4 SU in 23 tournament games in his tenure. Last year’s Final Four was a disaster for the boys in Carolina blue though, as they were blown away by Kansas 84-66 as 2.5-point favorites. However, if you look back to the only other Final Four for the Heels under Williams, the exact opposite could be said. UNC won the ’05 crown by beating Michigan State and Illinois by a combined 19 points and easily covered both spreads in the process.

All ‘Over’ Nova

As the calendar turned to 2009, Villanova wasn’t on anyone’s radar to make a run in the NCAA Tournament. It covered eight straight spreads from the middle of January through the middle of February and has simply been on fire since. Since February 4th, the Cats have averaged a whopping 81.1 points per game, which is particularly remarkable considering the fact that they only scored 54 against Georgetown and 55 against Louisville in that stretch. Take those two games out, and the average soars up to 84.9 points per game. ‘Over’ bettors are 11-5 in that stretch of games, and are 3-1 so far in this NCAA Tournament.

Siding with the Spartans

Without a doubt, Head Coach Tom Izzo has built a tremendous powerhouse program at Michigan State in his illustrious tenure. The Spartans are a perfect 4-0 ATS in this year’s NCAA Tournament, thanks in large part to the play of C Goran Suton. Don’t consider this to be anything new though, as MSU is a whopping 21-8-1 ATS in its L/30 NCAA Tournament games. The last time the Spartans were in the Final Four was back in 2005, and though they entered that game with the same 4-0 ATS tourney record, they were blown away by eventual National Champion, North Carolina. The previous appearance for Michigan State in the Final Four was in 2000 when it won the National Championship. Sparty went 5-1 ATS in that tournament, including a perfect 2-0 ATS in the Final Four.