March Madness Betting: Put Down Your “Dukes” at Sports Gambling

March Madness betting is full of ironies. One of the biggest is that the more powerful the team, the less likely that they bring value.

March Madness betting never goes to form. Success against the March Madness betting line is often an exercise in thinking outside the box! The Duke Blue Devils in 2008 March Madness betting action give us a great example of how it is often wise to turn OFF the power when it comes to the “Big Dance”.

Duke was a 20-point chalk in their opening round game on the March Madness betting board against Belmont, who few people even heard of, even amongst college basketball fanatics. Yet Duke barely escaped with a 71-70 win as they easily failed to cover the March Madness betting spread.

In their very next game against West Virginia, who was rebuilding under first year head coach Bob Huggins, the Blue Devils were a 4-point chalk on the March Madness betting board. Once again, Duke failed to cover the March Madness betting line as they lost 67-73.

The great March Madness betting lesson from this is that Duke is one of the ultimate “public” teams in March Madness betting, which drives their price far beyond what it actually should be. As a result, those who take Duke are paying far too high of a price against the March Madness betting odds.

Duke had this same problem in 2007 when they blew their only game on the March Madness betting board against Virginia Commonwealth 77-79 as a 6-point chalk.

Another way to look at succeeding against the March Madness betting line is that you want to think like an oddsmaker and a sportsbook and put yourself on the same side as the sportsbook. Sportsbooks aren't in business because the majority of the public is winning and that is certainly the case in March Madness betting.

The more you go against popular teams such as Duke the more that you are in alliance with the oddsmakers and the sportsbooks as they are the ones, after all, charging the premium price on the boards for such teams.