College Basketball Conference Teams
If there is one sport where many ‘sharp’ bettors believe they have an edge on the bookmakers, it’s College Basketball and it has to do with familiarity. There are over 350 College Basketball Teams and they’re divided into over 30 conferences. No matter how many man hours you can put forth, it’s next to impossible to have a solid pulse on every College Basketball Conference Team. The power ratings on the lower tier schools are difficult to figure out and that’s where the advantage goes to the bettor. The only caveat is that the betting limits on College Basketball is very low compared to other sports and that’s how the house or in the case the sportsbook protects itself from getting slammed by the professional bettors.
Fun fact for college basketball bettors – 49 of the 50 states in the United States has at least one College Basketball Conference Team represented. The lone outlier is Alaska. The states that make up the most College Basketball Teams are from three states – California, Texas and New York. That shouldn’t be surprisingly since all of those teams boast some of the highest population numbers. The NCAA Tournament or what’s known as March Madness does award all of the conferences with automatic bids. There are currently 36 at-large selections that are given to the College Basketball Conference winners and they’ll battle it out in the Brackets.
What are the most important College Basketball Conferences?
For College Basketball, there are six major college basketball conferences.
- Big Ten
- Big 12
- ACC
- Big East
- SEC
- Pac-12
The ACC boasts the most members with 15 while the Big Ten and SEC both have 14 schools. The Pac-12 has a dozen teams while the Big 12 only has 10 even though the name could be confusing. The Big East also has 10 and most of these members come from universities are known as “Catholic Schools.”
The top College Basketball Conferences often win the national championship and there have been very few teams that sit outside this group according to the VegasInsider.com History feature.
After the main six conferences in College Basketball, there are groups that have been given the label as mid-majors. Notable conferences include the Atlantic 10, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt, West Coast and the WAC.
The best College Basketball Team that has made noise from those conferences is Gonzaga, a member of the West Coast Conference (WCC). The small school out of Spokane, Washington is a perennial contender yet it’s only made one trip to the Final Four.
