Millions of Americans are working on their 2024 NCAA Tournament brackets. Bettors everywhere are moving line by line through reams of data and college basketball betting odds.'
I fall into both camps. I'm still weighing the benefits of certain upset picks – six bracket pools and counting! – and finalizing my list of NCAA Tournament first-round best bets.'
Fortunately, I work for the BetMGM online sportsbook, which gives me lots of access to data on how users are betting and odds are changing.
March Madness Bracket Advice
Before I get into the actual line movement data, let me talk for just a moment to all the non-bettors. I love betting these NCAA Tournament games, and perhaps you would too! But if you're only interested in brackets, there's still a lot of interesting information you can glean from sportsbook data.'
Most commonly: If a point spread is moving toward an underdog, the market is hinting that there could be some value in advancing that underdog in your bracket. This can be especially true in cases where the line is moving in the opposite direction of the overall public ticket margin. (This is called reverse line movement.)