There’s no question that when it comes to NCAA basketball totals, the combined amount scored by each team in a single game, a strong mental game, is key. Being tough defensively in college basketball is often times reactionary while scoring on the hard court requires having a progressive mind. This is why companies like Sports Psychology Today have not only become a focal point for athletes, parents and coaches, but they’ve also become important to sports handicappers that pay attention to NCAA basketball totals.
The key to knowing whether or not a game will go over the total is to not only knowing the shooting percentages of each team but to also knowing the defensive shooting percentages, what a team allows percentage wise from the floor each game on average. Taking it further, total handicappers need to understand how players will respond to the inevitable coaching adjustments that occur during each game.
That’s where sports psychology comes into play. It’s not enough that coaches make offensive adjustments during games, it’s also important that players have the mental edge to put those offensive adjustments into place if players wish to score points and, thereby, help their teams win. For the NCAA basketball totals handicapper, knowing which players have that mental edge and which players might not in a game that the handicapper is studying could very well lead to a bankroll victory or a bankroll defeat.
This is why guards have become the focal point for both college and pro basketball. Since 2008, three out of the five first overall draft picks have been scoring point guards: Derrick Rose in 2008, John Wall in 2010 and Kyrie Irving in 2011. In the college game, the most successful teams, the ones that make it to the Final Four, and almost without fail have a decided effect on whether or not a game goes over or under the NCAA basketball totals, year in and year out, are guard centric teams. At last year’s NCAA Tournament, only one team, Kansas, didn’t revolve around their guard play. Kentucky, the Tournament winner, Louisville and Butler all had offenses that were predicated upon their guards playing well.
This NCAA basketball season is a classic example of how guard play has become the focal point of teams trying to get to the Big Dance. The teams that score the most points per game, Gonzaga, Michigan and Arizona for instance, rely heavily on their guards. Michigan, a serious contender for a National Championship, averages 77 points per game.
For total handicappers, paying attention to sports psychology, to the mental part of the game, is a key in making successful wagers. By studying the ability of guards to implement their coaches’ in game adjustments, to, essentially, put more points on the board, handicappers can get a better idea of whether or not games will go over or under NCAA basketball totals.
