Right now people can bet on NCAA basketball games involving every single team. There are more than 350 programs to bet on with every state other than Alaska being represented. These teams include many prominent schools from Air Force to Youngstown State.
Of course, the betting options in the NCAA basketball world are always growing in size thanks in part to the schools that are continuing to enter into the Division I rank. These schools include ones that will come into the fray in the next few years.
Needless to say, the only way how NCAA basketball teams can get on the sports books these days is if they are in the Division I level. There might be times when people could bet on things like a Division II or III championship game but the betting options for those events are few and far between.
As of the summer of 2015, there are five programs that will be entering into the Division I level very soon. In 2016, Northern Kentucky University will get into the Division I level. The Norse will play in the Horizon League, a change from the Atlantic Sun conference that they were originally going to play in.
Meanwhile, four new programs will enter into the Division I rank in 2017. The Southland conference will welcome Abilene Christian University and the University of the Incarnate Word. Both of these schools are based out of Texas, a state that the Southland conference is heavily focused on.
Grand Canyon University in Phoenix will enter into the WAC in 2017. The University of Massachusetts-Lowell will also enter into the American East conference. The River Hawks are better known for their hockey program in the Hockey East conference.
The growth of the college basketball game is clearly a sign of how well the game is going and that people are interested in more ways to bet on the game at sportsbooks with new teams in mind. The real question at this point comes from how much of an effort will be used to potentially change the way conferences are arranged, what with there being so many of these teams and none of them being independent.