Free college basketball pick'em leagues

College basketball has more games than any other sport on Covers Only, with a full slate almost every night from November into March. Run a free pick'em league with friends and choose from the same real lines all season.

What you can pick

• Spread — the favorite has to win by more than the number.
• Straight Up — just pick the winner.
• Total Points — over or under the combined score.

Player Stats picks aren't offered for college basketball.

Making the most of a huge slate

With hundreds of teams, nobody can follow them all. That is part of the fun: members end up picking the conferences they know best, and the standings show whose knowledge holds up. Spread picks matter here too, since the gaps between the best and worst teams are enormous early in the season. A favorite limit stops anyone from padding a record on mismatches.

Setting up your league

• Picks per week. Leagues run Monday to Sunday. Five to ten picks a week works for most groups.
• Daily survivor. A Pick'em Survivor league can run daily, with one pick required for each day that has games. It's a quick, tense format for March.
• With the NBA. Put college and NBA games in one league if your group follows both.

The league types guide compares every format.

The college basketball calendar

• November and December. The season opens with a flood of non-conference games and early-season tournaments, many over Thanksgiving week. Mismatches are common, so a favorite limit and spread picks matter most here.
• Conference play. From January, teams play mostly within their conference, home and away. Home court counts for a lot in college basketball, more than in the NBA.
• Conference tournaments. Early March brings a tournament in every conference, with games almost around the clock for about two weeks.
• March. The national tournament opens with 32 games over its first Thursday and Friday, the busiest two days of the season. Set your season end date to cover it if your group wants to play through the final.

Standings

Picks are graded automatically when games end. Standings sort by win percentage, with a push counting as half a win, and commissioners choose three tiebreakers to settle any ties. See the pick'em rules for details.

Free, with no money

A college basketball league on Covers Only has no entry fee and no prizes. Leagues are private by default, so you can keep it to your group.