2010 Patriot League Tournament Preview

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/01/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The usual suspects in the Patriot League might be taking a backseat to a new crop of stars as the 20th annual conference tournament tips off this week.

American University, which is the two-time defending champion of this event after beating Colgate in 2008 and Holy Cross last season, is the fourth seed this time around, while a program like Holy Cross, with its 26-14 record and five titles in the tournament over the years, is the seven seed.

Lehigh (19-10, 10-4) earned the top seed in the tournament, but just barely. The Mountain Hawks closed the regular season with back-to-back wins over Bucknell and Holy Cross, giving the squad four wins in the last five outings overall. Lehigh was the top scoring team in the league with an average of 75.4 ppg, giving the squad the best scoring margin (plus-3.7 ppg) in the Patriot. Despite his freshman status, C.J. McCollum placed third in the league in scoring with his 18.8 ppg, while Marquis Hall and Zahir Carrington supplied some senior leadership with 11.3 and 10.5 ppg, respectively.

Army (14-14, 4-10), which lost to the Mountain Hawks by double digits in each meeting this season, began the 2009-10 campaign with favorable results by winning nine of the first 11 contests, but then the league schedule kicked in and not much went right for the Black Knights. The squad averaged a mere 60.9 ppg, the lowest average in the PL, but by coincidence the Knights also surrendered an identical 60.9 ppg as well, which meant they had the stiffest defense in the league. Cleveland Richard (12.8 ppg) and Julian Simmons (11.5 ppg) were crucial to the scoring effort, but it was field goal percentage defense (.408) and three-point percentage defense (.334) that kept the group competitive.

The Bucknell Bison (14-16, 9-5) were roughed up during the non-conference portion of the schedule and their loss to Lehigh in the final week of action proved to be costly as they dropped to the second seed and will now challenge seventh-seeded Holy Cross in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. The Bison finished seventh in the league in field goal shooting at a mere 41.1 percent, the team's 32.8 percent behind the three-point line being the worst in the league. From an offensive standpoint, the Bison failed to put a single scorer in the top-20, with Mike Muscala coming up with a team-best 9.9 ppg and Darryl Shazier another 9.8 ppg.

Like the Bison, the Crusaders (8-21, 5-9) scheduled a number of top-notch, non-conference opponents this season and because of it had a tough time mounting wins. Holy Cross, which lost two in a row and four-of-five games to close out the regular season, ranks second in the league in three-point shooting at 38 percent and is third in overall field goal shooting at 44.4 percent, but that didn't always matter since the squad was second from the bottom in points allowed with a hefty 72.2 ppg. A pair of sophomores ranked in the top-10 in scoring as R.J. Evans and Devin Brown both recorded 13.2 ppg during the regular season, while Andrew Keister (10.4 ppg) came closest to averaging a double-double in the Patriot League with his 9.4 rpg.

Taking on the winner of the Bucknell/Holy Cross encounter in the semifinals on Sunday will be the survivor of the Lafayette/Colgate battle. The third-seeded Leopards (17-12, 8-6) were second in the conference in scoring with 73.2 ppg, but the team split its two games with Colgate and the visitors won each of those contests. Not only did Lafayette lead the league in free-throw shooting at 75.8 percent, the squad was even ranked in the nation's top-10 in that department as recently as last week. Add to that a league-best 45.7 percent from the floor and it is easy to see why the Leopards need to be feared, although having the weakest field goal shooting defense doesn't bolster that claim. Jared Mintz (14.6 ppg), Jim Mower (13.7 ppg) and Ryan Willen (12.0 ppg) shouldered most of the load on offense for the group, the former also leading the conference with his 55.6 percent accuracy from the floor.

As for the Raiders (10-18, 6-8), the sixth-seed in the event and a squad that has not won the crown since 1996 when Adonal Foyle was still active, they were shooting for glory right out of the gate this season as they opened with a meeting against UConn on the road. Needless to say, that meeting resulted in a double-digit loss and started the ball rolling in what became a nine-game slide to open the campaign. There was a span of four straight wins for the squad almost immediately after, but not much stock could be put in victories over Longwood, Central Connecticut State, NC Central and Army, the last of those forged by just three points in overtime. Nevertheless, one player that Lafayette cannot sleep on is Kyle Roemer, who ranked second in the conference in scoring with his 18.9 ppg, while Yaw Gyawu chipped in with 14.3 ppg for Colgate as well.

The last matchup on the board for the first set of games pits fifth-seeded Navy against American University. The Midshipmen (13-16, 7-7) actually had the same record as the Eagles (10-19, 7-7) in league play, but because American won both regular season meetings, the advantage of playing at home in the quarterfinal round goes to the Eagles.

Navy, which has the second-most tournament titles with three, actually has a losing record over the years in the event at 13-15, but with the league's leading scorer on their side (Chris Harris, 21.1 ppg), the Midshipmen aim to change all of that even though they are opening on the road. Luckily, Harris is not all alone in his endeavors as Jordan Sugars placed fourth in the league with his 15.9 ppg and was also third on the glass with close to eight rebounds per game this season. However, even with one of the strongest rebounders in the Patriot, Navy still placed last in the league with a minus-6.2 rpg margin and that had the squad ranked near the bottom nationally as well. Unfortunately, defense hasn't been a strength of the Midshipmen this season as they ranked last in the league with close to 76 ppg allowed.

As for the Eagles, their offense struggled this season with a mere 62.8 ppg and that left them tied with Navy for the worst scoring margin in the league at minus-4.2 ppg. American was an enigmatic group that lost seven straight games right out of the gate, with defeats at St. Francis-PA, Mount St. Mary's and Maryland-Eastern Shore, yet the squad mixed in a win over DePaul on the road which at the time should have been something to build on before the Blue Demons themselves hit the skids. The Eagles won two straight and three of the last four in the regular season to generate some momentum, but they needed a lot more to propel them to a third straight championship. Stephen Lumpkins stands as the offensive leader with his 12.4 ppg, stemming from 50.4 percent shooting from the field, and at the same time finished second in the conference in rebounding with 8.3 rpg.

Niftu NCAA Basketball Betting News

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Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.

Pro Football Odds : NFC SOUTH BETTING ODDS

NFL Sports Betting

NFL betting action is back! At MySportsbook, all of the pro football odds are posted for the NFC North. Check out how we see the four teams in this cloudy division stacking up this year in the chase for the playoffs! Green Bay Packers (+125) - With QB Aaron Rodgers leading the offense and DC Dom Capers working his magic on defense, the Packers are a real force to be reckoned with.

Virtually nothing changed on this offense for Green Bay from last year to this year, save for the addition of rookie OT Brian Bulaga to the bunch. Expect more huge numbers from the Pack, and a relatively favorable schedule should get them over the hump and into the playoffs once again this season. My NFL Betting Predictions: 11-5, 1st place in NFC North Minnesota Vikings (+130) - There are still too many unknowns about the Vikes this year. There is a huge difference between QB Brett Favre and either Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels under center. Plus, is Favre comes back, is he really going to be able to keep his pick total under double digits again? Depth at running back looked like it might have been an issue with RB Chester Taylor fleeing in free agency, but drafting RB Toby Gerhart should pick up the difference. This defense is still suitable, but with a first place schedule, making the playoffs is going to be very tough regardless of whether #4 comes back or not.

There is a huge difference between QB Brett Favre and either Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels under center. Plus, is Favre comes back, is he really going to be able to keep his pick total under double digits again? Depth at running back looked like it might have been an issue with RB Chester Taylor fleeing in free agency, but drafting RB Toby Gerhart should pick up the difference. This defense is still suitable, but with a first place schedule, making the playoffs is going to be very tough regardless of whether #4 comes back or not. Play this weekly NFL Football Contestto see if you can win.

Chicago Bears (+350) - The Bears are probably a bit of an overhyped team once again this year.No, we don't think it is plausible for QB Jay Cutler to have as bad of a season as he did last year, and we do think the additions of RB Chester Taylor and DE Julius Peppers are going to help immensely, but there's still something in the water in the Windy City that we aren't so sure about. Maybe Chicago finds its way to .500... but then again, maybe it doesn't. If Favre comes back, Cutler might be the worst quarterback in this division this year.

Detroit Lions (+1500) - The Lions are probably once again going to be the whipping boys for the rest of the teams in the NFC North, but they aren't just going to roll over and die once again. There is some real talent amassing on this team offensively, as the combination of QB Matt Stafford, RB Jahvid Best, WR Calvin Johnson, and TE Brandon Pettigrew should put a bunch of points on the board if the offensive line can even remotely hold up. The questions really lie on defense, where it feels like DT Ndamukong Suh is going to be trying to stop opposing teams all by himself. This year should show some marked improvement in the Motor City.

The Patriots will make NFL betting fans a lot of money this season, get in early and enjoy the cash.

NFL Betting

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