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01/31/2012 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hoping to snap a four-game slide, the Seton Hall Pirates take on the 15th-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles in Big East Conference action tonight at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
Seton Hall was a force to be reckoned with through the first 17 games of the season, losing only twice and one of those coming against mighty Syracuse on the road. However, the tide has changed for the Pirates and now they are trying to figure out how to get back on course after losing to Louisville on Saturday in a 60-51 final. In the last two games, Seton Hall has scored a total of just 93 points, one less than the team logged in its last win (94-73) versus DePaul on January 10. Despite the slide in recent weeks, the Pirates still have an overall winning percentage of .714.
As for the Golden Eagles, since losing back-to-back games against Georgetown and the Orange on the road earlier this month, they have not bowed to a single opponent as they've strung together six straight victories. The most recent of those triumphs took place on Saturday afternoon versus Villanova, 82-78, a final that was a bit too close for comfort.
Marquette leads the all-time series with the Pirates by a count of 8-2, but last year Seton Hall broke through for the first time since 1956 as it snapped an eight-game slide in the relationship with an 85-72 triumph at home in New Jersey.
Jordan Theodore scored in double figures for the 14th straight game over the weekend, putting up a team-best 18 points, but still the Pirates succumbed to Louisville at home in the Prudential Center. Theodore led all scorers on both sides, but he did so only after shooting 6-of-20 from the floor and missing all five attempts behind the three-point line. Herb Pope registered a double- double with 12 points and 12 boards in the setback as well. Pope is one of the rare breed who is averaging a double-double this late into the season, producing 15.9 points and 10.4 rebounds per contest, not to mention having accounted for 35 of his team's 68 blocked shots as well. Theodore is responsible for another 16.1 ppg as the top scorer, handing out 7.0 apg along the way, but his mere 29.3 percent shooting beyond the arc and 38.5 percent from the floor overall is something that certainly could be improved upon moving forward.
Down by 18 points in the middle of the first half, the Golden Eagles stormed back in the second half and managed to overcome 16 turnovers and 38.5 percent shooting from the floor in order to capture the four-point win at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Darius Johnson-Odom scored a team-best 26 points, adding six rebounds and five assists, while Jae Crowder registered a double-double with 20 points and a team-high 11 rebounds, while Jamil Wilson delivered 12 points off the bench. Johnson-Odom, a leading scorer in each of the last five games for the program, is one of the top scorers in the Big East with his 18.5 ppg, with Crowder putting up another 16.4 ppg and coming down with 7.4 rpg even as he shoos 40.0 percent behind the three-point line. Marquette's scoring output numbers 76.5 ppg at the moment, more than 12 ppg ahead of the competition (64.4 ppg) which is being forced into 14.5 turnovers per game.
<< Commodores meet Razorbacks in SEC showdown
Fayetteville, AR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 25th-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores hope
to continue their rise in the SEC Standings when they travel to Fayetteville
to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Vanderbilt has won 10 of its last 11 games and is
<< Tigers tangle with Cavs in ACC action
Charlottesville, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Clemson Tigers will try to gain
ground in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings as they head to John Paul
Jones Arena to take on the 16th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers.
This will be the 118th meeting
<< UNC faces off with local rival Wake Forest
Winston-Salem, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The fifth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels
will try to keep up in the Atlantic Coast Conference race as they head to the
Lawrence Joel Coliseum for a league bout with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
This wi
<< Irving, Cavs aim to sweep home-and-home set with Celtics
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyrie Irving and the Cavaliers will aim for a home-and-home
sweep of the Boston Celtics tonight when the clubs play the back end of the
set in Cleveland.
The Cavs won a thriller in Boston on Sunday when Irving's layup with
Top-ranked Wildcats welcome Vols to Lexington >>
Lexington, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top-ranked Kentucky Wildcats put the
nation's longest homecourt winning streak on the line this evening, as they
welcome the Tennessee Volunteers to Lexington for SEC action at Rupp Arena.
John Calipari's
Nets try to snap long skid vs. Pacers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Indiana returns home tonight after a successful three-game
road trip seeking a ninth consecutive win over the New Jersey Nets.
The Pacers sandwiched a loss in Boston with impressive wins in Chicago and
Orlando during their
Knicks host hapless Pistons at MSG >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A struggling New York team returns home to historic Madison
Square Garden hoping to use the lowly Detroit Pistons as a tonic.
The high-profile Knicks are coming off a dismal 1-3 road trip capped by a
97-84 setback in Houst
Gronkowski taking it day-by-day >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New England Patriots tight end Rob
Gronkowski met the media on Tuesday and quickly addressed his ankle injury,
sounding much like head coach Bill Belichick.
"I'm going day-by-day," Gronkowski sa
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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