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11/13/2007 - College Station, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas A&M Aggies will host the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles tonight in the opening round of the NIT Season Tip-Off at the Reed Arena. The winner of this bout will move on to face either UTEP or Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday.
The Golden Eagles opened their season this past Friday with an 84-59 victory over Southwest Oklahoma State. ORU has had trouble against Big 12 schools, posting a meager 21-64 ledger against opponents from that conference. However, last season the team did knock off Kansas, 78-71, early in the year.
On the other side, Mark Turgeon began his tenure at Texas A&M on the right foot, as the coach saw his 16th-ranked Aggies dismantle McNeese State, 73-50. Turgeon is taking over for Billy Gillispie, who took the job at Kentucky. Last year the Aggies racked up a school-record 27 wins, en route to their third straight 20-win season.
The last time these two schools collided on the hardwood was back during the 1998 season. In that matchup, Oral Roberts snapped a five-game losing skid to Texas A&M by capturing a thrilling, 89-86 overtime victory over Aggies. Despite the loss, Texas A&M still has a slim 7-4 edge over the Golden Eagles in the all-time series.
Last season the Golden Eagles had one of the top backcourt tandems in the nation, but with the departure of Caleb Green and Kevin Tutt, Oral Roberts will need to find production from other players. In the team's season-opening matchup against Southwest Oklahoma, the Golden Eagles posted a solid 25-point victory, but the team did not perform well overall. Sure ORU posted an impressive 56 percent shooting effort from the floor, but the team netted only 39.1 percent from behind the arc, and more importantly the team committed a whopping 26 turnovers. Center Shawn King led the way with 20 points and six rebounds for the Golden Eagles. King received some help from forward Moses Ehambe, who tallied 19 points, and pulled down five boards. The backcourt was led by Robert Jarvis, who connected on 5-of-8 attempts from long range, while finishing the game with 19 points.
Turgeon's debut at Texas A&M went relatively smooth, as the team dominated the contest from start to finish. Texas A&M was sensational defensively, holding McNeese State to a meager 37.7 percent shooting effort from the floor, while also forcing 19 turnovers. At the offensive end of the floor, the Aggies posted a solid 54 percent shooting effort, which included a 6-of-13 clip from behind the arc. Josh Carter led the way with 14 points and five rebounds. However, not to be outdone was freshman DeAndre Jordan. The newcomer scored 12 points in just 23 minutes of action and showed glimpses of things to come. Rounding out the double-figure scorers was Joseph Jones, who tallied 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field. The 6-9, 250-pound senior is tough to move around the basket and he returns as the team's top scorer (13.4 ppg) and rebounder (6.8 rpg).
<< Gonzaga and Idaho clash in Spokane
Spokane, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 14th-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs are always
tough to beat at home, and they are heavily favored in tonight's non-
conference clash with the Idaho Vandals.
Idaho opened the season against an ove
<< Second-ranked UCLA takes on Cal State-San Bernardino
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The second-ranked UCLA Bruins and the Cal
State San Bernardino Coyotes are set to collide in the Los Angeles Regional
Final of the CBE Classic.
CS-San Bernardino competes at the Division II level, and
<< Michigan State begins season in CBE Classic
East Lansing, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The eighth-ranked Michigan State Spartans
are set to host the Chicago State Cougars as part of the CBE Classic.
Chicago State began its season on Saturday afternoon with a 96-85 loss to Cal
State Northr
<< Portland tries to extend winning streak against Pistons
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers try to extend their winning
streak to four games, as they welcome the Detroit Pistons tonight to the Rose
Garden.
Portland wraps up a four-game homestand. On Saturday, Brandon Roy poured in a
ca
Knicks begin road trip in Phoenix >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Knicks begin a four-game road trip, as they
visit the high-powered Phoenix Suns tonight at US Airways Center.
New York has dropped two in a row. On Sunday, Jason Williams scored 17 points
and hit the go-ahead
Michael Dickinson to back-off training >>
North East, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Veteran thoroughbred trainer Michael
Dickinson has announced that he will not be applying for a trainer's license
for 2008. Dickinson will be devoting his time to the all-weather racing
surface
Redskins' Taylor out at least two weeks >>
Ashburn, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor will be
sidelined at least two weeks with a sprained knee.
Taylor, who underwent an MRI on Monday that revealed a Grade 2 sprain of his
MCL, suffered the injury in Sun
Spurs host Kobe, Lakers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The defending world champion San Antonio Spurs go for
their fourth straight victory when they host the Los Angeles Lakers tonight at
the AT&T Center.
San Antonio plays the finale of a brief two-game homestand. On Sunday,
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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