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2010 Sun Belt Tournament PreviewNCAA Basketball Betting Lines03/03/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 2010 Sun Belt Conference Tournament will be held entirely at neutral sites, as Convention Center Court and Summit Arena in Hot Springs, Arkansas will serve as the venues for the event. All 13 teams are set to take part in the tourney, making this one of the more challenging conference championships to win. Troy, Middle Tennessee and North Texas all tied for the best record in conference at 13-5 and after the tie-breaker scenarios were worked out, the Trojans landed the top seed. The Mean Green took the second seed and the Raiders the third. The top three spots in this event receive a bye directly into the quarterfinals. The rest of the field is forced to play a first-round bout. The winner of this tournament gets the right to represent the Sun Belt in the NCAA Tournament. The Sun Belt Tournament kicks off on Saturday, as the eighth-seeded Florida Atlantic Owls meet up with the ninth-seeded South Alabama Jaguars. FAU finished fourth in the East Division standings at 10-8, while USA was fifth at 8-10 in the same division. The Owls, who have 14 wins overall, have improved greatly from last season, when they finished just 6-26 and 2-16 in league play. The Jaguars meanwhile, have taken a step back from a 20-win campaign in 2008-09, as they are 16-14 at the moment. USA though, has had good success in this event, winning it five times. The second game of the opening round features the fourth-seeded Western Kentucky Hilltoppers against the 13th-seeded New Orleans Privateers. The Toppers came on strong down the stretch, winning six straight games to finish third in the East Division at 12-6. The recent run also pushed the team within a victory of its sixth straight 20-win campaign. WKU is the most decorated team in this event, owning seven titles, including the last two. As for UNO, this will be its last run with the Sun Belt, as the program is expected to drop to the Division III level. The Privateers stumbled to a 3-15 finish, owning the worst record in the conference. UNO, which is 0-3 against WKU in this event, last took home the tourney title in 1996. First-round action continues with the fifth-seeded Arkansas State Red Wolves taking on the 12th-seeded Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans. The Red Wolves placed second in the West Division at 11-7, marking their best league record since the 2006-07 season. ASU, which split a pair of meetings with UALR during the regular season, is out for its first tourney title since 1999. The Trojans, meanwhile, have never won this event despite capturing 16 victories. UALR won the West Division last season at 15-3, but stumbled to a sixth place finish this year at 4-14. In yet another first round bout, the sixth-seeded Denver Pioneers lock horns with the 11th-seeded FIU Golden Panthers. Denver finished in a three-way tie with UL-Lafayette and FAU, but was awarded the highest seed after the tie- breaker scenario played out. The Pioneers' 17 overall wins are their most since the 2004-05 campaign, and they are 6-9 in the SBC Tournament since joining the league during the 1999-00 campaign. For FIU, it made headlines by hiring Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas to be the head coach. The move certainly brought publicity to the program, but not much else. The Panthers placed last in the East Division at 4-14 and carry an eight-game losing streak into this event. The first round will wrap up with the seventh-seeded UL-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns battling the 10th-seeded UL-Monroe Warhawks. The Cajuns went from 7-11 last season to 10-8 in the conference this year. ULL is 18-13 all-time in the Sun Belt Tournament, including three championships. On the opposite side, ULM dropped its final four games of the regular season and finished fifth in the West Division at 6-12. The Warhawks lost both meetings with ULL during the season, but by a total of just seven points. ULM is just 1-3 in this event, losing in the first round each of the past two seasons. The quarterfinal round of the Sun Belt Tournament begins on Sunday and top- seeded Troy will make its first appearance against the winner of the FAU/USA matchup. The Trojans won their final five games of the regular season to earn a share of the conference title and East Division crown. It is the program's first title since winning the Atlantic Sun regular season crown in 2004. Troy, which is 2-4 all-time in this event, earned a bye for the second straight year. The second game for the quarterfinals will feature the winners of the WKU/UNO and ASU/UALR pairings. The second-seeded North Texas Mean Green will take the court for the first time in the quarterfinals against either ULL or ULM. The Mean Green won eight straight down the stretch to win its first-ever West Division title at 13-5. The team's No.2 seed is the highest since joining the league in 2000. At 21-8 overall, North Texas has now posted at least 20 wins in four straight seasons for the first time in school history. The Mean Green is 8-8 all-time in this tourney, winning its lone title in 2007. The quarterfinals conclude with the third-seeded Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders facing the survivor of the Denver/FIU pairing. Winners of their last three games, the Blue Raiders grabbed a share of the East Division title along with Troy. It marks the first time the program has won a share of any league title since 1988-89. The team's 19 wins are also the most since the 2004-05 campaign. Middle Tennessee owns a winning record in this event at 11-9, but has yet to take home the hardware.
<< 2010 Northeast Conference Tournament Preview
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The pairings are set for the 2010 Northeast Conference Tournament, which kicks off with four quarterfinal-round matchups on Thursday, March 4th. The remaining teams will be reseeded for the semifinals on Sund
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NFL Football Betting : Odds on NFL Division to Win the Super BowlThe AFC South and the NFC East are the favorite divisions to have the next Super Bowl champ among them in the NFL betting odds. But more down to the point, these football odds are in favor of the Indianapolis Colts, by far the strongest team in the AFC South, and the Dallas Cowboys of the NFC East. Most sports fans would agree that these two teams top the list to win it all before the season even begins. In the BetUS Sportsbook football futures, the Colts are +800 in the odds to win the Super Bowl, while the Cowboys are sitting at +1000 and the Super Bowl XLIV champions New Orleans Saints at +900. In the AFC South, the Colts won the division for five straight years after the 2002 realignment, before the Tennessee Titans won it in 2008. But the Colts came back strong in 2009 to win the division again en route to the Super Bowl. The Cowboys are the favorite to win the NFC East, as well as to advance far into the post season. The Cowboys won the division last season before their horrendous loss in the NFC Divisional playoff to Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings. But the ‘Boys will take that loss humbly and be ready for the playoffs this time around. The NFC South is also very strong, at +600 in the NFL futures, considering that it is home to the defending Super Bowl champions. However, some predictions have the Atlanta Falcons with possibilities of claiming the divisional title this season in place of the Saints, as no team has won back-to-back division championships since the division realignment took place. Let’s not overlook the AFC North at +500. As TO goes to Cincinnati to join Chad OchoCinco and Adam “Pac-Man” Jones, this team looks to claim the division title again. And it is likely they will do so. The Bengals lost in the AFC Wild Card spot in a hard-fought battle against the New York Jets last season. Lest not forget the Pittsburgh Steelers, the XLII Super Bowl Champions… All these teams present interesting odds and matchups for the upcoming season, but the safest and surest bet seems to be with the Colts in the AFC South and the Cowboys in the NFC East. Play this weekly NFL Football Contestto see if you can win. To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.
Sportsbook Betting LinesWho 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 MadeThe 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 ChangeOnce 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. |
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