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Falcons soar into Sin CityNCAA Basketball Betting Lines02/20/2007 - Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - No longer the only member of the Mountain West Conference among the nationally-ranked, the Air Force Falcons put their three-game win streak on the line tonight as they visit the UNLV Runnin' Rebels at the Thomas & Mack Center. Not only are the 14th-ranked Falcons not the only ranked program in the conference this week, the team isn't even at the top of the MWC standings, a position occupied by 21st-ranked BYU at the moment. On Saturday, the academy posted a 67-58 win at Clune Arena to extend the nation's longest home win streak to 30 games, one better than those aforementioned Cougars who don't play their next home game until tomorrow night versus Colorado State. As for the Rebels, who had to clear out of Sin City when the NBA invaded with their annual All-Star game over the weekend, they took care of business in Salt Lake City on Saturday with a 70-57 decision over Utah. The win was the third in the last four games for UNLV, which is currently third in the conference with a record of 9-4. Air Force won the first meeting between these two teams earlier this season, taking a 56-50 decision at home. However, the Rebels still own a comfortable margin in the all-time series, logging a 17-7 record versus the Falcons. Although he was trying to fight through a nagging ankle injury, Dan Nwaelele still came to play as he and the rest of the Falcons dismissed the Rams over the weekend. Nwaelele finished with a team-high 18 points, thanks to 5-of-10 shooting beyond the arc, followed by Matt McCraw with 15 and four assists. Jacob Burtschi dropped in 10 points, as did Tim Anderson with the duo combining for 11 rebounds and seven of the team's eight steals on the afternoon. Nwaelele, who is shooting a sizzling 50 percent from three- point range and 56.4 percent from the floor overall this year, is tops on the scoring list for the Falcons with his 14.9 ppg, followed by Burtschi with 13.5 ppg and a team-high 5.7 rpg. Entering play this week, the Falcons had the seventh-best scoring margin in Division I at +15.7 ppg, basically because the defense is up to its old tricks again. Having led the nation in scoring defense for several years, the Falcons know better than anyone how to get the job done and they are doing it again with just 54.7 ppg allowed, second only to Princeton in all of college basketball at the moment. Offensively, the team is ranked fourth in the country in field goals shooting at 50.6 percent and is fifth nationally from behind the three-point line at 42.4 percent. Operating with four guards, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Wink Adams ended up leading the Rebels in both scoring and rebounding in the win over Utah over the weekend, putting up 17 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. The only other player to score in double figures for the Rebels was Kevin Kruger who connected on 3-of-5 shots beyond the arc to finish with 11 points, to go along with his team-high four assists. In addition to shooting 47.3 percent from the field and 11-of-17 beyond the arc, the most impressive aspect of the victory was probably that the team had a mere four turnovers. Leading scorer Wendell White, who is averaging 15.4 ppg this season on 51.9 percent shooting from the field, made just one of his 12 shots. Adams is good for 14.8 ppg and Kruger another 12.3 ppg and a team- high 98 assists, that coming from someone who has missed six of the team's 28 games. UNLV enters the week ranked third in the conference in scoring at 75.1 ppg.
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Betting the NFL preseasonRule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games." When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night. The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine. “I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.” The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark. “We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.” The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long. “It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.” Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play. “You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt." So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps? “Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says. Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins. Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet. Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter. “If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says. Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider. The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason. “We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003. Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule. To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards. |
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