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03/15/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Connecticut, Stanford, Tennessee and Nebraska all earned top seeds for the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, which begins Saturday at campus sites around the country.
Connecticut (33-0) is the top seed in the Dayton Region, and will open play against Southern. The Huskies are the heavy favorite to win this tournament, as they have won an NCAA Division I women's record 72 straight games and went wire-to-wire as the top-ranked team for the second consecutive season.
Connecticut enters the tourney looking for its second consecutive national title, as the Huskies defeated Louisville last season in the championship game.
Stanford (31-1) is the No. 1 seed for the Sacramento Region, and faces UC Riverside, the Big West winner, in the first round. The Cardinal's only loss this season came against Connecticut in December, a game in which Stanford led at halftime.
The Cardinal could potentially face UConn in the national championship game, as the teams are on the opposite side of the bracket. Stanford lost to Connecticut in last year's Final Four.
Nebraska (30-1) received the top seed in the Kansas City Region and will take on Missouri Valley Conference champion Northern Iowa in the opening round. The Huskers were undefeated until Saturday, when they lost to Texas A&M in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals.
Tennessee (30-2) picked up the No. 1 seed for the Memphis Region, and will begin play against Ohio Valley Conference champion Austin Peay. The Lady Vols were the most recent champion other than Connecticut, having won titles in 2007 and '08, but were ousted in the first round in last year's tourney by Ball State. It was the first time Tennessee ever lost in the first two rounds of the Tournament.
<< Giants, Jets to both host games opening weekend
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Giants and New York Jets will
both host games at their new home, Meadowlands Stadium, on the opening weekend
of the 2010 regular season.
The Giants will play Sunday afternoon, September 12,
<< Djokovic sneaks into fourth round at Indian Wells
Indian Wells, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 2 Novak Djokovic barely survived
his third-round match Monday at the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open, an ATP
World Tour Masters event.
The second-seeded Djokovic outlasted 25th-seeded German Philip
<< Packers re-sign T Tauscher
Green Bay, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Green Bay Packers on Monday re-signed
veteran offensive tackle Mark Tauscher to a two-year contract.
The Wisconsin product has spent his entire 10-year career with the Packers,
who selected the 6-f
<< Iowa fires hoops coach Lickliter
Iowa City, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Iowa has fired head men's
basketball coach Todd Lickliter.
The school announced the news Monday, and while Iowa athletic director Gary
Barta said he still believes Lickliter is "a trem
Broncos release QB Simms >>
Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Broncos on Monday released
quarterback Chris Simms in the wake of the acquisition of Brady Quinn.
On Sunday, the Broncos acquired Quinn from the Browns in exchange for fullback
Peyton Hill
Detroit F Prince suffers back injury >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince suffered
an injury to his back and had to be assisted off the floor in the first
quarter of Monday's game against the Boston Celtics.
With 4:53 remaining in the qu
Ducks' Selanne, Getzlaf undergo MRIs >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anaheim Ducks forwards Teemu Selanne and Ryan
Getzlaf underwent MRIs on Monday for injuries sustained in Sunday's 4-2 win
over San Jose.
Selanne, who scored career goal No. 599 in the victory, suffered an
Devils hold on to edge Bruins >>
Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zach Parise scored the eventual game-winner late
in the first period, as the New Jersey Devils held off the Boston Bruins, 3-2,
at Prudential Center.
David Clarkson had a goal and an assist for the Devils, who
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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