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02/11/2012 - Waco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brittney Griner dropped in a game-high 21 points to go with 10 rebounds and six blocks as top-ranked Baylor took care of business with a 71-48 victory over Texas A&M on Saturday.
Odyssey Sims finished with 19 points and Kimetria Hayden contributed 10 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Lady Bears (25-0, 12-0 Big 12). Brooklyn Pope donated 10 points and nine rebounds in the victory.
Tyra White paced the Aggies (17-6, 8-4) with 18 points and four rebounds, while Sydney Carter chipped in with 13 points. Texas A&M had its four-game winning streak halted.
Baylor exerted its superiority right from the opening tip with a 17-2 run. White made a jumper with under 14 minutes to play to finally snap the run, but Baylor poured it on, using a 13-9 push to lead 30-13 with under five minutes to play in the opening half.
Baylor shot 51 percent from the floor in the first half while limiting Texas A&M to just 28 percent and held a comfortable 40-21 lead at the break.
The Aggies shot just 27 percent (9-of-33) in the second half and never got close.
<< France tops Canada to take lead in Davis Cup
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra took
down Canadians Daniel Nestor and Milos Raonic in straight sets, 7-6 (7-1),
7-6 (7-2), 6-3 to give France a 2-1 edge in the third rubber of a best-of-
five tie
<< Alabama suspends three players
Baton Rouge, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alabama has suspended three players,
including leading forward JaMychal Green, for a violation of team rules.
Green, who leads the Crimson Tide in scoring at 14.1 points per contest and in
rebounding
<< Ragland, Wichita State coast past No. 17 Creighton
Omaha, NE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Ragland had 24 points and six assists, as
Wichita State downed No. 17 Creighton, 89-68, on Saturday.
Ben Smith added 22 points while Toure' Murry and Demetric Williams had 11
apiece for the Shockers
<< No. 3 Connecticut dismantles No. 14 Georgetown
Storrs, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis scored 23 points, as No.
3 Connecticut dismantled No. 14 Georgetown, 80-38, on Saturday.
Bria Hartley added 18 points and Tiffany Hayes had 12 for the Huskies (23-2,
11-1 Big East), w
Princeton continues home dominance of Harvard >>
Princeton, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Harvard's unbeaten mark in the Ivy League
came to a halt Saturday night against a team they haven't solved on the road
in more than 23 years.
Ian Hummer scored 20 points, pulled down nine rebounds and h
Nuggets hold off Pacers >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ty Lawson scored 27 points to lead the
Nuggets to a 113-109 win over the Pacers on Saturday.
Denver had five scorers in double figures, including 23 points from Arron
Afflalo and 19 from Corey B
Clippers send Bobcats to 14th straight loss >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Blake Griffin scored 21 points and pulled
down 10 rebounds as the Los Angeles Clippers dominated the Charlotte Bobcats,
111-86, at Time Warner Cable Arena.
Each of Griffin's fellow starters scored in
Stamkos leads Bolts past Sabres >>
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steven Stamkos lit the lamp and added an assist
while Mathieu Garon stopped 26 shots as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the
Buffalo Sabres, 2-1.
Steve Downie also scored for Tampa Bay, which had lost t
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.
NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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