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01/08/2009 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Derrick Brown didn't miss a shot en route to a game-high 20 points, as the 16th-ranked Xavier Musketeers had little trouble disposing of Saint Louis, 70-44, in the Atlantic 10 opener for both programs.
Brown nailed 6-for-6 from the floor while hitting all three of his tries from three-point range. He also made all five of his free throw attempts for Xavier (12-2, 1-0 A-10), which has rattled off three straight wins after back-to-back losses to Duke and Butler.
C.J. Anderson and Jason Love each pulled down six rebounds to go with 13 and 11 points, respectively, in the victory.
Rick Majerus' Billikens (9-6, 0-1) shot a woeful 30.8 percent from the floor in being dominated by their conference foe. Kevin Lisch was the high scorer for Saint Louis with nine points on 4-of-13 shooting from the field, as the team fell to 0-4 in true road tests this season.
The Musketeers scored the first seven points of the game and held a six-point lead, 19-13, at the midway point of the opening half before taking a more substantial lead.
Brown and Brad Redford each hit from downtown around a Jamel McLean layup to highlight a 12-4 spurt, and Xavier owned a 39-22 lead at the break thanks to a 16-for-30 first-half shooting performance.
Brown got the second half started on the right foot with a three-pointer, and his jumper just over two minutes in gave the Musketeers their first 20-point lead, at 46-26.
With the score 50-30 minutes later, Xavier scored six straight points, capped by a Dante Jackson layup, and the margin didn't dip below 20 the rest of the way in the lopsided affair.
Game Notes
Saint Louis had won seven of its previous eight games coming in...The Musketeers have won three straight in this series, giving the team a 24-12 advantage all-time...Tommie Liddell III, Saint Louis' leading scorer coming in at 14.1 ppg, had only five points on 2-for-12 shooting.
<< Bruins awaken late to dispatch Senators, reach 30 wins
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Krejci scored the go-ahead goal in the
third period and added an assist, as the Boston Bruins became the first team
in the NHL to reach 30 wins by topping the Ottawa Senators, 6-4, at TD
Banknor
<< Gators-Sooners even at 7-7 at halftime
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In a game between the last two Heisman Trophy
winners and a pair of teams averaging close to 100 points combined, the BCS
national title contest has been a battle of defenses, with top-ranked Florida
and No.
<< Flyers score twice in third to top Wild
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scottie Upshall registered a goal and one
assist as Philadelphia tripped up Minnesota, 3-1, at the Wachovia Center.
Scott Hartnell and Mike Knuble also lit the lamp for the Flyers, who snapped a
two-game
<< Lehtonen, Thrashers stone Devils
Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kari Lehtonen made 29 saves to record his first
shutout of the season and 12th of his career, as the Atlanta Thrashers downed
the New Jersey Devils, 4-0, at the Prudential Center.
Ilya Kovalchuk registered a
Bouwmeester, Horton help Panthers defeat Hurricanes >>
Sunrise, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jay Bouwmeester and Nathan Horton scored early
in the third period to help Florida double up Carolina, 4-2, at BankAtlantic
Center.
David Booth and Gregory Campbell also tallied for the Panthers, who have
Canadiens blow out Maple Leafs >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andrei Kostitsyn had a goal and two assists,
as the Montreal Canadiens used a balanced scoring attack to rout the Toronto
Maple Leafs, 6-2, at Bell Centre.
Sergei Kostitsyn, Maxim Lapierre, Guillaume Late
Ogilvy leads season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship >>
Kapalua, HI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy fired a
six-under 67 on Thursday to take the first-round lead of the 2009 PGA Tour
season-opener, the Mercedes-Benz Championship.
Ernie Els, Kenny Perry and Johnson W
Gators one quarter away from another title >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Percy Harvin's two-yard touchdown run off a
direct snap has given top-ranked Florida a 14-7 lead over No. 2 Oklahoma
after three quarters of the BCS national championship game.
Tebow, the 2007 Heism
Rule 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.
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Underdog bettors love the Super Bowl and, history suggests, the underdogs love them back. And the big dogs bite harder.
Even so, there is a warning in store for Super Bowl gamblers who must love dogs: The Arizona Cardinals Super Bowl betting lines might not be enough of a Cinderella to make it worth your while.
Although the Cardinals were widely panned as one of the worst division winners and least playoff-worthy teams in recent memory, their trip to Super Bowl XLIII Jan. 31 in Tampa against the Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl betting lines comes with a little more respect from the oddsmakers than you might imagine. They are a 7-point underdog at most sports books.
If you count yourself among those who covet the big dog in the big game, this isn’t exactly great news. You should have been hoping for more points. This is because the facts show that the bigger the dog, the better the bet in the Super Bowl.
Case in point: Over the past 13 seasons, double-figure underdogs in the Super Bowl are 4-0-1 ATS and have won the past three outright. In fact, the last double-digit chalk to do the deed for bettors was the 1995 San Francisco 49ers, who managed to beat the astounding 19-point spot afforded backers of the San Diego Chargers in the 49-26 romp in Super Bowl XXIX.
By contrast, 7-point favorites are 2-1-1 ATS in the same span, the last such contest resulting a cover grinded out by the Colts in their 29-17 win over the Bears two seasons ago in Super Bowl XLI.
In 2004, the Patriots failed to cover the number in their 32-29 triumph over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl props while the Rams and Titans gave everyone a refund in 2000 after the Rams posted a 23-16 win as a seven-point favorite.
So while Arizona’s run has included impressive upsets as a 10-point road underdog to the Carolina Panthers and Sunday’s 32-25 win in the NFC championship game to the 4-point favored Philadelphia Eagles, their long-shot story lacks a bit of the David vs. Goliath storyline of past Super Bowl underdogs.
While the seven-point spread represents a significant gap in the perception of strength between the two teams, it is far from monumental. For example, last season the Giants were the wild-card afterthought turned road-warrior buzzsaw, with stunning wins over the Buccaneers, Cowboys and Packers to earn their place in the Super Bowl.
There, they played spoiler to New England’s bid to become the first 19-0 team in NFL history and cemented their place in sports betting lore with a 17-14 win as a 12.5-point underdog.
In other words, the Cardinals appear to have their work cut out for them as a mid-range underdog. But in homage to the spread beaters who have come before them, here is a brief look back at recent colossal upsets in the Super Bowl:
SB XLII -- 2008 -- New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14 (Giants +12.5) – Eli Manning’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress in the final minute clinched the historic upset for the Giants, who used a masterful defensive plan to slow down Tom Brady and the previously undefeated New England Patriots.
XXXVI -- 2002 -- Patriots 20, Rams 17 (Patriots +14) – This was the coming out party for the aforementioned Brady, who went from obscure sixth-round draft pick to Super Bowl hero in one fell swoop. He led the game-winning drive in the final minute – eschewing analyst John Madden’s advice to take a knee and play for overtime – leading to Adam Vinatieri’s memorable 48-yard field goal that split the uprights as time expired.
XXXII 1998 Broncos 31, Packers 24 (Denver +12) – The first of John Elway’s two consecutive Super Bowl titles to put an end to his Hall of Fame career was an upset for the ages. The Broncos used the determination of Elway and a 157-yard, three-touchdown performance from Terrell Davis to turn back Brett Favre and the heavily favored Packers.
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