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02/09/2010 - Providence, RI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off a statement victory, the Georgetown Hoyas are slated to collide with the Providence Friars this evening in a Big East Conference affair.
Georgetown had lost two of its previous three games heading into Saturday's meeting with a Villanova squad that was undefeated in Big East play and ranked second in the country. Therefore, the Hoyas' 103-90 victory over the Wildcats in a game that wasn't as close as the final score indicated was certainly surprising. Through 22 outings, Georgetown is now 17-5 overall, including 7-4 in conference.
Providence is in desperate need of a victory tonight, as the team has suffered three consecutive defeats, and the 4-7 Big East record clearly overshadows a 12-11 overall mark. The Friars were most recently in action on Saturday when they fell to Marquette in an 82-79 final.
The Hoyas own a 38-19 series advantage over the Friars, which includes three straight wins over Providence.
Austin Freeman scored 25 points for Georgetown against Villanova on Saturday, and Jason Clark was close behind with 24 on the strength of his 6-of-7 showing from three-point range. Greg Monroe posted 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Julian Vaughn contributed 13 points. The Hoyas shot a stellar 56.3 percent from the field and earned a 39-17 edge in points from the foul line. They did commit 20 turnovers, but the positives clearly outweighed the negatives. Overall this season, Freeman leads the team with 16.8 ppg on 54.5 percent field goal efficiency, including 50 percent from beyond the arc. Monroe adds 15.5 ppg and 9.6 rpg, while Chris Wright adds 14.3 ppg and 4.0 apg. Clark brings 11.1 ppg to the floor for the Hoyas, who are scoring 73.9 ppg while allowing 64.4 ppg to foes. They are shooting 50.5 percent while surrendering 40.8 percent shooting.
Sophomore Jamine Peterson is the best player on the Providence roster, as he is scoring 18.7 ppg to go along with 10.1 rpg. Sharaud Curry checks in with 15.5 ppg and 3.6 apg, and Marshon Brooks contributes 14.3 ppg. The Friars are generating 82.3 ppg while surrendering 79.0 ppg to opponents. In the most recent outing against Marquette, Peterson scored 28 points and pulled down 11 rebounds in 35 minutes of action. Curry pitched in 23 points on the strength of a 5-of-9 effort from three-point range, and Bilal Dixon posted 13 points and 14 rebounds. Despite the efforts of those players and a 39-29 rebounding advantage, the Friars could not overcome shaky defense, as they permitted the Golden Eagles to shoot 51.7 percent from the floor.
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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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