Mountaineers seek to right ship in clash with Friars
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
02/17/2010 - Providence, RI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The eighth-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers will try to keep their Big East Conference title aspirations alive, as they head north to battle the Providence Friars tonight at the Dunkin' Donuts Center.
West Virginia has lost its last two games to fall to 19-5 overall and 8-4 in conference, the latter of which has the team tied with Pittsburgh for third place. The Mountaineers fell to the Panthers in their most recent outing, 98-95, in triple-overtime, dropping the team to 5-3 in true road games. It is going to be tough for WVU to win the Big East regular-season crown as bouts with UConn, Cincinnati, Georgetown and Villanova still remain.
As for Providence, it is in the midst of a five-game losing streak that has the team currently at 12-13 overall and 4-9 in conference. The Friars dropped a 92-81 decision at Villanova on Saturday, and this game represents the third of four straight the team will play against top-10 foes -- the first time that has happened in program history. Providence is 8-6 at home this season.
West Virginia owns a 14-11 edge in the all-time series with the Friars, and is 14-8 against them since joining the Big East. The Mountaineers have won the last five meetings, and nine of the last 10 overall.
The Mountaineers aren't out-shooting their opponents by much, 44 percent to 43.4 percent, but a 36.3 percent effort from three-point range coupled with a +7.2 rebounding margin has led the team the lofty heights it has achieved thus far. Netting 74.7 ppg while yielding just 63.9 ppg, West Virgnia boasts four double-digit scorers among the starting five, with Da'Sean Butler leading the way with his 17.8 ppg. Butler has hit a club-best 47 three-pointers, and he adds 6.2 rpg to his solid stat line. Butler and Darryl Bryant (10.9 ppg) have handed out 80 assists apiece. Kevin Jones (13.8 ppg, 7.7 rpg) and Devin Ebanks (11.5 ppg, 8.7 rpg) round out the offensive-minded quartet. Butler scored 32 points, and Bryant added 20 more, but it wasn't enough as WVU fell to bitter rival Pittsburgh last Friday in triple-overtime. Ebanks chipped in with 17 points and Wellington Smith tallied 10 for the Mountaineers, who shot just 41.9 percent from the field. Butler, Ebanks and Jones all had double-digit rebounding efforts as well, helping West Virginia claim a 51-44 advantage on the boards.
Providence is averaging a robust 81.8 ppg on 43.1 percent field goal efficiency, but has been rather lax at the defensive end in yielding 79.5 ppg on 45.6 percent shooting from the floor. Jamine Peterson is one of the top performers in the Big East, averaging 18.9 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. He has logged 13 double-doubles this season to rank first in the conference, and his 30 steals is tied for second on the team. Sharaud Curry (15.5 ppg, 3.4 apg) and Marshon Brooks (14.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg) are both averaging double-digits in the scoring column in an effort to take some of the pressure off Peterson. The Friars shot just 38.7 percent from the field in the recent loss at Villanova, and they suffered a 47-36 rebounding deficit. Vincent Council came off the bench to lead PC with 21 points, while Peterson and Curry tallied 19 points apiece. The Friars were outscored in the paint (44-26) and in second- chance points (24-8), clearly two factors that led to the 11-point setback.
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What Is the Point Spread?
What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?
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.
How to Read Point Spreads
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:
- Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
OR
- Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.
-
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.
For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
- Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
OR
- Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score
Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?
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.