Jayhawks and Longhorns duke it out in Austin
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
02/08/2010 -
Austin, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Big 12 heavyweights collide in Austin
this evening, as the top-ranked Kansas Jayhawks take on the ninth-ranked Texas Longhorns from the Frank Erwin Center.
Bill Self's Jayhawks sit atop the Big 12 standings with a flawless 8-0 record.
The team has won 22 of its 23 games on the year and enters this tilt with an
eight-game win streak in tow, including Saturday's 75-64 win over Nebraska in
Lawrence. The victory extended the nation's longest homecourt winning streak
to 55 games.
The Longhorns looked like the team to beat in the Big 12 just a few weeks ago,
but they have hit a wall of late, losing four of their last six games,
including an 80-71 setback at Oklahoma on Saturday. With the loss, Texas fell
to 5-3 in league play.
These are the two winningest programs in conference play since the inception
of the Big 12, with Kansas posting a league-best 180 league wins and Texas
ranking second with 150. This is the 23rd all-time meeting between these two
teams, with Kansas holding a 16-6 series advantage, including wins in each of
the last two meetings.
The Jayhawks forced Nebraska into 19 turnovers and shot an efficient .481 from
the floor, marking the team's 55th consecutive win at the Allen Fieldhouse.
Marcus Morris led the way with his fourth double-double this season, finishing
with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Sherron Collins added 17 points and six
assists for Kansas, which remained unbeaten in league play. The Jayhawks have
been able to rack up the victories thanks to stellar play at both ends of the
floor. The team boasts of an impressive +21.0 scoring margin (leads the
nation), averaging 83.7 ppg, while allowing just 62.7. KU has certainly been
efficient shooting the ball, converting 49.3 percent from the floor, with four
players currently averaging double figures. It starts with Collins, an All-
American candidate with the ability to create for himself (15.6 ppg) and
others (team-high 98 assists). Morris, a sophomore, and Xavier Henry, a
freshman, are next at 13.0 ppg, while junior Cole Aldrich (11.6 ppg, 10.3 rpg)
rounds things out with his dominant play inside.
The Longhorns are definitely capable of hanging with Kansas at the offensive
end, as Texas comes into this week averaging a steady 84.1 ppg on 48-percent
efficiency from the field. The key to this game may be the battle inside
between KU's Aldrich and UT's standout Damion James. The Big 12's all-time
leading rebounder, James is a force down low, averaging a double-double with
team-highs of 17.8 points (sixth in the league) and 11.0 rebounds per game
(leads the league). The 6-7 senior gets perimeter support from Avery Bradley
(12.5 ppg), J'Covan Brown (9.4 ppg) and Jordan Hamilton (9.3 ppg), while big
man Dexter Pittman (11.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg, team-high 48 blocks) helps out in the
paint. Texas was its own worst enemy in Norman this past weekend, as the team
shot just .417 from the floor and a miserable 10-of-27 from the free-throw
line (.370) in a nine-point loss to the Sooners. Bradley did his best to keep
the Longhorns in it, finishing with 21 points. James just missed a double-
double with 12 points and nine rebounds, while Gary Johnson did complete the
feat, coming off the bench with 11 points and 10 boards. Pittman tallied eight
points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds in the loss.
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While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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