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03/11/2010 - Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mikhail Torrance scored 17 points to help Alabama rally for a 68-63 win over South Carolina in the first round of the SEC Tournament.
Justin Knox had 16 points and seven boards while JaMychal Green added 10 points and seven boards for the Crimson Tide (17-14), who advanced to play top-seed Kentucky on Friday.
Devan Downey had a game-high 21 points and eight rebounds and Ramon Galloway added 14 points for the Gamecocks (15-16), who ended the season with seven losses in eight games.
The Tide trailed by as many as 18 points early in the second half, but cut their deficit to four points when pair of free throws from Knox made it 57-53 with a bit over 5 1/2 minutes to play.
Two free throws from Downey was countered by one from Knox. Galloway then stole the ball off of Tony Mitchell, but Downey's jumper missed and Torrance hit two from the line with just over three minutes to play.
Following a Brandis Raley-Ross turnover, Knox put in a layup and another Ross turnover resulted in a Mitchell layup to give Alabama a 60-59 lead with 2:03 to play.
A missed jumper from Downey was converted into two points at the other end for Alabama on a Torrance layup, but Galloway tied the game with a three-ball from the left side with 1:14 to play.
Torrance gave his team the lead back with a jumper with 55.3 to play and Downey missed at the other end.
Downey ripped the ball away from Senario Hillman and went to the line with a chance to tie the game with 18.3 seconds to play, but he only hit the second shot to make it a one-point contest.
After the timeout, the Crimson Tide got the ball in bounds and a long pass down the other end saw Green get the ball and put in with 9.5 seconds to play.
A lazy in-bounds pass from Sam Muldrow was then intercepted and Mitchell's two free throws sealed the win.
The game was tight through the first several minutes and Alabama led near the midway mark of the first half as Knox's layup made it a 14-12 game.
Muldrow, though, put in a layup and followed that with a slam to spark an 8-0 run as Downey's layup gave the team a six-point lead.
The Tide got the game back to one point a few minutes later, but South Carolina closed the frame on a 13-3 run and took a 38-27 lead into the locker room.
South Carolina built its lead to 18 on a Lakeem Jackson layup which made it a 54-36 game with under 12 minutes to play.
<< Onuaku injures knee in Syracuse loss
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Syracuse forward Arinze Onuaku injured his
right knee in Thursday's loss to Georgetown in the Big East Tournament.
Onuaku was hurt with just over five minutes to play in the 91-84 loss when he
tried to
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Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Major League Soccer players overwhelmingly
voted to strike if a new collective bargaining agreement isn't reached with
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<< New York officially adds midfielder Robinson
Secaucus, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Bull New York acquired midfielder Carl
Robinson from Toronto FC in exchange for a fourth-round selection in the 2011
draft, the Major League Soccer club announced on Thursday.
"Carl is a very consis
<< Despite scoring slump, Tavares building foundation
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie forwards usually take at least a season to develop
into consistent performers at the NHL level.
Even in the case of No. 1 overall picks, who are expected to be stars, it
usually takes a year of adjustment t
Cardinals re-sign OL Bridges >>
Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Cardinals re-signed guard/tackle
Jeremy Bridges to a three-year contract on Thursday.
Bridges signed a one-year deal with Arizona prior to last season and played in
all 16 games with the club, in
Marquette trumps 'Nova to reach Big East semis >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Darius Johnson-Odom struck for 24 points,
thanks to 5-of-7 makes from beyond the arc, as Marquette upended 10th-ranked
Villanova, 80-76, in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament.
Lazar Hayward p
Liverpool drops first leg at Lille >>
Lille, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eden Hazard scored off a free kick with just
five minutes remaining and Lille edged Liverpool 1-0 on Thursday in the first
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Hazard curled a 2
Big Ten Conference Tournament Recaps >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manny Harris scored a team-high 22 points
and pulled down nine rebounds as he led the Michigan Wolverines to a 59-52 win
over the Iowa Hawkeyes in the opening game of the 2010 Big Ten Conference
Tournam
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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