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04/29/2010 - Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Division I Board of Directors on Thursday approved the plan to expand the men's basketball tournament field to 68 teams.
"Expanding to 68 teams gave us an opportunity to involve more teams in the championship, and in doing that, we were able to enhance the experience of the opening--round game," said board chair James Barker, president at Clemson. "Expansion enables us to give more exposure to the universities and provide more opportunities for student-athletes."
The NCAA Tournament expanded to 65 teams in 2001 and had expanded to 64 in 1985. The latest change will add three opening-round games to the schedule, beginning with next year's event.
The recommendation for expansion was made by the Division I men's basketball committee last week when the NCAA announced its new television agreement.
There was no discussion of expanding the tourney beyond 68 teams.
<< Wolverhampton's Ward to miss final two matches
Wolverhampton, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wolverhampton midfielder Stephen
Ward will miss the two remaining games of the season following an exploratory
knee operation.
Ward, 25, has made 25 appearances in all competitions this season
<< Jazz hoping to close out Nuggets at home
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -The Utah Jazz hope they just made their last trip to Denver this season.The playoff series between the Jazz and Nuggets returns to Utah on Friday night for Game 6. The Jazz can wrap up the series with a win at home or the Nugget
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VOORHEES, N.J. (AP) -The Philadelphia Flyers see a lot of themselves in the Boston Bruins.Both teams had to finish strongly just to make the playoffs. Both stress defense, with plenty of muscle.Beginning Saturday in Boston, they go at each other in
<< NBA Playoff Preview - Cleveland vs. Boston
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The light loads have been taken care of. Now, the top-
seeded Cleveland Cavaliers and the veteran-laded Boston Celtics are preparing
to do some heavy lifting, as the teams meet in the Eastern Conference
semifinals in a remat
Rangers chairman hopes Smith commits to team >>
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rangers chairman Alastair Johnston has
urged manager Walter Smith to pledge his future to the recently-crowned
Scottish Premier League champions.
Smith, who has been working at the cash-strapped
Tyreke Evans selected as NBA's top rookie >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sacramento Kings point guard Tyreke Evans
was named the NBA's Rookie of the Year on Thursday.
Selected with the fourth overall pick out of Memphis as a freshman, the 20-
year-old Evans averaged 20.1 p
Stanley Cup Playoff Preview - Pittsburgh vs. Montreal >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If the last two springs were any indication, the Pittsburgh
Penguins playoff run is just getting started.
Pittsburgh entered this postseason as the defending Stanley Cup champions and
winner of the last two Eastern Confere
Eagles give QB Kolb one-year extension >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Eagles agreed to terms
with quarterback Kevin Kolb on a one-year contract extension on Thursday.
Financial terms were not announced.
"We're happy to have Kevin under contract f
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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