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No. 6 Ohio State plays for Big Ten title against IllinoisNCAA Basketball Betting Lines03/02/2010 - Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The sixth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes set their sights on at least a share of the Big Ten title, as they welcome the Illinois Fighting Illini to Columbus this evening for a conference showdown at Value City Arena. Thad Matta's Buckeyes are seeking their third league title in his six years at the helm. This will be the regular-season finale for Ohio State, which leads both Purdue and Michigan State by a half game in the conference standings. The Buckeyes enter this contest with plenty of momentum, having won three straight and nine of their last 10 games, overall. This past weekend, OSU moved to 13-4 in league play with a 66-55 win over Michigan. The Illini are a little farther down the conference ladder, but still a respectable 10-6 in league play. Quality wins over Ohio State here and against nationally-ranked Wisconsin at the end of the week, and a strong run in the conference tournament will likely be needed to get any consideration by the NCAA Tournament committee though. They can help their cause tonight, as a win over OSU would clinch a top-five seed and first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament. The Illini have certainly hurt themselves of late however, with losses in three of their last four games, including a heart-breaking 62-60 decision at home against Minnesota this past weekend. This is the 168th meeting between these two teams, with Illinois leading by a count of 102-65. Still, it is OSU seeking the regular-season sweep after posting a 72-53 victory in Champaign on February 14th. The Illini are not the most explosive offensive team in the Big Ten. The team is averaging a rather modest 71.4 ppg, although it is on a solid .454 shooting effort. Where the team has had its most success is at the defensive end, holding foes under 40 percent shooting (.397) and allowing a mere 66.1 ppg. Four of the team's five starters are averaging double figures, led by Demetri McCamey's 150 ppg. McCamey is much more than just a scorer though, as he leads the conference in assists (6.9 apg). D.J. Richardson helps out along the perimeter with 10.7 ppg, while Mike Tisdale (11.5 ppg, 6.2 rpg) and Mike Davis (10.5 ppg, 8.8 rpg) provide balance down low. The Illini dropped a two-point decision to the Golden Gophers, as Minnesota won in Champaign for the first time in 14 years. The Illini rallied from a 19-point second-half deficit, to cut the lead to one with just over a minute to play, but couldn't get the win. Bill Cole led the way for Illinois with 15 points. Davis recorded a double- double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Richardson added 10 points of his own, while McCamey just missed a double-double with nine points and 10 assists. The Buckeyes moved one step closer to the Big Ten title with an 11-point win at home against Michigan this past weekend. William Buford led the way with a 24-point outburst. Evan Turner followed with 18 points and 11 rebounds and Dallas Lauderdale matched a career-high with 14 points. OSU shot a sizzling .587 from the floor in the game, while holding the Wolverines to a meager .362 effort. Turner is the straw that stirs the drink for Ohio State and has to be considered the frontrunner for Big Ten Player of the Year. He is shooting a stellar .543 from the field and ranks first in the conference in scoring (19.7 ppg) and rebounding (9.3 rpg) and second in assists (5.9 apg). Buford (14.2 ppg), David Lighty (12.3 ppg) and Jon Diebler (12.3 ppg) provide more than enough scoring punch. The Buckeyes are averaging a modest 73.5 ppg on the season, but the team makes the most of its trips down the floor, converting 49.5 percent of its shots.
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Sportsbook Betting LinesWho Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error. “You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said. “The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10). How the Opening Line Is MadeThe opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades. Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias. The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line. Why Sports Betting Lines ChangeOnce the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action. Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite. Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.” To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds. |
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