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02/02/2012 - Blacksburg, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Austin Rivers scored 18 points to lead the way for No. 5 Duke as it defeated Virginia Tech 75-60 at Cassell Coliseum on Thursday.
The Blue Devils (17-3, 5-1 ACC) got great efforts off the bench from Ryan Kelly and Seth Curry. Kelly had 15 points while Curry finished with 11 points for Duke, which won its third straight game and seventh in its last eight.
Virginia Tech (12-10, 1-6) was paced by Erick Green with 17 points and seven boards. Victor Davila finished with 16 points and seven rebounds for the Hokies, who have now lost three in a row and seven of their last eight.
The Hokies were able to keep it close early, holding the Blue Devils without a field goal for over four minutes in the first half as Virginia Tech trailed 11-10 with 12:25 to go in the stanza.
Duke then proceeded to rip off a 13-2 run, giving the Blue Devils a 34-23 lead with 3:15 remaining in the first.
Virginia Tech made its first three of the half with just two seconds left to pull the Hokies within 10, 38-28, going into the locker room.
Kelly's three-pointer capped an 11-2 Duke run as it pulled away from the Hokies, taking a 62-40 lead with 11:20 left in the contest.
The Hokies cut the lead to 15 late in the game, but Duke was able to hold on for the double-digit victory.
Game Notes
The game marked the 46th meeting between the two universities with Duke now leading the series 38-8...Virginia Tech shot 3-of-13 from beyond the arc while Duke made 8-of-18 from long range...Duke had 12 assists and seven turnovers and Virginia Tech had just 5 assists with 17 turnovers.
<< Gamecocks down Lady Vols for first time in 32 years
Knoxville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Markeshia Grant had 27 points as South
Carolina defeated No. 8 Tennessee for the first time since 1980 in a 64-60
victory.
La'Keisha Sutton had 12 points and six rebounds for the Gamecocks (18-5,
<< Bellucci bows out in Chile
Vina del Mar, Chile (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Third-seeded Thomaz Bellucci was
upset on Thursday as Federico Del Bonis of Argentina knocked off the 2010 VTR
Open champion in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5.
Del Bonis broke Bellucci four times from
<< Maryland routs Boston College
College Park, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Laurin Mincy and Brene Moseley netted 16
points apiece as No. 9 Maryland routed Boston College, 86-44.
Alyssa Thomas added 14 points and eight rebounds for Maryland (19-3, 6-3 ACC),
which snapped a two-g
<< Duke continues dominance over Wake Forest
Durham, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Haley Peters had 18 points and 11 rebounds as
the fifth-ranked Duke Blue Devils beat Wake Forest for the 37th straight time
in a 75-43 victory Thursday night.
Elizabeth Williams added 16 points and nine boa
Gay leads Memphis past Atlanta >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rudy Gay led all scorers with 21 points and
added six rebounds as the Memphis Grizzlies dominated the Atlanta Hawks,
96-77, at Philips Arena.
The Grizzlies had five players in double figures includ
Wellwood's OT goal lifts Jets over Lightning >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Wellwood netted the winner at 3:14 of
overtime to give Winnipeg a 2-1 decision over Tampa Bay.
Blake Wheeler escaped a Bolts checker along the left-wing boards, moved to the
net and slipped a pass a
Ward sensational as 'Canes finish off season sweep of Bruins >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cam Ward was sensational between the pipes,
stopping a season-high 47 shots for his third shutout of the year, as
the Carolina Hurricanes completed the franchise's first-ever season sweep
of the
No. 6 Kentucky crushes Ole Miss >>
Lexington, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bria Goss poured in 19 points as No. 6
Kentucky remained unbeaten in conference play thanks to an 82-41 victory over
Mississippi.
Kastine Evans had 12 points and seven steals, while both A'dia Ma
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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