Patriot League Tournament Recaps

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/07/2010 - Easton, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jared Mintz hit the go-ahead jumper with 35 seconds left and finished with 14 points, as Lafayette held on for a 66-63 win over Holy Cross in the Patriot League semifinal.

Jim Mower had a team-high 17 points, while Ryan Willen ended with 15 points for Lafayette (19-12), which will play top-seeded Lehigh for the conference title on Friday.

R.J. Evans led all scorers with 21 points to go along with seven rebounds, while Mike Cavataio went for 14 points and seven boards for Holy Cross (9-22), which defeated Bucknell in the quarterfinals. The Crusaders have dropped five of their last seven overall.

Lafayette held a 39-30 lead after the opening 20 minutes and maintained the advantage until Evans' layup allowed Holy Cross to come back and tie it at 55- all with 7:25 left.

Things would then go back-and-forth for the remaining time on the clock and with Holy Cross ahead by a point, 61-60, with 2:38 to play, Willen made a pair of free throws to put the Leopards back in front with 2:17 to go.

However, Cavataio's tip-in with 56 seconds left put the Crusaders up 63-62, but Mintz would answer with a jumper with 35 ticks remaining to make it a 64-63 game in favor of Lafayette. Mintz's two free throws gave the Leopards a three-point advantage with six seconds to go and Evans' attempted three in the final seconds was off the mark.

Final Score: Lehigh 79, American 57

Bethlehem, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - CJ McCollum poured in 22 points and Dave Buchberger added 16, as Lehigh rolled to a 79-57 victory over American to advance to the Patriot League final.

Zahir Carrington posted 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Marquis Hall chipped in 11 points for the top-seeded Mountain Hawks (21-10), who will face Lafayette for the conference title on Friday.

Stephen Lumpkins led American (11-20) with 15 points and nine rebounds. Steve Luptak scored 14, and Nick Hendra had 11 in the loss.

Lehigh scored the first 11 points of the game and made half of its 30 first- half field goals en route to taking a commanding 39-21 lead.

American improved on its 33.3 percent shooting effort from the first half but never seriously threatened the daunting deficit.

Ncbsports NCAA Basketball Betting News

<< Twins closer Nathan to undergo tests on elbow
Fort Myers, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Minnesota Twins closer Joe Nathan traveled back to Minnesota on Sunday to undergo an MRI and CT scan on his surgically repaired right elbow. Nathan felt tightness in the elbow on Saturday against Boston

<< BC Lions extend QB Printers
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The BC Lions announced Sunday that the team has signed quarterback Casey Printers to a contract extension. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. "Casey has demonstrated that he's not only a gifted and ex

<< Montreal rallies late, downs Ducks in SO
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tomas Plekanec fired the game-winning wrister in the shootout, and the Montreal Canadiens used a late surge in regulation and a controversial goal in the shootout to edge the Anaheim Ducks, 4-3, at Honda C

<< Gray, Gonzaga advance to WCC tourney final
Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steven Gray scored a game-high 18 points to go along with seven assists and six rebounds, as No. 18 Gonzaga posted a 77-62 victory over Loyola Marymount in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournam

<< Allen's late heroics leads Boston over Washington
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ray Allen hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 17.1 seconds left in regulation to lift Boston to an 86-83 comeback victory over Washington at TD Garden. Allen ended with a game-high 25 points, while Paul Pi

Durant, Thunder drop Kings >>
Sacramento, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Durant scored 27 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out five assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder stayed hot with a 108-102 win over the Sacramento Kings. Russell Westbrook added 21 points a

Trail Blazers-Nuggets, Box >>
PORTLAND (106)Batum 2-7 0-0 4, Aldridge 6-14 4-5 16, Howard 4-6 0-2 8, Miller 7-15 5-6 19, Roy 3-14 5-6 12, Fernandez 5-9 0-0 14, Pendergraph 0-0 0-0 0, Bayless 6-10 9-11 24, Webster 1-6 1-2 4, Cunningham 1-1 3-4 5. Totals 35-82 27-36 106.DENVER

WTA renews partnership with Sony >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The WTA Tour and Sony Ericsson announced a two-year extension of their existing partnership on Sunday. The deal will now keep Sony as the lead global sponsor for the tour through to the end of 2012. "

Blazers C Przybilla to undergo surgery again >>
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers announced center Joel Przybilla will undergo surgery on his right patella tendon after he slipped in the shower at his home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Przybilla first ruptur

Anthony leads Nuggets past Blazers >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carmelo Anthony posted 30 points to lead Denver to a 118-106 victory over Portland in a Northwest Division battle. J.R. Smith chipped in 22 points, and Chauncey Billups ended with 21, as the Nuggets shot 58.

College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

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.

NFL Football Office Pool Printable Schedules
MySportsbook.com , leading online sportsbook, offers free NFL football office pool printable sheets! Run your own NFL Football Office Pool. Create your own pool, invite your friends to join. Compete with your with co-workers, friends or family for bragging rights every week. Exchange some hard hits without risk of injury -- Trash Talk with your fellow co-workers.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football sportsbook needs.