Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Recaps

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/11/2010 - Greensboro, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sammy Zeglinski scored a season-high 21 points to lead Virginia to a 68-62 victory over Boston College in the first round of the ACC Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Virginia (15-15), seeded ninth in the 12-team field, halted a nine-game losing streak and prevailed despite being without leading scorer and second team All- ACC selection Sylven Landesberg, suspended by head coach Tony Bennett prior to the regular-season finale for academic reasons.

Zeglinski helped offset the loss by making 8-of-15 shots, including 5-of-10 from three-point range, with Jeff Jones adding 14 points and Jerome Meyinsse 12 for the Cavaliers, who will face top-seeded Duke in Friday's quarterfinals. Mike Scott posted a double-double in the win, compiling 11 points and a game- best 13 rebounds.

Rakim Sanders led Boston College (15-16) with 22 points, while Reggie Jackson finished with 18 points and nine rebounds in a losing cause.

Virginia trailed 23-17 after Sanders buried a three-pointer near the midway point of the first half, but took control with a 17-2 run over the next 8 1/2 minutes. Zeglinski's fourth triple of the period put the Cavaliers up 32-25 with 2:12 left before intermission, and the lead was extended to nine points on Scott's fastbreak dunk 25 seconds later.

Boston College pulled within 34-27 at the break on a Jackson layup with 1:16 left in the opening period.

The Cavaliers' advantage swelled to as many as 11 points early in the second half, but an 8-0 burst capped by Dallas Elmore's layup with 8:44 to go cut the Eagles' deficit to 49-46. Sanders scored the first six points of the spurt.

Virginia answered by scoring seven of the next nine points, however, with another Zeglinski trey pushing the margin to 56-48 with 5:41 left. The Eagles would get no closer than five points the rest the way.

Zeglinski led all scorers with 16 first-half points on 6-of-9 shooting.

Wwsportsnetwork NCAA Basketball Betting News

<< Hoyas knocked top-seeded Orange in Big East
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Wright scored 27 points and Greg Monroe contributed 17 with 10 rebounds and seven assists, as 22nd-ranked Georgetown pulled off a 91-84 victory over No. 3 Syracuse in the quarterfinals of the Big East To

<< Real's Pellegrini given vote of confidence
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Madrid Technical Director Jorge Valdano has handed the dreaded vote of confidence to coach Manuel Pellegrini after the Spanish giants were knocked out of the Champions League by Lyon on Wednesday. Real

<< Puerto Rico Open washed out by heavy rain
Rio Grande, Puerto Rico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first round of the Puerto Rico Open was washed out Thursday by another round of heavy rain that left the Trump International course unplayable. Only 18 players in a full PGA Tour field tee

<< Lookin at Lucky highlights Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn
Hot Springs, AR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Champion colt Lookin at Lucky tops a field of seven three-year-olds in Saturday's $300,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park. The 2009 champion two-year-old will be making his first start of the year in the 1 1

<< Patriots re-sign RB Faulk
Foxboro, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Patriots re-signed running back Kevin Faulk on Thursday. Details of the contract were not disclosed. The all-purpose back, who has been with the Patriots since being selected in the second r

Hoyas knock off top-seeded Orange in Big East >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Wright scored 27 points and Greg Monroe contributed 17 with 10 rebounds and seven assists, as 22nd-ranked Georgetown pulled off a 91-84 victory over No. 3 Syracuse in the quarterfinals of the Big East To

Blue Bombers ink CB Glover >>
Winnipeg, MB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Winnipeg Blue Bombers signed four players on Thursday, including defensive back LaVar Glover. Glover has spent the past four years with Winnipeg and in that time has accumulated 116 tackles along

Kansas topples Texas Tech for milestone win >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sherron Collins scored 19 points and Cole Aldrich chipped in 12 with 18 rebounds, leading top-ranked Kansas to an 80-68 victory over Texas Tech in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament. Xavier Henr

Brian Giles hangs up his cleats >>
Surprise, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Giles, who recently signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, announced his retirement on Thursday. The 39-year-old outfielder battled an arthritic right knee last season

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

It's less than a month until the NHL hockey betting season opens at MySportsbook.com and preparations are underway for another battle in the race to hoist Lord Stanley's mug in 2007.

As cup crazy fans prepare to place their bets, one online sportsbook ,MySportsbook.com, is offering hockey betting lines on the 2007/2007 Stanley Cup , who will bring it home this upcoming season.

Despite a poor showing in last season's playoffs and the loss of Steve Yzerman to retirement, the Detroit Red Wings are early favourites at this online sportsbook with wagering odds of 6-1. The Wings will look to offensive powerhouse Pavel Datsyuk and newly appointed captain Nicklas Lidstrom to lead one of the league's most prominent franchises.

Always a threat are the Ottawa Senators, with newly acquired goaltender Martin Gerber from the Stanley Cup champion ,Carolina Hurricanes. The Sens are second best in the rankings at a 7-1 bet, and odds makers at this sportsbook are optimistic that the Ottawa squad will fare better than last season's Eastern Conference semi-final upset to the Buffalo Sabres.

Also worth noting are the defending Stanley Cup champs Carolina Hurricanes, a 10-1 bet to repeat. Behind the Canes are the New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and Anaheim Mighty Ducks all sit at 12-1. In the basement are the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, and St. Louis Blues who all have 100-1 odds to win.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your hockey betting needs.

How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?

The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.

While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.

For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.

1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.

2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.

How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.

Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.

Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.

How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).

Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.

Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on college football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.