Bluejays go in search of 12th straight win

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

02/04/2012 - Cedar Rapids, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 13th-ranked Creighton Bluejays take aim at their 12th straight victory, as they fly into Cedar Rapids for today's Missouri Valley Conference showdown with the Panthers of Northern Iowa.

Creighton picked up its 11th consecutive win on Wednesday night by blasting visiting Illinois State in a 102-74 final. It was the second time this season the Bluejays soared above the 100-point mark, and it improved their overall record to 21-2, and their league ledger to 11-1. It was also the 12th win in 13 home games for a Creighton club that is clearly the class of the MVC this season.

Northern Iowa is coming off a win of its own, as the Panthers took care of visiting Southern Illinois on Tuesday, 58-49. As a result, UNI improved to 15-9 on the season and 5-7 in conference play. The Panthers own a 10-3 home record, but they've strung together consecutive wins just once since opening the season an impressive 10-1.

Creighton owns a 29-15 lead in the all-time series with Northern Iowa, and the Bluejays have won the last three meetings, which includes a 63-60 decision in Omaha back on January 10.

Doug McDermott poured in 25 points to lead six players in double figures, as the Bluejays could do no wrong in their recent win over Illinois State. The other five guys scored between 10 and 12 points apiece, and the team as a whole made good on 13-of-25 three-point attempts (.520) while shooting 56.4 percent from the floor overall. A 27-13 edge in points from the foul line helped the cause, as did a 35-23 rebounding advantage. Creighton is one of the highest scoring teams in the country, averaging 81.8 ppg behind outstanding shooting percentages of .516 overall and .453 from three-point range. McDermott (23.6 ppg, 8.3 rpg) is one of the top performers in not only the MVC, but the country as well, and the team's only other double-digit scorer is Antoine Young (11.0 ppg, 4.5 apg). Defensively, the 'Jays are giving up 68.0 ppg with foes shooting 42.6 percent from the field. Creighton is +5.8 in rebounding margin, but -1.3 in turnover differential.

Freshman Deon Mitchell scored a career-high 17 points, and Chip Rank came off the bench to net 13 more, as Northern Iowa got past Southern Illinois earlier this week. The Panthers overcame a slow start (.286 FG percentage in the first half) by shooting 55.0 percent from the floor over the final 20 minutes to earn the victory. The Salukis were limited to 35.3 percent field goal efficiency, and a 20-8 deficit in points from the free-throw line also proved costly. UNI claimed significant advantages in points in the paint (22-12), off turnovers (16-2) and from its reserves (18-5). Through 24 games, Anthony James (13.4 ppg) is the only player averaging double figures in scoring for coach Ben Jacobson's club, but he is hitting just 38.4 percent of his field goal attempts. Overall, the team is averaging 66.0 ppg in dropping 43.3 percent of its total shots and 38.2 percent of its long-range bombs, while the opposition is netting 60.8 ppg on typical shooting outputs of 43.1 percent overall and 35.0 percent from beyond the arc.

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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.

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Online Sportsbook Football Betting

LaDainian Tomlinson Favorite to be 2007 NFL MVP

With the first NFL preseason game less than two weeks away, it is time to start thinking about football once again at MySportsbook.com. Reigning NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson is currently the 5-1 co-favorite to win the award again alongside Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone after his all out assault on the record books last season. For those suffering from amnesia or were under a rock last football season, all L.T. did last season was set the NFL record for rushing touchdowns (28), total touchdowns (31) and total points scored (186) to go along with his 1815 rushing yards and 508 receiving yards. At 6-1, Tom Brady is next in line which isn’t surprising considering all of the firepower the Pats added over the off-season. With the addition of Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and Wes Welker; it would be quite difficult for Brady’s numbers not to improve from last years 3529 yards and 24 touchdowns. There appears to be some decent value in Drew Bees at 10-1 considering he probably would have won the award last year if it wasn’t for L.T.’s record breaking season.

There is no reason to think the Saints will come back to earth this season and playing in a weak NFC, they should have as good a shot as any to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. At 15-1, Donovan McNabb could also be worth a look. Remember, many felt he was the MVP of the first half of the season before going down with a season ending injury. Reportedly, he is in great shape and well ahead of schedule to return to form. Also, he could have some added motivation to put up big numbers this season with the Eagles using their first pick in the draft on McNabb’s future successor Kevin Kolb.

Be sure to log on to MySportsbook.com to check out the complete odds for NFL MVP as well as all of the new football related futures. With the popularity of NFL futures, these betting lines will be sure to change as the money comes in; get the early sports lines now.

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