Big East champs again: UConn women pull away from WVU

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/09/2010 - Hartford, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kalana Greene scored 15 points and pulled down 12 rebounds, and top-ranked Connecticut captured the Big East Tournament title and stretched its winning streak to a record 72 games with a 60-32 triumph over No. 9 West Virginia.

Tiffany Hayes had 15 points, while Tina Charles contributed 12 points, 10 boards and four blocks for the Huskies (33-0), who pulled away over the game's final 15 minutes and didn't allow a field goal for the Mountaineers over an 11-minute stretch in the second half.

Maya Moore tallied 10 points for the Huskies, who are assured of being the top-seeded team for the NCAA Tournament. On Monday, they broke their own longest winning streak in NCAA Division I women's basketball history with a 59-44 victory over sixth-ranked Notre Dame.

The only longer winning streak in NCAA Division I basketball history is the 88-game run the UCLA men had from 1971-1974.

Since the 1993-94 season, Connecticut has won either the Big East regular season or tourney title in 17 consecutive seasons - and has captured both titles 12 times over that span. They've won both three straight years and have captured five of the last six tournament championships and have a total of 16 Big East titles overall.

Liz Repella totaled 10 points for the second-seeded Mountaineers (28-5), who shot just 24.1 percent from the field and have yet to win the conference title. They were beaten by UConn in the 2006 final.

Natalie Burton's free throw trimmed West Virginia's deficit to 33-28 with 15 1/2 minutes left, but the Mountaineers went the next 11-plus minutes without a field goal, thanks to some suffocating defense.

During that time, the Huskies went on an amazing 27-2 spurt. Moore started the flurry with a jumper and Meghan Gardler's three-pointer widened the cushion to 56-30 with under five minutes left.

Korinne Campbell's jumper, with 12 minutes left, represented the last WVU field goal until Akeema Richards scored in the final minute.

West Virginia closed a 27-10 deficit to 30-20 at the half.

Wwcbssportsline NCAA Basketball Betting News

<< Bears release RB Jones
Lake Forest, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bears released running back Kevin Jones on Tuesday. Jones, who missed all of 2009 with a serious ankle injury, signed with the bears in 2008 and rushed for 109 yards on 34 carries

<< Falcons sign CB Grimes
Flowery Branch, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Falcons have re-signed cornerback Brent Grimes. Grimes led the team with six interceptions in 2009, had 13 passes defensed and compiled 67 tackles, 58 of those solo, in 16 games. Ori

<< FDU removes interim tag from Vetrone
Teaneck, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fairleigh Dickinson has removed the interim tag from Greg Vetrone and has named him the permanent men's basketball coach. Vetrone was given the job on an interim basis for last season and led the team to a 10-

<< Tests confirm overactive thyroid for Reyes
Port St. Lucie, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets confirmed the test results that stated shortstop Jose Reyes has an overactive thyroid. The club mentioned that Reyes will remain in New York to undergo additional blood testing,

<< Saints ink CB Torrence
Metairie, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Saints agreed to terms with cornerback Leigh Torrence on a one-year contract Tuesday. Torrence spent the past two years with New Orleans, appearing in 12 total games. He had four

Clippers sever ties with GM Dunleavy >>
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers announced they have severed ties with general manager Mike Dunleavy, just over a month after he resigned as head coach. At the time of the February 4 announcement, the Clippers

North Texas takes Sun Belt championship >>
Hot Springs, AR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh White hit the go-ahead bucket with 24 seconds left and George Odufuwa came up with a key block on the ensuing series, as North Texas edged Troy, 66-63, for the Sun Belt Conference Tournam

Jones shines in Granger's absence as Pacers down Sixers >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dahntay Jones tied a season-high with 25 points and the Indiana Pacers overcame the absence of Danny Granger to beat Philadelphia, 107-96, at Conseco Fieldhouse. Granger, who is leading the Pacers at

Bourque highlights Calgary's win in Motown >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rene Bourque assisted on the tying goal early in the third period and scored the game-winner less than two minutes later, as the Calgary Flames edged the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2, at Joe Louis Arena. Jarome Ig

Predators hold off Thrashers >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Suter and Colin Wilson scored to propel the Nashville Predators to a 2-1 win over the Atlanta Thrashers at Philips Arena. Suter's tally came on a power play early in the first period, whil

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who 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 Made

The 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 Change

Once 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.