Football Betting

Owls visit 49ers in Atlantic 10 showdown

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/27/2010 - Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Temple owns its highest national ranking since the 1999-2000 season, and the 15th-ranked Owls fly into Charlotte tonight for an Atlantic 10 Conference clash with the 49ers.

Temple has won 13 of its last 14 games and stands alone atop the A-10 standings with a 5-0 record. The Owls, who are 17-3 overall, remain the only team that has knocked off national power Villanova this season. The club is currently riding a six-game win streak and is coming off a 62-45 decision over Fordham on Saturday.

As for Charlotte, it has won its last three games to move to 4-1 in conference and can obviously pull even with Temple in the standings with a home victory tonight. The 49ers, who are 14-5 overall, have earned a pair of two-point wins during the modest win streak, including an 84-82 decision over La Salle on Saturday.

The Owls own a 5-4 series edge over the 49ers, which includes three straight wins over Charlotte.

Temple has been a tremendous defensive team through the first 20 games of the 2009-10 season, as it is limiting foes to 56.2 ppg on 37.8 percent field goal efficiency. The Owls are netting 65.1 ppg at the offensive end, and they are paced by Ryan Brooks and his 16.0 ppg. Juan Fernandez checks in with 13.5 ppg and 71 assists, while Lavoy Allen contributes 10.6 ppg and 9.8 rpg. Fernandez scored 13 points against Fordham, and Scootie Randall added 12 points off the bench. In that game, the Owls connected on only 2-of-12 three-point attempts in the first half, but a 7-of-9 effort from behind the arc over the final 20 minutes proved to be the difference. Temple committed just seven turnovers and limited the Rams to 34.6 percent field goal efficiency.

Shamari Spears transferred from Boston College to Charlotte, and he is clearly the best player on the 49er roster. Spears is scoring 16.9 ppg this season on nearly 50 percent shooting from the floor, and he is pulling down 5.7 rpg. The only other double-digit scorer in the fold is Derrio Green, who checks in with 12.1 ppg on 36.7 percent field goal efficiency. Chris Braswell is netting 9.9 ppg, and he brings 9.2 rpg to the floor. While Charlotte is putting up 75.1 ppg, the club is permitting 70.7 ppg to opponents. Spears scored 22 points against La Salle on Saturday, and Braswell contributed 21 points and 13 boards. Green pitched in 20 points and seven assists, and An'Juan Wilderness rounded out a foursome of double-digit scorers with 13 points. A 23-16 edge in points from the foul line proved instrumental.

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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

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.

How to Read Point Spreads

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:

  • Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
    OR
  • Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.

  • 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.

    For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically

    Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:

  • Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
    OR
  • Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score

    Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?

    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.