Cougars set to pounce on Horned Frogs

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

02/02/2010 - Provo, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Clinging to first place in the Mountain West Conference standings, the 12th-ranked BYU Cougars try to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the member schools as they host the TCU Horned Frogs tonight at the Marriott Center in Provo.

BYU, played twice last week and in the first outing suffered its first league defeat of 2009-10 with a 76-72 setback to nationally-ranked New Mexico on the road. Three days later, the Cougars redeemed themselves with an 82-69 victory over Utah at home, running their record to a perfect 12-0 in their own building and 6-1 in conference.

As for the Horned Frogs, who are tied with Wyoming for sixth place in the league standings at just 2-5, they are trying to halt a season-high three-game slide on the road tonight. The squad took on New Mexico on Saturday at home and was handed a 72-57 loss.

At one point in this series the Horned Frogs put together a three-game win streak against BYU, but that was finished more than a decade ago and since then the Cougars have captured 10 consecutive victories over TCU. Last season, BYU posted a 73-61 win in this building in January and then logged a 79-63 triumph down in Fort Worth as well.

The schools will complete their regular-season series this year the first week of March at TCU.

Ronnie Moss exploded for a career-high 30 points, shooting not only 12-of-17 from the field but also 5-of-7 behind the three-point line for the Horned Frogs on Saturday as he logged the 600th point of his career, but it wasn't nearly enough as he and TCU bowed to New Mexico on the road. Moss, who is sixth in the nation in assists with almost six and a half per contest, handed out eight of the unit's 11 assists in the outing. Zvonko Buljan was the only other double-digit scorer for the program, posting 11 points for a team that was outscored at the free-throw line, 20-2, and turned the ball over 16 times. Moss has been trying to keep it all together for the Horned Frogs this season, leading the team and ranking among the league leaders in scoring with his 14.5 ppg, even though he is shooting just 38.7 percent from the floor at the moment. Zvonko Buljan and Edvinas Ruzgas account for 13.3 and 12.4 ppg, respectively, the former collecting a team-best nine rebounds per game and the latter having made good on 42.5 percent of his three-point tries as the Frogs hit on only 33.4 percent out on the perimeter.

Once again it was the Jimmer Fredette show for the Cougars over the weekend as he tallied a game-high 36 points in the win over Utah at home. Fredette, who now holds the BYU record for the most points ever scored against a Utah program, connected on 4-of-5 beyond the arc and 11-of-23 from the floor overall, while Tyler Haws added 15 points to the offensive attack for BYU. Named the Mountain West Player of the Week on Monday for the fourth time, Fredette is now posting a lofty 21.2 ppg and is even shooting better behind the three-point line (.484) than he is the field (.474) through 21 appearances. Fredette has not only made good on almost 90 percent of his free- throw tries (122-of-136), he has also found opportunity to hand out a team- best 104 assists, benefiting the likes of Haws (12.3 ppg) and Jackson Emery (12.0 ppg) who have been filling the gap left by Jonathan Tavernari (9.7 ppg) who has gone from being one of the leading performers in the MWC a year ago to barely shooting 40 percent from the floor and coming off the bench now for a group that is converting 49.8 percent from the field and 41.9 percent out on the perimeter.

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MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.

Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.

According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).

Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.

''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
    
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.

Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.

''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''

Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
   
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.

”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
   
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.

For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.


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.