Bears set sights on Bulldogs in MEAC title game

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - Winston-Salem, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Back in the title game of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament for the third straight year, the Morgan State Bears try to repeat as champions this afternoon as they tangle with South Carolina State at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem.

The Bears were almost unbeatable in conference play this season at 15-1, which is why they were made the top seed in this 39th annual event. Morgan State earned a bye into the quarterfinals where it defeated ninth-seeded North Carolina A&T without much effort in an 84-57 final on Wednesday. On Friday the squad captured a 74-67 win over fifth-seeded Hampton to move to 31-25 in the event overall.

As for the third-seeded Bulldogs, they first slipped by Maryland-Eastern Shore, the sixth seed, in a 59-53 triumph on Thursday and then followed that up with a 70-66 overtime win versus second-seeded Delaware State in the semifinals on Friday.

The teams split their two regular-season meetings, with SC State putting up a 71-68 victory in the most recent decision on the road in the middle of February. The advantage in the all-time series rests with the Bulldogs by a count of 39-26.

Jason Flagler scored a game-high 19 points, shooting 7-of-9 from the floor, while adding eight rebounds in SC State's win over Delaware State in overtime on Friday. Rio Pitt posted 11 points as he made good on all five of his field goals attempts, followed by Brandon Smalls and Carrio Bennett who both tacked don 10 points for a team that shot 53.1 percent from the field in order to offset 16 turnovers. Flagler, the leading scorer in five of the last six games, leads the team overall on the season with his 15.2 ppg, stemming from his impressive 55.8 percent effort from the floor and his 87 percent accuracy at the free-throw line. Darnell Porter checks in with 13.0 ppg, thanks in large part to his 41.1 percent shooting beyond the arc this season. The team as a whole has made a mere 30.7 percent on the perimeter.

Balanced scoring was the order of the day on Friday as the Bears put five players in double figures in the win over Hampton, but only one of them (Ameer Ali, 14 points) had more than a dozen points in the victory. Troy Smith and Joe Davis both came away with 12 points, followed by Reggie Holmes and DeWayne Jackson 11 points apiece as the team worked through 16 turnovers and just 2- of-8 shooting behind the three-point line. Morgan State won the meeting at the free-throw line where it held a 30-18 advantage. One of the top scorers in college basketball this season, Holmes is pouring in 21.9 ppg, having spent an inordinate amount of time at the free-throw line where he's made 234-of-286 chances. Toss in another 553 field goal attempts over the course of his 35 starts and you have a player who easily has his hands on the ball more than anyone else on the team. Kevin Thompson is averaging a double-double with 12.7 points and 12.0 rebounds per game, the latter making him one of the most aggressive players on the glass in the nation in 2009-10.

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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.

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.

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