Reynolds leads Villanova past West Virginia in Big East showdown

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

02/08/2010 - Morgantown, WV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scottie Reynolds scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half, as No. 4 Villanova handed fifth-ranked West Virginia an 82-75 defeat in a Big East showdown at WVU Coliseum.

The Wildcats (21-2, 10-1 Big East) rebounded from a 103-90 drubbing at Georgetown on Saturday -- their first setback in conference play -- by shooting 56.9 percent from the floor and 19-of-22 from the foul line.

Reynolds made all 10 of his free throw attempts and handed out five assists for Villanova, which received a 17-point effort from Corey Fisher.

Antonio Pena chipped in 10 points and nine rebounds in helping to snap West Virginia's (19-4, 8-3) six-game win streak.

Darryl Bryant netted 15 points, while Da'Sean Butler and Devin Ebanks each scored 13 for the Mountaineers, though Butler had just one point in the second half.

Trailing by 11 past the midway point of the second half, the Mountaineers made it a one-possession game thanks to a 12-4 spurt, as Ebanks' uncontested dunk in transition capped the run for a 62-59 game with eight minutes left.

Stokes stopped the rally with a pair of free throws, and after trading buckets, Reynolds hit a deep, step-back jumper for a seven-point advantage.

It was still a seven-point difference before Reggie Redding's bucket gave 'Nova a 74-65 lead with under 2 1/2 minutes to play.

Casey Mitchell gave the hosts one last chance by converting a rare four-point play, but Stokes' driving basket and two Reynolds free throws on the next two possessions sealed the Wildcats' biggest road win of the year.

Fisher's three-pointer at the 15-minute mark of the first half started a 15-3 burst for the visitors that ended on a Maalik Wayns bucket for a 21-10 lead.

Villanova connected on 63.3 percent from the field in the first half, but West Virginia was able to get to the free throw line frequently, hitting 11-of-16 from the stripe in the opening 20 minutes to stay within 44-33 at the break.

The Wildcats came out of the locker room cold, failing to hit a field goal for the first six-plus minutes of the second stanza. Nevertheless, the Mountaineers only pulled as close as five, 45-40, during the stretch.

Reynolds snapped Villanova out of its shooting funk with a make from behind the arc and three-point play around a Kevin Jones putback, pushing the margin to 53-43 with a little over 12 minutes remaining in regulation.

Game Notes

West Virginia, which had won four of the previous five meeting against 'Nova, fell to is 9-2 at home this season...Mitchell had 12 points and Jones 11 and eight rebounds for the Mountaineers, who ended up making just 18-of-32 from the foul line...West Virginia is next in action on Friday against rival Pittsburgh, while Villanova hosts Providence on Saturday.

Wwwinfind NCAA Basketball Betting News

<< Butler at the top of the Horizon again
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Howard went 12-of-14 from the free throw line in a 20-point effort, and 18th-ranked Butler used a big second half to down Loyola-Chicago, 62-47, and clinch a share of the Horizon League title. Will

<< Danica, have at it and have a good time
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR officials originally set the theme for this year's Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway last month when they told Sprint Cup Series drivers, "boys, have at it and have a good time." Officials s

<< Cardinals avoid arbitration with Schumaker
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals avoided salary arbitration with Skip Schumaker, agreeing to terms with the second baseman on a two-year contract. The 30-year-old Schumaker became the first Cardinal since

<< Montanes eases into second round at Brasil Open
Costa do Sauipe, Brazil (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded Albert Montanes was a first-round winner at the $500,000 Brasil Open on Monday. The Spaniard needed just under 1 1/2 hours to dispose of German Simon Greul 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) on the red

<< Devils D Salmela leaves game on stretcher
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New Jersey Devils defenseman Anssi Salmela left Monday's game against Philadelphia on a stretcher early in the second period. Salmela, who rejoined the Devils from the Thrashers in the Ilya Kovalchuk d

Cliff Lee undergoes foot surgery >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seattle Mariners lefty Cliff Lee underwent surgery last Friday to remove a bone spur in his left foot. Lee, who was acquired from Philadelphia in December, is not expected to be ready for workouts wh

Sharks use Clowe's third period goal to beat Leafs >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryane Clowe's goal in the third period lifted the San Jose Sharks to a 3-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre. Dan Boyle and Joe Pavelski each had a goal for the Sharks, who have won f

Richards caps Flyers' comeback win over Devils >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Richards tallied the game-deciding power-play goal late in the third period, as Philadelphia recovered from a two-goal deficit to top New Jersey, 3-2, at Wachovia Center. James van Riemsdyk a

Duke uses balanced attack to dismantle UNC >>
Durham, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Keturah Jackson and Bridgette Mitchell each scored 12 points in a balanced attack for eighth-ranked Duke, which crushed 18th-ranked North Carolina, 79-51 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Krystal Thomas added

No. 25 Pitt breezes past Robert Morris >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ashton Gibbs scored a game-high 20 points, and 25th-ranked Pittsburgh crushed non-conference foe Robert Morris, 77-53, at Petersen Events Center. Jermaine Dixon added 18 points for the Panthers (18-6), w

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.