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02/23/2012 - Tallahassee, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first place picture in the Atlantic Coast Conference will get a little clearer tonight as the fifth-ranked Duke Blue Devils head to the Donald L. Tucker Center to square off with the 15th- ranked Florida State Seminoles in what will send one team into third place and keep the other tied for the top spot in the league standings.
This will be the second encounter between Duke and the Seminoles this season and the 38th meeting in history. Although the Blue Devils hold a 30-7 lead in the all-time series, Florida State has all the momentum after its dramatic 76-73 victory in their last battle, which took place on Jan. 21st last month at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Michael Snaer made national headlines in the first bout by hitting a game-winning three-pointer as time expired to snap Duke's 64-game home winning streak against unranked opponents. Since the incident, Florida State has gained a little respect and pushed its way into the top 25.
Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils won their fourth in a row on Sunday as they bested the Boston College Eagles 75-50 in Chestnut Hill. The victory made Duke 23-4 overall and 10-2 in ACC play. They are tied with Florida State and are just a half game behind North Carolina (11-2). The Blue Devils put together a superb rebounding effort against Boston College, as they won the battle of the boards 45-21 to push towards the lopsided victory. Duke has one of the best offenses in the nation, as it is netting 79.5 ppg while allowing opponents to average 68.6 ppg.
Duke has one of the most dynamic backcourts in the nation as Seth Curry and Austin Rivers are virtually impossible to contain. With Rivers's ability to penetrate and finish and Curry's lights out three-point shooting, the Blue Devils kill opponents with stellar guard play. The duo combined to score 34 points in the recent win over Boston College. Ryan Kelly and Mason Plumlee provide frontcourt balance for Duke. Plumlee is near a double-double average as he is scoring 11.2 points and grabbing 9.7 boards per game.
Leonard Hamilton has to be a serious COY candidate after leading FSU to a 19-7 overall record. The Seminoles kept pace in the ACC race by defeating NC State 76-62 to improve to 10-2 in league action on Saturday. FSU shot 49.1 percent from the floor and converted 18-of-21 from the charity stripe to past the Wolfpack, while holding NC State to a paltry 29.3 percent shooting in the contest. The Seminoles have been great on both ends of the floor all season as they are netting 70.0 ppg while limiting opponents to 60.8 ppg.
The Seminoles are led by Snaer, the man who buried Duke earlier this season. The junior shooting guard leads the team with 13.5 ppg, and has since hit another game-winning shot as he hit a go-ahead three-pointer with seconds remaining to give FSU a 48-47 victory over Virginia Tech on Feb. 16th. Bernard James, Okara White, and Bernard Gibson all play vital roles for FSU as well. James is grabbing 8.2 boards per game. Deividas Dulkys, although quiet as of late, can be dangerous as he showed earlier this season with a 32-point outing on a remarkable 12-of-14 shooting performance against North Carolina.
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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.
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:
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.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
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.
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