No. 1 Kansas begins Big 12 Tournament play against Texas Tech

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/11/2010 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top-ranked Kansas Jayhawks are the top seed in the Big 12 Conference Tournament, and they are slated to do battle with the ninth-seeded Texas Tech Red Raiders this afternoon in the quarterfinal round.

The winner of this game will do battle with either fourth-seeded Texas A&M or 12th-seeded Nebraska in the semifinals.

Texas Tech was impressive in yesterday's 82-67 victory over eighth-seeded Colorado, a team that beat the Red Raiders by 11 points in the regular-season finale last weekend. Tech is gunning for its first-ever Big 12 Conference Tournament title, and although the team did lose its final seven regular- season bouts, it appears that confidence has been restored.

Kansas has won six Big 12 Tournament titles, at least twice as many as any other active member of the league. The Jayhawks captured three consecutive crowns from 2006-2008, and they are 25-7 all-time in this event. At 29-2 overall, including 15-1 in league action, Bill Self's squad was highly impressive during the regular season.

The Jayhawks crushed the Red Raiders earlier this season in an 89-63 final, and Kansas owns a decided 18-4 advantage in the all-time series.

Through 30 games, Texas Tech was scoring and surrendering the same exact amount of points (76.4 ppg). There are three double-digit scorers in the fold for the Red Raiders, and Mike Singletary led the way with 14.9 ppg and 6.8 rpg heading into yesterday's affair. John Roberson checked in with 14.4 ppg, and he had handed out 161 assists. Nick Okorie rounded out the trio with 10.8 ppg, and he was shooting 41.5 percent from three-point range. In Wednesday's win over Colorado, Texas Tech connected on 55.6 percent of its field goal attempts over the final 20 minutes to seal the deal. Roberson posted 19 points and nine assists, Okorie had 18 points, and Brad Reese 16 points off the bench. As for Singletary, he registered 13 points for the Red Raiders, who forced 19 turnovers and earned a 39-29 rebounding advantage.

A combination of vast talent and big-game experience makes this Kansas team one of the favorites to win the national title. It all starts with senior Sherron Collins, a 5-11 point guard who is scoring 15.3 ppg to go along with 4.3 apg. Collins is an 83.9 percent shooter from the foul line, and he will undoubtedly have the ball in his hands at the end of every close game. Xavier Henry, a standout freshman, checks in with 13.9 ppg, and he leads the club with 48 steals. Marcus Morris brings 12.4 ppg to the mix on 55.9 percent shooting from the field, and he is pulling down 6.2 rpg. Finally, center Cole Aldrich is averaging 12.4 ppg and 9.7 rpg to complement his 110 blocked shots. While Aldrich has certainly been solid, he is capable of being much more dominant at the offensive end. The Jayhawks are generating 82.2 ppg while holding opponents to 63.6 ppg on 37.6 percent field goal efficiency. A positive rebounding differential of 6.8 rpg has certainly helped the cause.

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.