IUPUI and Oakland collide for Summit League title

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/09/2010 - Sioux Falls, SD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The IUPUI Jaguars and the Oakland Golden Grizzlies will battle tonight in the championship game of the Summit League Tournament. The prize for the winner is an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

IUPUI, the tournament's second seed, beat seventh-seeded Western Illinois in the quarterfinal round and third-seeded Oral Roberts by a 69-65 final in yesterday's semifinals. The Jaguars are now riding a six-game win streak, and their only previous league title came back in 2003. They have lost in the championship game twice since capturing the crown.

Top-seeded Oakland knocked off eighth-seeded UMKC on Saturday before besting fifth-seeded IPFW, 71-58, yesterday. The Golden Grizzlies won their only conference crown in 2005, and they have also lost two championship games since tasting victory. Last season, they dropped a heart-breaking 66-64 decision to North Dakota State in the final. Oakland is riding a 10-game win streak, even more impressive than IUPUI's current run.

IUPUI and Oakland split a pair of meetings during the regular season, and the Golden Grizzlies own a 19-14 advantage in the all-time series.

There is a tremendous trio of players on the IUPUI roster, and Robert Glenn leads the group with 19.6 ppg behind 58.9 percent shooting from the floor. In addition to his scoring ability, Glenn leads the team with 6.4 rpg and 45 blocks. Alex Young checks in with 18.4 ppg, and Leroy Nobles provides 13.3 ppg on the strength of his 43.6 percent shooting from three-point range. The Jaguars are scoring 75.0 ppg while allowing 67.0 ppg to opponents. In the four-point win over Oral Roberts yesterday, Glenn tallied 18 points, Nobles scored 17 and Young added 16, as all three players performed well under pressure. IUPUI connected on 56.3 percent of its field goal attempts, the most obvious key to victory.

There are four double-digit scorers in the fold for Oakland, but center Keith Benson is clearly the best player on the roster. Benson is scoring 17.3 ppg on 54 percent shooting from the floor, and he is ripping down 10.3 rpg to go along with a block total of 110. Johnathon Jones provides 12.7 ppg for the Golden Grizzlies, and he has handed out a stellar total of 212 assists to complement his 60 steals. Derrick Nelson (11.7 ppg) and Larry Wright (11.0 ppg) round out the group for Oakland, which is posting 76.8 ppg while holding foes to 71.2 ppg. Blake Cushingberry came through with a huge performance for the Golden Grizzlies against IPFW, as the starting guard finished with 23 points. Benson posted 17 points, 17 rebounds and six blocks in that tilt, and Oakland held the Mastodons to 37.5 percent shooting from the floor.

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Sportsbooks That Take US Credit Cards for NFL football betting

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