No. 25 Xavier downs St. Bonaventure to gain share of A-10 title

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/06/2010 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jordan Crawford scored 22 points to lead 25th-ranked Xavier to a 93-72 win over St. Bonaventure in the regular-season finale for both teams at Cintas Center.

Jamel McLean poured in 15 points for the Musketeers (23-7, 14-2 Atlantic 10), who finished with the same record as Temple and captured a share of the league title for a fourth straight year but will enter the upcoming conference tournament as the No. 2 seed due to the Owls holding the tiebreaker.

Jason Love added 14 points, Dante Jackson had 11 points and Terrell Holloway contributed nine points and 10 assists in the victory.

"Making history - there's nothing like it," Love said. "I can't put into words how it feels to win a fourth straight conference title."

Andrew Nicholson led the way with 21 points for the Bonnies (14-15, 7-9), who saw their four-game win streak halted. Chris Matthews netted 14 points while Jonathan Hall posted 11 points and eight rebounds in the loss.

"We had to play an A-plus game and they had to play a C game if we were going to win," St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt said.

Xavier scored 16 of the game's first 20 points, with a Mark Lyons bucket from in close capping the early surge with 13:45 to play in the first half.

From that point, Xavier went on a 10-2 run and opened an even bigger advantage. A three-point play by McLean made it 19-6 then Lyons added a layup before consecutive scoring possessions -- the first a jumper by Holloway and the second a three-pointer by Jackson -- gave the hosts a commanding 26-6 lead near the midpoint of the half.

A basket by Hall with 5:46 to go brought the Bonnies within 32-20, and several minutes later, a three-pointer by Matthews cut the SBU deficit even further, to 38-30.

Holloway's jumper gave the Musketeers a 44-32 lead at the break.

In the second half, the hosts were simply too much. Crawford's layup over five minutes into the frame put Xavier ahead by 18, 58-40, before a fastbreak jam by Kenny Frease pushed the lead to 22 points.

Nicholson's dunk with 6:50 on the clock drew the Bonnies within 15, 72-57, but a triple by Crawford over a minute later was the start of six straight points that eventually put Xavier back on top by 20 and the remaining minutes were dedicated to honoring the seniors.

Game Notes

This marked Xavier's 24th straight home win, which is good for the third longest home win streak in the nation...Xavier leads the all-time series, 22-15...The Musketeers have won seven straight games and 11 of their last 12 overall...Xavier has now also captured 32 consecutive home conference contests...SBU has dropped nine straight to Xavier, which won the battle on the glass, 38-30.

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American Idol Betting Season 6 Strategies  

It's that time of year folks.  Betting on American Idol Season 9.  And we have plenty of American Idol Season 6 strategies appearing below.  With the Top 24 finalists revealed, online gambling sites will be offering betting odds on each of them, including MySportsbook.com.

No other “event” has been growing as fast as wagering on American Idol. It has turned into a huge betting event with reasonably high limits and all sorts of profit-making potential for sharp bettors. Last year, MySportsbook.com experienced unprecedented traffic as a result of the American Idol betting craze.

Every week there will be odds to win American Idol, various elimination props and contestant versus contestant match-ups at the MySportsbook.com website.

Whether a fan of America’s top-rated show or watching only because of a wife or girlfriend, here are some of basic strategies to use when betting American Idol.

Odds to Win

There are a few things to consider when looking for the right win bet. First off, remember that this bet is for the long haul. Many people make the mistake of picking the performer who sang the best the previous week. This strategy leads to an underlay situation – betting a price, which is less than what it should be.

All Idol contestants struggle at some point in the competition, so you should always look for value. In last year’s competition alone, two performers who had some of the best performances early in the series were subsequently bet down to low prices - Lisa Tucker and Ace Young. After just a few weeks, Tucker had already been eliminated, while Young quickly became a huge long shot to win America’s largest talent search.

A better strategy is to look for performers who don’t necessarily get the praise from the judges, but show flashes of the talent necessary to go the distance.

Another important thing to remember when betting any contestant to win is the demographic breakdown of the voters, the viewing public and potential future CD purchasers. Unlike sporting events, American Idol is not decided on the field of play – it’s decided by the American public under the guiding influence of the shows producers.

Understand that the great state of Alabama has a mighty edge when it comes to American Idol. 

Therefore, to be successful betting on American Idol, put any personal opinions or prejudices aside and think like the majority of the voting public. Remember that the typical voter is young, female and quite often, Southern.

If a contestant cannot appeal to this demographic, no matter how much talent he or she possesses, they’ll struggle for votes. Looks, demeanor and charisma are extremely important. And it’s no coincidence that every Idol winner so far has hailed from a Southern state.

Elimination Props

Every week MySportsbook.com anticipates offering a prop on who’ll be eliminated from the show each Wednesday night. A suggestion to handicap this is to gauge an overall feel for who’s the least popular contestant left in the competition. Generally the least popular performers have recently appeared in the bottom three and will have been the target of repeated criticism from the judges.

Last year, resources included dialidol.com and votefortheworst.com. Dialidol.com measures the volume of each contestant’s voting line. While by no means a perfect science, it does give a good indication of who is generating votes and who isn’t. Meanwhile, votefortheworst.com is a site that attempts to build support for the worst competitor to keep them in the competition for ‘entertainment’ value. The site has a proven track record of keeping performers around who most feel should have been voted off a long time ago.

Contestant vs. Contestant Match-ups

The best strategy for doing well on match-ups is to assess how close either of the contestants is to being eliminated. If neither is expected to be voted off of the show in the coming weeks, the value is almost always on the underdog. If both are expecting an imminent exit in the near future, the favorite in the match-up might offer value.

Watch for American Idol betting odds on each of the contestants shortly and good luck with these American Idol betting strategies.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.

What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

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.

How to Read Point Spreads

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:

To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.