49ers aim for record fifth Big West title against top-seeded Gauchos

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Long Beach State tries to raise its total of Big West Conference Tournament titles to a record five, as the 49ers clash with the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos in the championship round of the 35th-annual event at Anaheim Convention Center Arena.

LBSU, the third seed in this year's tourney, is currently tied with Pacific for the most tournament crowns with four, the most recent of those coming in 2007 with a 94-83 victory over Cal Poly. This time around LBSU had to work through the quarterfinals with a 79-69 victory over the sixth-seeded Mustangs and then take a 68-61 win versus second-seeded Pacific on Friday night.

As for the top-seeded Gauchos, a team that is well below .500 in this tournament over the years and has just a single crown (2002) to show for its efforts, they jumped right into the semifinals last night and used the opportunity to dismiss fourth-seeded UC Davis in a 76-62 decision that wasn't quite as close as the final score may have indicated.

The teams split the two regular season meetings, with each winning at home. While Long Beach State was able to log a lopsided 67-47 rout in its building back in the middle of January, the Gauchos were lucky to come away with their 64-62 win at the Thunderdome a month later. Due to the split, Long Beach State now owns a slim 53-52 advantage in the all-time series.

Casper Ware lit up the scoreboard for a career-high 22 points, shooting 6- of-16 from the field and 10-of-11 at the free-throw line, in the win over Pacific last night. Also scoring in double figures for the victors were Larry Anderson and Stephan Gilling with 14 and 12 points, respectively, as the squad shot an impressive 7-of-15 behind the three-point line, compared to just 5- of-22 out on the perimeter for the Tigers. Although he failed to reach double figures, T.J. Robinson is still the top scorer for the program with his 15.4 ppg overall this season and 14.9 ppg versus Big West foes, accounting for 10.1 rpg on the season as well. Anderson, who is just a 23.7 percent shooter behind the three-point line, is responsible for 11.8 ppg and Ware is now up to 11.7 ppg on the campaign, even though he too has had his share of issues shooting the ball from the floor at a meager 36.8 percent accuracy.

UC Davis was completely overwhelmed last night as the Aggies made just a single field goal through the first 12 minutes of the contest and trailed by a 16-4 score with barely seven and a half minutes remaining in the first half. The UCSB defense eased up in the second half, but the offense for the Gauchos knocked down 63.6 percent form the floor in order to keep plenty of distance between themselves and the opposition. James Powell tallied 22 points off the bench, James Nunnally 17 points, nine rebounds, and five assists, followed by Orlando Johnson with 14 points. Averaging more than 31 minutes per game, Johnson leads the squad in scoring with his 17.9 ppg and is also second on the unit in rebounding (5.4 rpg) and assists (63) over 28 appearances. Nunnally chips in with 14.9 ppg and while he also leads the unit with his 5.7 rpg, he's found time and opportunity to make good on 45.7 percent of his three-point tries as well.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

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