Top-25 Pac-10 tilt features Oregon at Washington State

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/27/2007 - Pullman, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A top-25 battle in the Pac-10 takes place in the Pacific Northwest this evening, as the seventh-ranked Oregon Ducks take on the 20th-ranked Washington State Cougars from Friel Court in Pullman.

The Ducks are trying to salvage their trip to the state of Washington, after dropping an 89-77 decision at UW on Thursday. The loss halted a five- game win streak for Oregon, which is now 6-2 in Pac-10 play.

The Cougars are also 6-2 in league action thanks to two straight wins, including a 70-55 pasting of Oregon State on Thursday. Both teams sit just a game behind UCLA (7-1) in the league standings.

Oregon holds a solid 152-116 lead in this longstanding series and has won each of the last 11 meetings.

The Ducks played without the Pac-10's leading scorer, as Aaron Brooks sat out the game at Washington for an incident in last year's Pac-10 Tournament. The Ducks suffered a 12-point loss without their leader, despite shooting .547 from the floor and having six players finish in double figures. Bryce Taylor led the way with 19 points. Chamberlain Oguchi followed with 15 points, with Tajuan Porter (11 pts) behind him. Malik Hairston, Maarty Leunen and Ray Schafer all tallied 10 points in the loss. Oregon lost the battle on the boards (33-22) and turned the ball over a costly 18 times. Brooks will be back in the lineup for this game and his 18.4 ppg will surely be welcome. Brooks is not the only one who cam fill up the basket on this roster, as Taylor is shooting .527 from the floor and pouring in 16.2 ppg. Hairston is next with 13.0 ppg, followed by Porter and Leunen at 12.9 and 11.7 ppg, respectively. Leunen is averaging a near double-double with a team-high 9.8 rpg. As a team, Oregon is netting just over 80 points per game (80.1), while allowing just 66.

The Cougars lack the offensive punch to win a shootout with Oregon, but WSU has relied more on gritty defensive play to amass its impressive 17-3 record thus far. Opponents have managed a mere 58.0 ppg this year, while shooting a mediocre .401 from the floor. Offensively, the team is averaging just 68.4 ppg, but a +10.4 scoring margin is certainly a recipe for success. The backcourt combination of Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver is where most of the offense is generated. Low leads the team with 14.3 ppg, followed by Weaver's 11.3 ppg. Daven Harmeling (9.6 ppg) and Ivory Clark (9.5 ppg) are closing in on double digits. In the 15-point win over Oregon State, Robbie Cowgill led the way with a double-double consisting of a career-high 18 points and 11 rebounds. Weaver added 12 points to the cause, while Clark finished with 11. Low was just 3-of-7 from the floor, finishing with eight points.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

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