Wildcats and Hoosiers mix it up in Big Ten action
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
02/15/2012 - Bloomington, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Big Ten Conference rivals square off in Bloomington this evening, as the Northwestern Wildcats have come calling on the 18th-ranked Indiana Hoosiers.
Northwestern comes in sporting a 15-9 overall record, which includes a 5-7 mark in conference play. The Wildcats recently had a modest three-game win streak stopped in an 87-77 loss at Purdue, which dropped the team's record in true road games this year to 2-6. Following this clash, NU will play three of its final five regular-season games at home, where it is 10-3 on the year.
Indiana is an impressive 19-6 to this point in the campaign, and the team has won seven of its 13 Big Ten bouts. The Hoosiers claimed an 84-71 triumph over Illinois at home last Thursday in their most recent outing, giving them two straight wins and victories in three of their last four games overall. IU is a near-perfect 14-1 at home this season, its only loss in Bloomington coming against Minnesota back on January 12.
Indiana owns a commanding 109-46 lead in the all-time series with Northwestern, but the Wildcats have won six of the last seven meetings, including two of the last three in Bloomington.
John Shurna scored 30 points in leading four Wildcats in double figures, but still the visitors to Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Indiana found themselves on the short end of an 87-77 final against the hometown Purdue Boilermakers on Sunday. Reggie Hearn finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, Drew Crawford tallied 14 points and Dave Sobolewski chipped in a dozen for Northwestern, which shot 49.1 percent from the field, making 10 three-pointers along the way. Unfortunately for the 'Cats, the Boilermakers nailed 11 treys, claimed a 24-11 edge in points from the foul line, and committed a mere five turnovers. Shurna has certainly proven himself to be one of the better players in the Big Ten, as he averages 19.9 points and 5.7 rebounds per game to lead his team in both categories. Additionally, he paces the club in three-point baskets (65), blocked shots (37) and steals (28). Crawford is also having a stellar campaign, netting 16.8 ppg on the strength of his 41.0 percent effort from downtown, the team as a whole hitting its three-pointers 38.6 percent of the time.
Cody Zeller went 5-of-8 from the field and 12-of-14 at the free-throw line to finish with 22 points, as he led Indiana to its 13-point win over Illinois last week. In addition to Zeller's effort, Christian Watford and Victor Oladipo scored 18 points apiece, and Jordan Hulls tallied 15 points and seven assists for the Hoosiers, who drained half of their 42 field goal attempts, hitting 7-of-12 three-point tries for good measure. A huge 35-12 advantage in points from the foul line was clearly the difference, as IU attempted 42 free throws and the Illini just 15. Zeller (15.4 ppg, 6.4 rpg) leads the team in both scoring and rebounding this season, while Watford (12.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg), Hulls (12.2 ppg, 3.4 apg) and Oladipo (10.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg) have been consistent contributors as well. As a collective unit, Indiana is putting up 78.7 ppg in dropping 49.6 percent of its total shots and 43.6 percent of its long-range bombs, while at the defensive end giving up 65.9 ppg with its foes shooting 42.2 percent from the floor overall and 32.7 percent from beyond the arc.
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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.
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