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05/25/2010 - University Park, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Penn State head women's basketball coach Coquese Washington has signed a two-year contract extension through the 2013-14 season.
Washington led the Lady Lions to their best finish in five years last season with a postseason berth in the WNIT and 17 overall wins, including eight conference victories.
"We are very pleased with the progress that our women's basketball program has made under Coquese," Penn State director of athletics Tim Curley said. "With the return to the postseason for the first time in five years and back-to-back nationally-ranked recruiting classes, Coquese has established a solid foundation to put Lady Lion basketball back on the track to national prominence."
She became just the fifth head coach in the history of the program in April of 2007, replacing Renee Portland after 27 years on the job.
<< Dundee names Houston permanent manager
Dundee, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Peter Houston has been confirmed as the
permanent manager of Scottish Cup winners Dundee United.
The 51-year-old, who also guided the Terrors to third place in the SPL last
season, has signed a three
<< Smith to stay with Rangers for one more year
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rangers manager Walter Smith agreed to a
one-year contract extension, but will retire after the 2010-11 season and turn
the coaching duties over to current assistant Ally McCoist.
"I am wholly committed
<< Bordeaux names Tigana new coach
Bordeaux, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bordeaux named former player Jean Tigana
its new coach Tuesday.
Tigana, who played for Bordeaux from 1981-89 and made more than 50 appearances
for France, replaces Laurent Blanc. Blanc will coach Fran
<< Valencia's Zigic set to join Birmingham
Valencia, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Birmingham is closing in on the signing of
giant Valencia striker Nikola Zigic.
The Blues are reported to have agreed a fee in the region of $7.2 million for
the 6-foot-8 hitman, who has been linked wi
Ward signs new three-year deal with Wolves >>
Wolverhampton, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wolverhampton Irish defender Stephen
Ward has signed a new three-year contract with the Molineux club.
The 24-year-old joined Wolves as a striker, but has been successfully
converted to a
Talbot guides Indians over ChiSox >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mitch Talbot threw seven strong innings as
the Cleveland Indians downed the Chicago White Sox, 7-3, in the second of a
three-game set.
Talbot (6-3) gave up two runs on six hits with four strikeouts.
Germany's Trasch to miss World Cup >>
Bolzano, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Germany midfielder Christian Trasch will
miss the World Cup after spraining his ankle in a friendly game Monday against
Italian club team FC Sudtirol, the team announced Tuesday.
Trasch was helped off th
Atletico expects Aguero to stay in Madrid >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atletico Madrid President Enrique Cerezo
expects striker Sergio Aguero to stay with the Europa League winners next
season.
The 21-year-old Argentina international continues to be linked with a m
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.
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:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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