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03/16/2010 - Eugene, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oregon Ducks have terminated the contract of men's head basketball coach Ernie Kent after 13 years guiding the program.
Kent had two years remaining on his contract but had been rumored to be out following a 15-15 regular season and 7-11 mark in the Pac-10. The Ducks went on to post an 82-80 overtime win against Washington State before falling in the quarterfinals of the conference tourney to California.
"This was not an easy decision for me, but unfortunately, when I looked at the past five to six years, I did not see the improvement and consistency that I had hoped for, and that we will need to move forward as we open our new arena and seek to re-energize and expand our season ticket base," said director of athletics Mike Bellotti.
"I would like to thank Ernie for his professionalism during a difficult time in his career, and certainly acknowledge his contribution to the growth of the basketball program."
Kent was the longest tenured coach in the Pac-10 Conference and became the school's all-time wins leader last season. In his 13 years at the helm, Kent compiled a 235-173 record, won two conference tournament crowns, one Pac-10 regular-season title and took the Ducks to five NCAA Tournaments where they reached the Elite Eight twice.
Kent spent six years as head coach at Saint Mary's prior to coming to Eugene and has a 325-253 career coaching ledger in 19 seasons at the NCAA Division I level.
The program announced it will immediately begin a national search to hire a replacement.
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London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Samuel Eto'o scored late in the second half
and Inter Milan beat Chelsea 1-0 on Tuesday at Stamford Bridge to seal its 3-1
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Inter coach
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drivers
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Indian Wells, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fourth-seeded Russian star Elena
Dementieva was an easy fourth-round winner Tuesday at the $4.5 million BNP
Paribas Open.
The 2006 Indian Wells runner-up Dementieva drubbed 19th-seeded Frenchwoman
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<< Rams add veteran C Fraley
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Rams announced the signing of
veteran center Hank Fraley on Tuesday.
Fraley is entering his 11th season in the NFL after spending the previous four
campaigns with Cleveland. Terms of the deal
Yankees hire former Padres GM Towers >>
Tampa, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Towers was named a special assignment scout
for the New York Yankees Tuesday after spending the last 15 years as the
general manager of the San Diego Padres.
Towers spent 26 seasons total with the Pa
Packers ink P Bryan >>
Green Bay, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Green Bay Packers on Tuesday signed
punter Chris Bryan.
Bryan played four seasons in the Australian Football League from 2005-2008.
The 6-foot-5, 210-pounder will wear No. 9 for the Packers.
T
Jets re-sign FB Richardson >>
Florham Park, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Jets have agreed in
principle on a contract with fullback Tony Richardson for the 2010 season.
Richardson returns for a 16th NFL season and for a third year in New York.
Last ye
Argonauts sign QB Brannagan >>
Mississauga, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Argonauts signed quarterback
Danny Brannagan to a three-year contract on Tuesday.
Brannagan, a native of Burlington, Ontario, played at Queen's University in
Kingston, Ontario, where last
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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