Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Recaps

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/11/2010 - Greensboro, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sammy Zeglinski scored a season-high 21 points to lead Virginia to a 68-62 victory over Boston College in the first round of the ACC Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Virginia (15-15), seeded ninth in the 12-team field, halted a nine-game losing streak and prevailed despite being without leading scorer and second team All- ACC selection Sylven Landesberg, suspended by head coach Tony Bennett prior to the regular-season finale for academic reasons.

Zeglinski helped offset the loss by making 8-of-15 shots, including 5-of-10 from three-point range, with Jeff Jones adding 14 points and Jerome Meyinsse 12 for the Cavaliers, who will face top-seeded Duke in Friday's quarterfinals. Mike Scott posted a double-double in the win, compiling 11 points and a game- best 13 rebounds.

Rakim Sanders led Boston College (15-16) with 22 points, while Reggie Jackson finished with 18 points and nine rebounds in a losing cause.

Virginia trailed 23-17 after Sanders buried a three-pointer near the midway point of the first half, but took control with a 17-2 run over the next 8 1/2 minutes. Zeglinski's fourth triple of the period put the Cavaliers up 32-25 with 2:12 left before intermission, and the lead was extended to nine points on Scott's fastbreak dunk 25 seconds later.

Boston College pulled within 34-27 at the break on a Jackson layup with 1:16 left in the opening period.

The Cavaliers' advantage swelled to as many as 11 points early in the second half, but an 8-0 burst capped by Dallas Elmore's layup with 8:44 to go cut the Eagles' deficit to 49-46. Sanders scored the first six points of the spurt.

Virginia answered by scoring seven of the next nine points, however, with another Zeglinski trey pushing the margin to 56-48 with 5:41 left. The Eagles would get no closer than five points the rest the way.

Zeglinski led all scorers with 16 first-half points on 6-of-9 shooting.

Gamblingspa NCAA Basketball Betting News

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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.

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