Falcons face tall task in Mountain West Tourney tilt with Lobos

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/11/2010 - Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Less than 24 hours after picking up just their second win all-time in the Mountain West Conference Tournament, the Air Force Falcons are back on the hardwood of the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas as they clash with top-seeded and eighth-ranked New Mexico in the quarterfinals of the 11th annual event this afternoon.

The Falcons, who had just a single league win this season and are the ninth seed in the tourney, completely confused eighth-seeded Wyoming yesterday and came up with a stunning 59-40 win over the Cowboys. It was the fewest points allowed by the academy this season and by far the fewest points scored by the Pokes as well. The victory snapped a nine-game losing streak by Air Force, which began just after the squad's first and only MWC win, a 70-63 triumph over those same Cowboys at home back on January 30th.

As for the highly-touted Lobos, they are under the direction of Steve Alford who earned himself MWC Coach of the Year honors for the second year in a row as he guided the program to a spectacular 28-3 record and a 14-2 mark in league play after opening the MWC schedule with back-to-back losses. UNM is currently riding a 14-game win streak and a win today would not only set a new school record for wins in a single season, it would give the program its second-longest run in school history behind a 17-game streak set in 1967-68.

With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, the Lobos have won six straight over Air Force and now own a commanding 47-18 mark overall. However, the academy gave UNM a scare this season when it allowed the Lobos just a 59-56 win at home in The Pit, after Air Force rolled over at home a month earlier in a 73-50 decision.

The winner of this matchup heads to the semifinals on Friday to clash with the winner of the Colorado State/San Diego State battle.

The defense by the Falcons stunned Wyoming yesterday, holding the Pokes to a mere 21 points in the first half and an even weaker 19 points after the break. Wyoming finished the meeting shooting just 2-of-16 behind the three-point line, got off a total of only 33 field goal chances and sank a meager 8-of-19 at the charity stripe. Leading the way for Air Force were Grant Parker and Michael Lyons with 15 and 11 points, respectively, as the squad actually beat the Cowboys on the glass, 25-21. Parker continues to be the leading scorer for the Falcons with his 13.1 ppg, hitting 47.9 percent of his field goal attempts, while Evan Washington checks in with 10.2 ppg and combines with Parker to account for more than nine rebounds per game. Unfortunately for the academy, that still leaves the group with a rebounding deficit of nearly four boards per outing.

The Lobos, winners of this tournament back in 2005, have in their lineup the top player in the league in Darington Hobson. Not only was Hobson named the MWC Newcomer of the Year, the junior also picked up the award for MWC Player of the Year after leading the conference in rebounding with 10.1 per game and placing third in scoring (14.9 ppg) and third in assists (4.8 apg). One of the most well-rounded players to hit the MWC landscape in several years, Hobson was a beast in the final month and a half of the regular season with his 18.2 ppg, 11.0 rpg and 5.8 apg over the last nine outings. But the Lobos are so much more than just Hobson as they also get significant contributions from Roman Martinez (14.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg) who is a 42.9 percent shooter behind the three-point line, followed by Dairese Gary and Phillip McDonald with 12.4 and 10.9 ppg, respectively. Gary, also accounted for 123 assists to take some of the pressure off Hobson. Perhaps the most impressive part of the Lobos is that they had the same starting lineup for every single game this season.

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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.

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