Bruins host Beavers in Pac-10 tussle

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/05/2009 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 20th-ranked UCLA Bruins are clearly favored in tonight's Pac-10 Conference clash with the visiting Oregon State Beavers.

Oregon State got hot recently, ripping off three consecutive wins. Unfortunately, that streak came to an end on Sunday, as the Beavers fell to rival Oregon in a 79-69 final on the road. They are now 4-7 in true road games and are facing a UCLA team that has won 14 of its 16 home games.

The Bruins are coming off back-to-back road victories, including a 72-68 decision over California on Saturday. While a Pac-10 title may not be in the cards, UCLA's 22-7 record is going to be more than enough to put the squad in the "Big Dance".

UCLA pounded Oregon State in a 69-46 final back on January 2nd, and the Bruins own a commanding 83-34 advantage in the all-time series between the two teams.

There is only one double-digit scorer on the Oregon State roster, as Calvin Haynes leads the team with his 15.5 ppg. Because of a lack of adequate offensive support, the Beavers are only generating 60.2 ppg this season. Fortunately, they are limiting opponents to 62.3 ppg, the most obvious reason that they are just one game below the .500 mark. In the 10-point road loss to Oregon last time out, Haynes tallied 16 points off the bench. Seth Tarver added 14 points, and Roeland Schaftenaar posted 13 points and six assists. The Beavers shot 50.1 percent from the floor, but they were outscored 26-10 from the foul line and outrebounded by a 29-23 margin.

Darren Collison has been tremendous for UCLA this season as expected. The veteran point guard is scoring 15.0 ppg on 53.3 percent shooting from the floor, including 41.9 percent from three-point range. Collison, a 91.8 percent shooter from the charity stripe, has dished out 144 assists to go along with 47 steals. Josh Shipp provides 13.4 ppg for the Bruins, who are getting 10.1 ppg and 6.0 rpg from Alfred Aboya. UCLA is generating 76.4 ppg while limiting foes to 63.7 ppg, and the fact that the Bruins are shooting 50.1 percent from the floor is astonishing. In the victory over California on Saturday, Collison racked up 22 points and six assists, as his Bruins finished with 19 assists against only six turnovers. Ship, Aboya and Nikola Dragovic all scored 12 points in the triumph.

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MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined

Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.

"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."

Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)

According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.

As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).

Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.

Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at

17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.

*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007

New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers

By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.

"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."

While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."

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