Lady Luck strikes Wizards, Sixers

Basketball Betting Lines

05/19/2010 - Secaucus, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Legend has it that the phrase "Lady Luck" refers to Fortuna, the Greek goddess of fortune and personification.

Fortuna evidently wasn't a big fan of NBA teams along the I-95 corridor last year.

From the nation's capital all the way up to Madison Square Garden, a wretched brand of basketball was being played. In fact the Washington Wizards, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets and New York Knicks combined for 94 wins and an astounding 234 losses.

The worm may have turned for at least two of those teams on Tuesday, when the Wizards and Sixers jumped up in the NBA's annual Draft Lottery.

Armed with a minuscule 10.3 percent chance of leaping from No. 5 to the top spot coming in, the Wizards, represented by Irene Pollin, the wife of late owner Abe Pollin, did exactly that, climbing into a position to select Kentucky freshman sensation John Wall in the draft on June 24.

The jump-up into the prime position may have been thanks to a lucky charm, as Irene wore the 1978 Bullets championship ring of her late husband, who passed in November, during the lottery.

"This is wonderful. My husband never took this ring off his finger," said Irene Pollin.

Washington (26-55), of course, was plagued by poor play on the court along with off-court indiscretions headlined by the suspension of former All-Star Gilbert Arenas for bringing guns into the Verizon Center locker room.

"We deserved a break and I just had a good vibe," incoming Wizards owner Ted Leonsis said. "I just said if ever a franchise deserved some good luck, it's this [one], because last year was an incredibly tough year for the city, the fans and the Pollin family."

The Sixers made an even more unlikely leap when they garnered the second selection, up from No. 6. The likelihood of Philadelphia making that jump was 6.03 percent and gives the moribund franchise a chance to take the National Player of the Year, Ohio State star Evan Turner.

The Sixers brought up their own lucky charm, a used hockey stick from the Philadelphia Flyers' stunning rally from three games down to topple the Boston Bruins in the NHL's Eastern Conference semifinals.

"We hope our fans are as excited by the outcome of [Tuesday's] draft lottery as we are," said Sixers president and general manager Ed Stefanski. "We are fortunate that the ping-pong balls bounced our way tonight."

Of course, if you believe in luck, you understand it can be good or bad.

The Nets, who entered the lottery with a 1-in-4 chance to land the top selection, dropped to third despite finishing an NBA-worst 12-70.

New Jersey and its new owner, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, were banking on the top pick, along with building blocks Brook Lopez and Devin Harris, to entice soon-to-be free agent LeBron James away from Cleveland.

Now, the Nets will have to settle for one of three solid prospects in forwards Derrick Favors of Georgia Tech and Wesley Johnson of Syracuse, along with Kentucky Center DeMarcus Cousins.

"Sometimes luck makes all the difference, but it never comes down to one player," Prokhorov said. "We are going to get a great player."

The team with the worst record hasn't won the lottery since 2004, when the Orlando Magic selected All-Star center Dwight Howard, a fact that NBA commissioner David Stern thinks breeds competition and excitement for the annual event.

"I think the results of the Lottery, if anything, are causing teams with the worst record to feel as though a paucity of wins is not being adequately recognized and compensated," Stern said before the event kicked off. "So for us, it works well. It's taking care of the main reason for which it was enacted."

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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.