Monroe Doctrine: Hoyas dominate paint to reach Big East final

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/12/2010 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Greg Monroe dominated the paint with 23 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, and 22nd-ranked Georgetown returned to the Big East Tournament final for the third time in four years with an 80-57 victory over Marquette.

Monroe, the talented 6-foot-11 center, even added a three-point basket for the eighth-seeded Hoyas (23-9), who will play either seventh-ranked West Virginia or Notre Dame in Saturday's final. Georgetown pulled away from the Golden Eagles in the final 10 minutes behind a dominant 14-1 run, which turned a five-point lead into a 70-52 rout with 5:32 to play.

Chris Wright and Jason Clark each scored 15 points for Georgetown, which avenged a 62-59 loss to Marquette on January 6 and snapped a three-game losing streak in the series. The teams have now split 10 all-time meetings after the Hoyas ruled the glass on Friday, outrebounding Marquette, 39-19.

Jimmy Butler scored 17 points to pace the fifth-seeded Eagles (22-11), who had beaten Villanova and St. John's en route to Friday's semifinal. Maurice Acker and Lazar Hayward posted 16 and 15 points, respectively, but nobody else on the team had more than four, as Marquette shot a dismal 37.7 percent from the field in the loss.

The Eagles registered just two field goals in the final 10-plus minutes, going 2-of-15 from the field during the stretch.

The Hoyas held three separate double-digit leads before the fourth finally proved to be too much for the Eagles to handle.

Leading by five with just under 11 minutes left, Georgetown poured in eight consecutive points, and a Monroe dunk made it a 64-51 game with seven minutes to go.

Monroe drained only his seventh three of the season on the following possession, and an Austin Freeman three-point play with 5 1/2 minutes remaining extended the margin to 18, effectively sealing the win.

The Hoyas opened the game on a 15-4 spurt, only to have the Eagles come roaring back. A Hayward three got Marquette back to within four at 15-11, and he later tied it with another triple for a 29-29 game with 5:50 remaining.

Georgetown managed to go into halftime holding a 37-34 advantage and began the second half on an 11-3 burst to take a 48-37 lead on a Clark three. The Eagles quickly answered with 10 points, with Hayward's three-point play cutting the deficit to one with 13 1/2 minutes to play.

Game Notes

Georgetown advanced to its 13th Big East Conference Tournament final, second only to Syracuse (14)...The Hoyas are 5-0 on a neutral court this season...Georgetown went a combined 0-2 against West Virginia and Notre Dame in the regular season...Marquette has never been in the final of this tournament in five tries since joining the Big East...Freeman finished with 12 points...The Hoyas own a record seven Big East Conference titles.

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Chiefs' Treen Green out for Sunday's game

How long Trent Green will remain sidelined is unknown. Coach Herm Edwards said Monday he will miss a second straight start Sunday when the Chiefs host the San Francisco 49ers.

A two-time Pro Bowler, Green was going into a feet-first hook slide when he was knocked unconscious by a thunderous, head-snapping hit from Cincinnati's Robert Geathers.

Oddsmakers at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com currently have the Chiefs listed as 7-point favorites versus the 49ers.

The 49ers got beat by Philadelphia 38-24 as a 6.5-point underdog last week. The combined score went OVER the posted over/under total (42.5).

Alex Smith completed 27-of-46 passes for 293 yards with a touchdown. Michael Robinson rushed for 29 yards and a pair of touchdowns on five carries.

The Chiefs lost 9-6 to Denver last week as an 11-point underdog. The combined score was well UNDER the posted over/under total (38).

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To visit this online sports book got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.

Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

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