Bruins and Bears battle in Berkeley

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

02/28/2009 - Berkeley, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 22nd-ranked UCLA Bruins and California Golden Bears will both try to remain in the Pac-10 title race tonight, as they lock horns in a pivotal matchup at Haas Pavilion.

UCLA and Cal, along with Arizona State, are all tied for second place in the Pac-10 at 10-5 and they each trail Washington, which sits at 12-4. The Bruins remained in the hunt for their fourth straight Pac-10 championship on Thursday, recording a 76-71 win at Stanford. It was a nice rebound for UCLA, which was coming off a shocking and critical home loss to Washington State last weekend. Winners of two of their last three games, the Bruins are now 21-7 overall on the season.

As for Cal, it put itself back in title contention on the strength of a five- game winning streak. Most recently, the team hosted USC on Thursday and nipped the Trojans, 81-78, in overtime. It was the 16th win in 17 home outings for the Bears, who improved to 21-7 overall.

California though, trails the all-time series with UCLA, which holds a 130-94 advantage, including an 81-66 victory in the first meeting of the season.

Josh Shipp sparked the Bruins on Thursday, as he dropped in 24 points and grabbed seven caroms in a win at Stanford. Alfred Aboya tallied 16 points and Nikola Dragovic finished with 10 and four boards. The Bruins shot an efficient 51.8 percent from the floor, including an 8-of-16 showing from three-point land. The sound shooting performance is nothing new though, as UCLA is hitting on 50.3 percent from the field and 40.3 percent from beyond the arc this season. Darren Collison, who was held to just seven points on Thursday, currently leads UCLA in scoring at 14.8 ppg and he is also dishing out a team- high 4.9 apg. Shipp, a 43.4 percent three-point shooter, adds 13.5 ppg, while Aboya contributes 10.1 ppg and a team-high 5.9 rpg.

Patrick Christopher turned in a career-high 29 points to power to the Bears past USC in overtime of a crucial bout on Thursday. Jerome Randle got involved with 15 points and eight helpers, while Theo Robertson had 10 points and six boards. Cal connected on 54.2 percent of its total shots and also went 5-of-11 from downtown and 24-of-27 at the foul line. The Bears have had great success making shots from all over this season, knocking down 49.1 percent from the field, 44.2 percent from long distance and 75.8 percent at the stripe. Randle tops the roster in scoring at 17.7 ppg and he is also distributing a team-high 5.0 apg. Christopher follows with 15.0 ppg and Robertson chips in with 12.2 ppg on an impressive 53.4 percent shooting from three-point range. Jamal Boykin rounds out the double-figure scorers with 12.2 ppg and he is also pulling down a team-best 6.5 rpg.

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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.

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

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