Packard tabbed to lead Ball State women's hoops

Cbasketball Betting Lines

05/12/2008 - Muncie, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ball State has named Kelly Packard its new women's basketball coach.

Packard had been serving as the executive director of the WNBA expansion team for Colorado and was most recently a head coach for two seasons with the Colorado Chill of the National Women's Basketball League. She guided the Chill to a record of 34-12 with league championships in 2005 and 2006.

A 1990 graduate of Indiana's Anderson University, Packard has also served as an assistant on the collegiate level for five years at Colorado State.

"We are excited that Kelly Packard wanted to be the head coach at Ball State," said BSU athletic director Tom Collins. "Kelly has head coaching experience, Midwest ties and has been successful at both the collegiate and professional levels."

Gambleinvegas Cbasketball Betting News


<< Crew's Rogers wins MLS Player of Week award
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Columbus Crew winger Robbie Rogers was voted Major League Soccer's Player of the Week for Week 7, it was announced on Monday. With two late goals on Saturday, the speedy Rogers sparked a Crew come-fr

<< Cubs send clear message with sweep
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's not too often when a major league baseball team circles its calendars in early May, but you can bet the Chicago Cubs had a little extra motivation for their recent series with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Not only did Ar

<< Rays activate Glover
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Rays have activated pitcher Gary Glover off the 15-day disabled list. He had been sidelined since April 26 with right shoulder tendinitis. Glover entered Monday's action with a r

<< Pacers pick up option on Graham
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Indiana Pacers have picked up the contract option on forward Stephen Graham, the team announced on Monday. A three-year veteran who signed with the team as a free agent last summer, the 25-year

<< Flyers D Coburn doubtful for Game 3
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn is doubtful for Game 3 of Eastern Conference finals against Pittsburgh. Coburn left in the first period of his team's 4-2 loss to Pittsburgh in Game 2 on S

Jazz desperately seeking road win >>
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Utah Jazz are almost right where they want to be.The only thing that could top tying the Western Conference semifinals against the Lakers would be if Game 5 was in Utah instead of Los Angeles. The home team has won all four

Flyers D Coburn likely out for Game 3 >>
VOORHEES, N.J. (AP) -Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn is doubtful for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals after taking a puck in the face on Sunday night.Coburn's left eye was swollen shut after a deflected puck hit him early in the

Bryant says his sore back remains a problem >>
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) -Kobe Bryant met the media Monday with a new companion - an electronic stimulating device hooked up to his sore lower back.Plans call for the two to spend a lot of time together for the next couple of days, or longer.The Los

Hudson, Braves shut down Bucs to earn split >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Hudson gave up just one unearned run as Atlanta defeated Pittsburgh, 8-1, to help the Braves split a doubleheader with the Pirates at PNC Park. Hudson (6-2) settled down after a first inning run an

Carmona tosses five-hit shutout for Indians >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fausto Carmona threw a five-hit shutout, and Asdrubal Cabrera hit a two-run homer, as the Cleveland Indians topped the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-0, in the first game of a doubleheader. The twin bill was

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.