2009 West Coast Conference Tournament Preview

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/05/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The West Coast Conference Tournament will be held at a neutral site for the first time, as Orleans Arena in Las Vegas will serve host to the 23rd annual event.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs, the only ranked team in the league, earned the top seed once again with a perfect 14-0 ledger. The Bulldogs will begin play in the semifinals, as will the Saint Mary's-CA Gaels, who claimed the second seed with a 10-4 finish. At 9-5, the University of Portland Pilots captured the third seed and 7-7 Santa Clara earned the fourth spot. Both the Pilots and Broncos earned first round byes and will begin play in the quarterfinals. The San Diego Toreros will begin defense of their title as the fifth seed after going 6-8, and they will meet 2-12 and eighth-seeded Loyola Marymount in the first round. The other first round matchup pits the seventh-seeded San Francisco Dons against the sixth-seeded Pepperdine Waves.

The winner of this event earns an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

The WCC Tournament kicks off on Friday, with eighth-seeded Loyola Marymount tangling with fifth-seeded San Diego. The Lions won just three of 30 total games this season, but one of those victories did come against San Diego. LMU though, went 0-17 away from home and hasn't won this event since 1990. The Toreros on the other hand, upended Gonzaga in the finals last season for their second championship, but they also had the luxury of hosting this event. San Diego was considered a challenger for the WCC title coming into the season, only to struggle for the most part and finish with a losing record within the league.

The first round will concluded with the seventh-seeded Dons hooking up with the sixth-seeded Waves. The Dons went only 3-11 in league play, but they did win two of their last three games, including a 70-62 besting of Pepperdine in their finale. USF is just 12-21 all-time in this tourney and hasn't taken home the hardware since 1998. Pepperdine has gone even longer without a title, claiming its third in 1994. Losers of four straight down the stretch, the Waves ended up with just a 5-9 conference ledger.

On Saturday, the quarterfinal round gets started with fourth-seeded SCU clashing with the winner of the LMU/San Diego matchup. The Broncos fielded a young team that came together in the second half of the season, winning eight of their last 11 bouts. SCU has won this event twice, with the last coming in 1993, and own a 23-20 mark all-time in the tourney.

The second quarterfinals tilt will feature third-seed Portland against the survivor of the USF/Pepperdine battle. The Pilots put together one of their best campaigns in recent memory at 18-11, but losses in their final two outings cost them a potential second seed. Portland could have certainly used the higher seed, as it is just 7-20 all-time in this tournament, winning its only title in 1996.

The top-seeded Bulldogs will make their much anticipated debut in the first game of the semifinals on Sunday. Gonzaga swept the WCC for the third time in history, becoming the first league member to accomplish that feat. The Bulldogs have won nine straight and 11 of the last 12 WCC regular season crowns and are looking to add to their league record nine tourney titles. Gonzaga is 33-13 all-time in this event and has been in the finals 11 straight years and 13 of the last 14. Gonzaga had its run of four straight championships stopped with a loss to San Diego last season.

The second-seeded Gaels will bring the semifinal round to a conclusion on Sunday. SMC was supposed to challenge Gonzaga for the league title, but the loss of star guard Patrick Mills in late January put an end to those hopes. Mills, averaging a team-high 18.7 ppg prior to breaking his right hand, is out for an indefinite period of time. The Gaels though, did show they could win without Mills and enter the postseason riding a five-game winning streak. SMC won its only title in 1997 and it is just 17-21 lifetime in this event.

Supersportsbook NCAA Basketball Betting News

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How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?

The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.

While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.

For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.

1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.

2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.

How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.

Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.

Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.

How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).

Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.

Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.

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