Lone Star State rivals meet in Austin

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

02/20/2007 - Austin, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Intrastate and Big 12 rivals will collide in Austin this evening, as the 19th-ranked Texas Longhorns welcome the Texas Tech Red Raiders to town.

Back-to-back wins have enabled Texas Tech to move to 17-10 overall and 6-6 in Big 12 action. The most recent victory came over Colorado on Saturday, as the Red Raiders put forth one of their best offensive efforts of the season en route to the 95-74 romp.

The goal for Texas today will be to extend its school record streak of 20-win seasons to eight. The Longhorns are riding a three-game winning streak and continue to battle for Big 12 supremacy. On Saturday, they were pushed to the limit by Baylor but emerged with a 68-67 triumph.

Texas recorded a 76-64 victory in the first meeting with Tech this season, and leads the all-time series at 66-52.

Texas Tech guard Jarrius Jackson is clearly one of the best players in the Big 12, and he has scored at least 24 points in five of the last six games. Jackson is averaging 20.7 ppg on the strength of his 46.7 percent shooting from three-point range, and the fact that he is a strong free throw shooter as well comes in handy at the end of close games. Martin Zeno has developed into an outstanding second scoring option for the Red Raiders, as he is posting 17.0 ppg on 50.3 percent shooting from the floor. Zeno, at 80.4 percent, is an even more accurate free throw shooter than Jackson. In the 21-point win over Colorado on Saturday, Jackson scored 28 points while Zeno racked up 24. Charlie Burgess hit 4-of-6 three-pointers en route to 16 points for the Red Raiders, who finished with only nine turnovers and a 22-5 edge in points from the foul line.

Texas is 19-0 against Baylor during the Rick Barnes-era after beating the Bears over the weekend. It comes as no surprise that freshman phenom Kevin Durant led the way in the win, as he registered 20 points and 14 rebounds for his 16th double-double of the campaign. He has recorded double figures in scoring in all 26 outings and has reached the 20-point mark 22 times. Connor Atchley scored a career-high 15 points in the win, while A.J. Abrams (12 points) and D.J. Augustin (11 points) added balance to the lineup. Durant is averaging 24.7 ppg and 11.5 rpg, numbers that we are not accustomed to seeing by a Big 12 player, especially a freshman. He is more worthy than anyone to be named National Player of the Year, especially considering the fact that his supporting cast is rather young and inexperienced for the most part. Abrams is scoring 15.1 ppg, and Augustin checks in with 14.3 ppg and 174 assists against 88 turnovers.

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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?

I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.

Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.

There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.

Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.

For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.

A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.

The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.

Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.

So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.

Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.

“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.

Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.

“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.

It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.

Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.

The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.

“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.

“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”

Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.

The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.

“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”

Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?

“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.