FIBA World Basketball Championship Preview - Group D

Basketball Betting Lines

08/25/2010 - Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -

Country: Canada

FIBA Ranking: 19

Head Coach: Leo Rautins

Key Players: Joel Anthony, Andy Rautins

Overview: It's been sometime since Canada has made an impact on the world stage and since the departure of Steve Nash from the national program, it's been a team in transition.

Strengths: A team in the truest sense of the word, this squad is as cohesive a unit to be found in the entire tournament. The selfless play relates to the defensive end of the floor where the undersized squad has improved tremendously in its development to become a more recognizable basketball nation.

Weaknesses: Having no leader on and off the floor could raise problems when the times get tough, as who the Canadians turn to late in games remains to be seen. Though defense is high on its priorities, being undersized on the interior will be a challenge the Canucks will have to overcome.

Tournament Expectations: With the loss of Canadian veterans Carl English and Jesse Young to injury, this Canadian team will be as inexperienced as any sent to a major competition in recent memory. If pre-tournament tune ups suggest anything, this team is capable of being the second or third seed in its group at the very worst - only time will tell.

Country: France

FIBA Ranking: 15

Head Coach: Vincent Collet

Key Players: Nicolas Batum, Boris Diaw

Overview: For the past decade, the basketball world has awaited the arrival of the French on the world stage as their potential seemed to be second to none. If one were to collect all the NBA players who hail from France and put them on a team, les 'Bleus' would have one of the best squads on the planet. But with the likes of Tony Parker, Joakim Noah, Mikael Pietrus, Ronny Turiaf and Rodrigue Beaubois all out for this summer's tournament, the fortunes of France hangs in the balance.

Strengths: With so many of their top talent left off this edition, the French have looked to some of its youth for help from their domestic league. That youthful vitality has proved to be the Frances' biggest strength as their athleticism and length are amongst the top in the world.

Weaknesses: With most of their top guards unavailable to play, the French will be hard pressed to find a stable point guard to man the ship. The youth at the lead guard position isn't quite up to the task of running a team and it shows, especially in half court sets where France struggles to score.

Tournament Expectations: Based on potential, this is one of the very best teams in the tournament but this has been the case for les Bleus' for almost every tournament they've entered this decade. Much like Canada, it would come as no surprise if this team grabbed a spot to join the Round of 16 or if they missed the cut entirely.

Country: Lebanon

FIBA Ranking: 24

Head Coach: Tab Baldwin

Key Players: Fadi El Khatib

Overview: Having shocked the world at the 2006 World Championship in Japan by beating Venezuela and France, the Cedar Trees will be no surprise to any team now that their name is known. And with the help of head coach Tab Baldwin, this is one of the most underrated lower seeds in the tournament.

Strengths: This is a team that plays with a lot of passion and embraces the underdog role as well as any nation in the competition. The veteran leadership coach Baldwin relies on will be a steadying force for a Lebanese side that holds a number of fresh faces.

Weaknesses: Certainly not the deepest team, the Cedar Trees will rely heavily on star player Fadi El Khatib, who is coming off an injury and won't be firing on all cylinders. The back court will be in tough as guard play is certainly not the Lebanese forte.

Tournament Expectations: The expectations for this team aren't wavering on the ridiculous as it hopes to build on its 2006 success. A likely first round exit hinges on whether or not they can manage to upset a few more teams this time around.

Country: Lithuania

FIBA Ranking: 6

Head Coach: Kestutis Kemzura

Key Players: Linas Kleiza

Overview: After a disappointing showing at EuroBasket 2009, the Lithuanian contingent remains a work in progress as new head coach has basically stuck with the squad sent to Poland last year. There also remains some unrest in the organization of Lithuanian basketball as the directing staff has all but one member.

Strengths: Having so many of the veteran players unavailable, the Lithuanians will turn to their youth for this tournament. They own a plethora of fast- faced, fun to watch, three-point shooters, highlighted by newly-signed Toronto Raptor Linas Kleiza. Filling up the net should be Lithuanians forte as their young gunners all have a knack to score.

Weaknesses: With star Lithuanian point guard Sarunas Jasikevicius opting to sit out this tournament, there's a looming hole at the lead guard for the Lithuanians. A rash of injuries to a number of the big bodies has left the team depleted up front as overcoming injuries is the biggest obstacle they'll face in the group stage.

Tournament Expectations: The future looks bleak but with the European event destined for their home land in 2011, this tournament should give an indication where Lithuanian basketball is headed. In such a mediocre group, there should be no reason why the European squad can't claim a berth to the Round of 16 and possibly onto a quarter final matchup.

Country: New Zealand

FIBA Ranking: 13

Head Coach: Nenad Vucinic

Key Players: Kirk Penney

Overview: For the better part of the decade, the Kiwis were led by former coach Tab Baldwin to impressive victories, even claiming fourth place at the 2002 World Championship. Under Baldwin's long time assistant Nenad Vucinic, the Tall Blacks have finished with three successive top-10 finishes at world events and hope this collection of wily veterans can help school the new era of New Zealand basketball.

Strengths: Offense is definitely the strong suit of the Tall Blacks as given their high-post offense along with the deadly combination in the backcourt of Penney and Phil Jones, there will be no shortage of points for the Kiwi's. Having a variety of scoring options make them one of the highest octane offensive teams in the tournament. There is a good balance between youngsters and experienced veterans on this team as the older generation has assisted the development of the youth who look to be the future of Kiwi basketball.

Weaknesses: In one word - toughness. The Tall Blacks struggle on the defensive end as they can't stop perimeter penetration very well and protect the paint sparingly. The inability to defend will cost them a shot to be an elite team as their offense is already atop the best in the world.

Tournament Expectations: The potential is there for this team to make a deep run in the tournament as they have a solid balance of youth and experience that should bode well for them. Anything less than the Round of 16 would be a disappointment, where a shot of being in the Final Eight is a true reality.

Country: Spain

FIBA Ranking: 3

Head Coach: Sergio Scariolo

Key Players: Marc Gasol, Rudy Fernandez, Juan-Carlos Navarro

Overview: The defending champs return to the World Championship much like they left the last edition, without its star big man, Pau Gasol, and hungry for gold. Its silver medal performance at the 2008 Olympics only feeds the hunger more as the fastest growing basketball power house hopes to add to its list of accomplishments.

Strengths: One of the most balanced teams in the world, the Spaniards bolster one of the deepest teams as they have players at every position very capable of playing at a high level. The mixture of size, talent and athleticism has created a culture of winning basketball and this rendition appears to be no different.

Weaknesses: There are very few holes in the Spanish armor but if there was one weak link it would have to be the lack of perimeter defense. In Fernandez, Navarro and Ricky Rubio, the Spaniards have a collection of talented guards, none of which being the most physical player or the most adept to staying in front of his man. They'll rely heavily on the help defense of the bigs to negate the shaky defense the guards are likely to play.

Tournament Expectations: With such a complete team, there's no reason to believe this squad doesn't have a legitimate shot of taking gold once again.

Wwwsoccerstore Basketball Betting News

<< FCD producing positive results under Hyndman
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Suddenly FC Dallas is looking like a legitimate contender in Major League Soccer under head coach Schellas Hyndman. That hasn't always been the case since the long-time Southern Methodist University coach took ove

<< FIBA World Basketball Championship Preview - Group C
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Country: China FIBA Ranking: 9 Head Coach: Bob Donewald Key Players: Yi Jianlian, Wang Zhizhi, Sun Yue Overview: China will be without the services of superstar Yao Ming as he continues to battl

<< FIBA World Basketball Championship Preview - Group B
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Country: Brazil FIBA Ranking: 14 Head Coach: Ruben Magnano Key Players: Leandro Barbosa, Anderson Varejao, Tiago Splitter Overview: Under the guidance of new head coach Ruben Magnano, who had pr

<< FIBA World Basketball Championship Preview - Group A
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Country: Angola FIBA Ranking: 12 Head Coach: Luis Magalhaes Key Players: Joaquim 'Kikas' Gomes, Olimpio Cipriano Overview: For years, the Angolan team has been associated as the African nation C

<< Hara will take charge of Japan on interim basis
Tokyo, Japan (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hiromi Hara, the technical director of the Japanese Football Association, will take charge of the national team for a pair of upcoming friendlies as he continues to search for a new manager. Japan adv

Kroenke becomes majority owner of Rams >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Rams announced on Wednesday that E. Stanley Kroenke has become the majority owner of the club. The decision was made via a vote by the rest of the league's owners at a meeting in Atlanta. "St

CFL Previews - August 27-28 - Week Nine >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - CALGARY STAMPEDERS (6-1) at BRITISH COLUMBIA LIONS (1-6) DATE & TIME: Friday, August 27, 10:30 p.m. (et). GAME NOTES: A couple of teams heading in opposite directions in the CFL's Western Division

NL West: Padres running away with division >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Only a monumental collapse or some gypsy curse over the next few weeks can derail the San Diego Padres in their quest for a third division title since 2005. The Padres won the NL West five years ago and share

Travers is wide-open Mid-Summer Derby >>
Saratoga Springs, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Saturday's $1 million Travers Stakes has attracted an evenly matched field of 11 three-year-olds. Saratoga's Mid- Summer Derby will be conducted over the main track at 1 1/4-miles. Local winner A

Jaguars ink RB Kolby Smith >>
Jacksonville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Jacksonville Jaguars signed running back Kolby Smith, the club announced on Wednesday. Smith, 25, joins the Jaguars following a brief stint with Denver. The 5- foot-11, 219-pounder was signe

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.

Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl Odds

Will he or won't he?  Now that the Dallas Cowboys have a new head coach in Wade Phillips, the big question will be: Does Terrell Owens stay with the team.

Jerry Jones continues to suggest that Terrell Owens will remain with the team.

"I've said that he's back, he's here, he's under contract," Jones said. "In the interviews I've just been through (to hire a new coach), it was very clear to me how highly he's thought of and how much of an impact he had on our offensive success."

Just to be sure though, Terrell Owens cleared out his locker and removed his name plate.

Terrell Owens was among the Cowboys most productive players this past season, catching 85 passes for 1,180 yards and a league-best 13 touchdowns.

But T.O. is due a $3 million roster bonus in June, then a $5 million salary this season. Cutting him before then would save a lot of money and headaches.

Aside from the questions surrounding Terrell Owens, the oddsmakers at MySportsbook.com have concerns over starting quarterback Tony Romo's state of mind and whether he will remain a starting quarterback.  It is also not known how players will adjust to new head coach, Wade Phillips.

Here are the football odds as seen at MySportsbook.com and subject to change after February 10, 2007 if not locked in prior to that date.
Arizona Cardinals 60-1


Atlanta Falcons 50-1


Baltimore Ravens 15-1


Buffalo Bills 50-1


Carolina Panthers 18-1


Chicago Bears 10-1


Cincinnati Bengals 15-1


Cleveland Browns 100-1


Dallas Cowboys 15-1


Denver Broncos 15-1


Detroit Lions 100-1


Green Bay Packers 50-1


Houston Texans 100-1


Indianapolis Colts 6-1


Jacksonville Jaguars 30-1


Kansas City Chiefs 30-1


Miami Dolphins 40-1


Minnesota Vikings 75-1


New England Patriots 10-1


New Orleans Saints 18-1


New York Giants 20-1


New York Jets 30-1


Oakland Raiders 100-1


Philadelphia Eagles 18-1


Pittsburgh Steelers 10-1


Saint Louis Rams 60-1


San Diego Chargers 6-1


San Francisco 49ers 75-1


Seattle Seahawks 20-1


Tampa Bay Buccanneers 75-1


Tennessee Titans 40-1


Washington Redskins 50-1

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook credit cards needs.