#Bruce Marshall

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The recent rise in NBA and NHL scoring has caused the betting markets to respond in kind, posting totals that would have been unimaginable not long ago. NBA teams were averaging 113.8 points a game through Thursday. That is the highest figure since the 1969-70 season when the average was 116.7, but does follow a greater…

According to SportRadar, NBA games this season have gone over Las Vegas betting totals 51.5% of the time. LAS VEGAS - The recent rise in NBA and NHL scoring has caused the betting markets to respond in kind, posting totals that would have been unimaginable not long ago. NBA teams were averaging 113.8 points a game through Thursday. That is the…

Las Vegas handicapper Bruce Marshall is editor of The Gold Sheet (Goldsheet.com). He provides the Review-Journal with college football tech notes and trends. Follow @thegoldsheet on Twitter. Thursday Minnesota (-10, 42½) vs. Syracuse: The Golden Gophers won and covered their last three bowls. Minnesota is 6-1-1 against the spread in its past eight…

LAS VEGAS - In the late 1970s, cocky young prognosticator Danny Sheridan boasted of his magnificent acumen picking football winners to Mort Olshan, who brainstormed a test. Give me the team that won and whether it had covered the spread, Olshan said, of two games that were played last weekend. Sheridan, who claimed to have a photographic memory,…

Cincinnati vs. Alabama (-13, 57½) (Cotton Bowl Classic, national semifinal): The Bearcats are on a 17-9 spread uptick and have covered five consecutive games as underdogs. Alabama is 8-7 ATS in its past 16 games and 5-8 ATS in its past 13 bowl/playoff games. The under is 8-5 in Crimson Tide games this season. Edge: Cincinnati and slight to…