Cougars and Miners duke it out for C-USA crown
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
03/13/2010 - Tulsa, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two programs trying to claim their first Conference USA Tournament titles come together at the BOK Center in Tulsa, as the top-seeded and 25th-ranked Texas-El Paso Miners clash with the seventh- seeded Houston Cougars.
One of the hottest teams in the nation, UTEP won the C-USA regular-season title with a 15-1 finish and is now gunning for a sweep of the hardware. The Miners kicked off their tourney run with an easy 76-54 win over ninth-seeded UCF in the quarterfinals before disposing of fifth-seeded Tulsa, 75-61, in the semifinal-round yesterday. UTEP now enters its first C-USA Tournament finals with a 16-game win streak, which is tied for the second-longest run in school history.
Houston went just 7-9 during the regular season, but turned it on in the postseason with three straight wins to reach the finals for the first time since 2007. After taking care of 10th-seeded East Carolina (93-80) in the first round, the Cougars ousted four-time defending champion and second-seeded Memphis, 66-65, in a quarterfinal thriller. Houston continued its quest for its first-ever C-USA Tournament championship with a 74-66 triumph of sixth- seeded Southern Miss in the semifinals last night.
With regard to the all-time series, UTEP holds a 10-7 edge over Houston, although the Cougars did hand the Miners' their most recent and only league loss with a 75-65 decision back on January 13th. The Miners, however, did get some payback a few weeks later with a 65-58 win.
The Cougars outscored Southern Miss, 22-10, at the foul line on their way to a 74-66 win last night. Houston did a nice job protecting the ball with only six turnovers, and it also held the Golden Eagles to 38.5 percent shooting from the floor. Aubrey Coleman continued his outstanding play with 27 points in the win, while Kelvin Lewis chipped in with 12 points. The nation's leading scorer, Coleman is averaging 25.6 ppg in this tourney and 26.0 ppg for the season. He also leads the team in seals (87), to go with 7.3 rpg. Lewis, who has scored in double figures in all three postseason games, forms a solid one- two punch with 14.9 ppg.
The Miners connected on 51.9 percent of their attempts from the field and 16- of-23 at the charity stripe, as they topped Tulsa yesterday. UTEP also forced 18 turnovers, generating 20 points off those giveaways. Randy Culpepper led the way with a 21-point effort, while Arnett Moultrie tacked on 18 points. The C-USA Player of the Year, Culpepper paces the Miners in scoring (17.9 ppg) as well as steals (55) for the season. Derrick Caracter, who had 10 points and six boards yesterday, adds 13.7 ppg and 8.0 rpg to the lineup. Jeremy Williams and Moultrie chip in with 10.3 and 10.0 ppg, respectively, and they also combine for 11.5 rpg.
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Mississippi State Bulldogs and the 20th- ranked Vanderbilt Commodores are set to collide in the semifinal round of the 2010 SEC Tournament. Tomorrow, the winner of this contest will take on either Kentuck
<< SEC Tournament showdown pits Volunteers against Wildcats
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The semifinal round of the 2010 SEC
Tournament pits the second-ranked Kentucky Wildcats against the 15th-ranked
Tennessee Volunteers.
Up next for the winner of this game is a trip to tomorrow's championship
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top seed in the 2010 ACC Tournament, and they are set to clash with the 12th-
seeded Miami-Florida Hurricanes in the semifinal round this afternoon.
The winner of t
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Burlington. VT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A berth in the NCAA Tournament is on the
line in Burlington today, as the second-seeded Vermont Catamounts battle the
fourth-seeded Boston University Terriers in the 2010 America East Conference
Championship Ga
<< Home sweet home: Canucks return to GM Place to battle Senators
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The wait is finally over.
After playing 14 straight times on the road over a span of six weeks, the
Vancouver Canucks finally return to GM Place for tonight's interconference
showdown with the slumping Ottawa Senators.
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New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Big East Tournament title is up for grabs
this evening, as the 22nd-ranked Georgetown Hoyas take on the seventh-ranked
West Virginia Mountaineers at famed Madison Square Garden.
The Hoyas were thought to b
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The Fi
SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.
Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"
A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.
In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.
"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"
Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.
This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.
Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.
In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.
No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.
And that's all any bettor can ask for.
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NFL Football Betting : Odds on NFL Division to Win the Super Bowl
The AFC South and the NFC East are the favorite divisions to have the next Super Bowl champ among them in the NFL betting odds. But more down to the point, these football odds are in favor of the Indianapolis Colts, by far the strongest team in the AFC South, and the Dallas Cowboys of the NFC East.
Most sports fans would agree that these two teams top the list to win it all before the season even begins. In the BetUS Sportsbook football futures, the Colts are +800 in the odds to win the Super Bowl, while the Cowboys are sitting at +1000 and the Super Bowl XLIV champions New Orleans Saints at +900. In the AFC South, the Colts won the division for five straight years after the 2002 realignment, before the Tennessee Titans won it in 2008. But the Colts came back strong in 2009 to win the division again en route to the Super Bowl. The Cowboys are the favorite to win the NFC East, as well as to advance far into the post season. The Cowboys won the division last season before their horrendous loss in the NFC Divisional playoff to Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings. But the ‘Boys will take that loss humbly and be ready for the playoffs this time around.
The NFC South is also very strong, at +600 in the NFL futures, considering that it is home to the defending Super Bowl champions. However, some predictions have the Atlanta Falcons with possibilities of claiming the divisional title this season in place of the Saints, as no team has won back-to-back division championships since the division realignment took place. Let’s not overlook the AFC North at +500. As TO goes to Cincinnati to join Chad OchoCinco and Adam “Pac-Man” Jones, this team looks to claim the division title again. And it is likely they will do so. The Bengals lost in the AFC Wild Card spot in a hard-fought battle against the New York Jets last season. Lest not forget the Pittsburgh Steelers, the XLII Super Bowl Champions… All these teams present interesting odds and matchups for the upcoming season, but the safest and surest bet seems to be with the Colts in the AFC South and the Cowboys in the NFC East. Play this weekly NFL Football Contestto see if you can win.
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