 |
 Basketball Betting |
 |
||||
|
 |
||||
|
||||
Bulls charge into D.C. to take on 14th-ranked HoyasNCAA Basketball Betting Lines02/04/2012 - Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With the postseason rapidly approaching, a pair of Big East Conference teams hoping to improve their prospects meet in the nation's capital this morning, as the South Florida Bulls take on the 14th-ranked Georgetown Hoyas. USF comes in at 13-9 on the year, but the Bulls have charged hard through the bulk of its conference slate, logging a solid 6-3 mark thus far. The team has won four of its last five games, including an 81-78 decision at home over Providence last Sunday. That said, the Bulls have been an entirely different team in Tampa (11-1) than they've been on the road (2-6, 2-8 when you add in a pair of neutral-site affairs). They have split their last four road bouts though, so there is some reason for optimism today. Georgetown has won 17 of its first 21 games this season, and the team is 7-3 against Big East competition. The Hoyas have won four of their last five as well, with their most recent victory coming in a 58-44 defensive battle against visiting Connecticut on Wednesday. Like USF, Georgetown has been dominant at home, sporting an 11-1 mark to this point, and the club has won two straight in D.C. following a 68-64 setback versus Cincinnati on January 9. Georgetown has won seven of the previous 10 meetings in the all-time series with South Florida, which includes a 61-55 decision in the Sunshine State last season. USF had five players score in double figures in the recent win over Providence, and the Bulls needed every point they could muster. Anthony Collins and Hugh Robertson scored 15 points apiece to pace the home team, which got 14 points from Ron Anderson, Jr., 13 from Toarlyn Fitzpatrick and 11 from Augustus Gilchrist. As a team, South Florida shot 50.9 percent from the field and hit 6-of-13 three-point attempts along the way. Both teams took exceptional care of the basketball, combining for only 13 turnovers. Gilchrist (10.7 ppg) is the only active player averaging double digits in the scoring column, and he is the only current starter netting more than 8.7 ppg. As a team, the Bulls are putting up just 62.1 ppg on 44.2 percent field goal efficiency and 70.7 percent from the foul line, while at the same time allowing a mere 59.0 ppg on typical shooting outputs of 40.7 percent overall and 30.8 percent from beyond the arc. A +3.2 rebounding margin also helps the cause. Hollis Thompson scored 18 points as one of three Hoyas to reach double figures in the recent win over UConn, as the home team made just 21 baskets in the game, but permitted the visitors a paltry 18. Thompson added nine rebounds to his solid stat line, while Henry Sims tallied 13 points despite committing seven of GU's 15 turnovers, and Jason Clark chipped in with 11 points and five boards. The Hoyas scored 11 points at the free-throw line compared to just six for the Huskies, who were simply horrific in going 2-of-20 from beyond the arc. Clark (15.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 39 steals), Thompson (14.0 ppg, 5.2 rpg) and Sims (11.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 3.5 apg, 34 blocks) have been the most consistent performers for Georgetown this season, but guys like Otto Porter (8.2 ppg, 6.8 rpg) and Markel Starks (8.0 ppg) have provided additional support when called upon. Like their counterpart today, and as evidenced in the recent win over UConn, the Hoyas have played exceptional defense this season in allowing just 59.2 ppg behind shooting efforts that come in at 39.4 percent overall and 27.9 percent from downtown. Offensively, the team nets 70.8 ppg in hitting 46.9 percent of its total shots and 36.2 percent of its three-point launches. Add favorable margins in both rebounding (+4.8) and turnovers (+1.4), and it's easy to see why the team is having such a successful season.
<< Minus Howard, Red Wings visit healthy Oilers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Red Wings seem to finally be hitting their stride on the road, but they'll be without the league's leader in wins for the rest of their swing. Minus goaltender Jimmy Howard, the Red Wings look for their third s
<< Sharks, Coyotes engage in the desert
<< Wild seek to hold off Stars in Dallas
<< Blues, Preds clash in likely defensive battle
<< Lightning wrap season series with Panthers
Ward, Hurricanes try to shut down Kings >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Hurricanes may be tied for the fewest points in the Eastern Conference, but they showed again on Thursday that they can still hang with the best the NHL has to offer. Hoping to win two in a row for just the se
Tigers and Bulldogs square off Starkville >>
Bluejays go in search of 12th straight win >>
Hoosier State rivals square off in West Lafayette >>
Waves hope to crash down on 24th-ranked Bulldogs >>
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." 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. To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. |
|
