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2010 Big South Conference Tournament PreviewNCAA Basketball Betting Lines03/01/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The surprising Coastal Carolina Chanticleers are the top seed in the Big South Conference Tournament for the first time since the 1990-91 campaign, and they have seemingly come out of nowhere to become the favorite to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Coastal Carolina (36-5) closed out the regular season with five straight wins, which means it is not only 15-3 versus the rest of the league, but also riding the longest win streak among the programs in the Big South. Because of the squad's efforts, the Chanticleers get to entertain eighth-seeded VMI at Kimbel Arena on Tuesday night. Good news for Coastal Carolina, which last won the tourney title in 1993 and has a total of three crowns to its credit over the years, is that it lost just a single home game this season. The Chanticleers finished the regular season second in the league in scoring with 74.5 ppg, but more importantly, had one of the best defenses in all of college basketball with just 59.0 ppg allowed. Joseph Harris and Chad Gray are the key offensive producers for the squad with 14.8 and 14.1 ppg, respectively. From a national standpoint, the team ranks in the top-10 in three-point shooting defense, allowing foes to convert a mere 27.8 percent of their chances. Coincidentally, VMI (10-18, 5-13) ranks first in the nation in three-point field goals per game with almost 12 per outing, contributing heavily to the squad's 89.8 ppg which also leads the country at the moment. However, the run- and-gun Keydets have a problem with getting back on defense as they rank dead last among the 334 programs charted by the NCAA with a hideous 96.9 ppg allowed. VMI, which has a mark of just 4-4 in this tournament over the years and lost in the title game to Radford last season and Winthrop three years ago, has Austin Kenon putting up 18.7 ppg and Keith Gabriel another 17.3 ppg. The defending tournament champion Radford Highlanders took down Winthrop on Saturday to assume the second seed in this event, and the squad is slated to host seventh-seeded Charleston Southern at the Dedmon Center. Radford heads into the post season riding a four-game win streak thanks to a 54-52 victory on Saturday. Behind Coastal Carolina, the Highlanders have the second-best scoring margin in the league at plus-3.5 ppg, but you could never tell that since they have the worst free-throw shooting in the conference at a meager 59.1 percent. Artsiom Parakhouski, the tournament MVP from a year ago, leads the league in scoring with his 21.6 ppg, but he is the main reason why the team has fumbled at the charity stripe, having made just 148-of-266 (.556). As for the Buccaneers, a team that is second only to Winthrop in tournament titles with four, they are trying to win their first crown since 1997. Charleston Southern ended up three games below .500 on the season (13-16) and was just 7-11 in conference. Led by Jamarco Warren and Kelvin Martin with 15.9 and 14.0 ppg, respectively, the Bucs have not won back-to-back games for nearly six weeks. Because of the loss to Radford on Saturday, Winthrop now assumes the third seed in the event and will host sixth-seeded Liberty at Winthrop Coliseum on Tuesday. The Eagles (16-13, 12-6), winners of nine Big South Tournament titles, are nowhere near the team they've been in the past, seeing as how they won by just two points in the season opener against Limestone. Nevertheless, being the most successful program in this tournament, with a record of 31-15 over the years, has to account for something. Registering the second-best scoring defense in the league (61.8 ppg) is certainly a plus, but by no means does that make up for the fact that Winthrop ranked among the worst in the country with 37.9 percent shooting from the field and a woeful 24.8 percent beyond the arc. Liberty (15-15, 10-8) took a huge step back when Seth Curry decided to transfer to Duke after last season, yet there was still some encouraging play from the likes of Kyle Ohman (15.1 ppg) and Evan Gordon (12.2 ppg) who both exceeded their overall scoring averages when it came to league action. The Flames were middle-of-the-road in most stats this year, but a couple of the trouble areas for Liberty lie in turnovers per game (15.8) and turnover margin (minus-2.3) as the Flames can ill-afford to make too many mistakes right out of the gate. The final quarterfinal matchup has fourth-seeded UNC Asheville settling into the Justice Center versus fifth-seeded High Point. The Bulldogs (14-15, 11-7) closed the campaign strong with four wins in five tries, with the lone loss coming in overtime against Winthrop a week ago. In terms of scoring defense, Asheville was somewhat weak in that area with 76.8 ppg allowed, but there were moments when the defense shined as they averaged better than five and a half blocked shots per contest to rank in the top-20 nationally. The squad was also first in the conference with more than 16 assists per game, but those passes also went hand-in-hand with more than 17 turnovers per contest, one of the highest averages in the nation. J.P. Primm (12.1 ppg) tried to give the team a lift in the passing department with his 158 assists. The Panthers (15-14, 10-8) had a couple of games early on against the likes of UNC Pembroke and Hampden-Sydney in which they scored a combined 204 points and that really boosted their stats, but in the end they finished fifth in the league with an average of 72.3 ppg. Nick Barbour was one of the more consistent performers for the program with his 18.6 ppg, shooting 40.5 percent behind the three-point line, but with an average of barely one assist per game if he didn't score rarely did anyone else. Eugene Harris accounted for 14.2 ppg as he made 71 three-pointers to pace the group, helping to make the team third in the conference with 35.8 percent accuracy beyond the arc.
<< 2010 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Preview
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Ohio Valley Conference Tournament will begin this Tuesday when the top eight teams from the regular season will tangle for the right to be named champions of the OVC and more importantly earn a bid to the
<< 2010 Horizon League Tournament Preview
<< Longhorns hope to right ship in revenge game with Sooners
<< Hoyas visit Mountaineers in Big East showdown
<< Red Wings resume postseason push versus Avalanche
2010 Patriot League Tournament Preview >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The usual suspects in the Patriot League might be taking a backseat to a new crop of stars as the 20th annual conference tournament tips off this week. American University, which is the two-time defending
Surging Mavs visit Bobcats >>
Shaq-less Cavs host Knicks >>
Struggling Sixers tangle with Magic at Wachovia Center >>
Bulls kick off homestand vs. Hawks >>
Betting FootballNFL Football Betting OnlineIs 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. MySportsbook.com refunds all bets on Oakland, Green Bay and Tampa Bay from NFL week one. (September 14) – Week one of NFL action saw three teams go scoreless for the first time since 1977. Another four were unable to get a touchdown and almost half of the underdogs covered the spread. Those three teams saved bettors at MySportsbook.com from losing out completely, thanks to the company’s unique NFL Shutout Rule -- which ensures that if the team you backed goes scoreless, your wager is refunded. Sportsbook refunded tens of thousands of dollars to customers who bet on Oakland, Green Bay and Tampa Bay, the three teams that stunk up the field so badly that their fans and backers never had a chance to get up from their couches and cheer. In the spirit of the low scoring start to the season, odds makers at the world’s largest online sportsbook and casino have set odds on how many total shutouts there will be this season. MySportsbook.com has posted updated sports betting lines for week two of the season. Ben Roethlisberger’s health status is still questionable, so Willie Parker will try to lead Pittsburgh again as they travel to Jacksonville as a one point favorite. After beating up on his little brother last week, Peyton Manning will look to lead the Colts to victory against Houston. Indianapolis is a whopping 13.5 favorite in the match-up. Seattle, last year’s highest scoring team, showed the power of their defense with their gritty 9-6 win in Motown over the ravenous Lions. They take their act back home to the comforts of Qwest Field where they will face the resurgent Arizona Cardinals. The Seahawks are favored by a touchdown. To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Visa needs. |
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