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03/09/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the first time in five years, someone other than Memphis is the top seed in the Conference USA Tournament, as the Texas-El Paso Miners won the regular-season title with a 15-1 finish. Winners of 14 straight games, the Miners captured their first-ever C-USA regular- season title and a first-round bye.
Memphis meanwhile, was denied its fifth title in a row, but didn't fall far, finishing second in the league at 13-3. UAB and Marshall also earned first- round passes after identical 11-5 showings, with the Blazers taking the third seed and the Thundering Herd the fourth.
Tulsa, the host of this event, is the fifth seed and final team with a winning league record at 10-6. The sixth seed went to Southern Miss, which posted a level 8-8 mark within the conference. The final six teams also had losing marks in league play and were seeded based on their finishes.
The team that emerges with the title gets to represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament.
Getting the 15th annual C-USA Tournament started on Wednesday is the seventh- seeded Houston Cougars and 10th-seeded East Carolina Pirates. The Cougars are paced by the nation's leading scorer in Aubrey Coleman, who averages 26.0 ppg. Houston, which won the lone regular season meeting with East Carolina, went 7-9 in conference play this season. The Cougars are 8-12 all-time in this tourney, reaching the finals in 2007. On the flip side, East Carolina posted just a 4-12 league mark, and the Pirates are 0-6 all-time in the SBC Tournament.
First-round play will continue with the sixth-seeded Southern Miss Golden Eagles clashing with the 11th-seeded Tulane Green Wave. The Eagles won both regular-season meetings with Tulane and have won two straight games heading into the postseason. USM is 9-12 all-time in this tourney and still in search of its first finals appearance. For Tulane, it has won four straight first- round games in the C-USA Championship, helping the program to a 7-14 all-time mark. The Green Wave however, possess the conference's second worst regular- season record at 3-13.
The fifth-seeded Tulsa Golden Hurricane host the 12th-seeded Rice Owls in the third game on Wednesday. The host school has appeared in the last eight championship games, so that is certainly good news for Tulsa. The Hurricane have appeared in each of the past two championship games, coming up short both times against Memphis. Tulsa took the only meeting with Rice during the regular season after defeating the Owls in the quarterfinals of last year's event. Speaking of Rice, it won just one of 16 league games and brings a seven-game slide into the postseason.
The first round comes to a close with the ninth-seeded UCF Knights taking on the eighth-seeded SMU Mustangs. The Ponies went 7-9 during the regular season in conference action, while the Knights finished 6-10. SMU, which has improved its win total by five games this season, captured the lone meeting during the season with the Knights. Both clubs are just 1-4 all-time in this event, so this is a good chance for one program to make a little noise.
The quarterfinal round begins on Thursday, as second-seeded Memphis awaits the winner of the East Carolina/Houston matchup. After four straight regular- season titles, including three consecutive perfect campaigns, the Tigers settled for a second place finish under first-year head coach Josh Pastner. Memphis came on strong down the stretch and the team is now in search of its fifth straight title in this event. Memphis, which is the only active member to have captured the C-USA Tournament, has won 15 of its last 16 games in this tourney.
The third-seeded UAB Blazers will take the floor in the second quarterfinal round game against either Tulane or Southern Miss. For the sixth time in seven years, the Blazers finished in the top four of the C-USA standings, although they dropped their last two games. Still, UAB is 23-7 overall and even spent time in the Top 25 this season. The Blazers are 13-14 all-time in the C-USA Championship, reaching the finals on two occasions.
The quarterfinals continue when the fourth-seeded Marshall Thundering Herd square off against the victor of the Rice/Tulsa pairing. With a 23-8 mark, Marshall recorded its highest win total since the 1987-88 season. The Herd also earned its first tourney bye since joining the league in 2005. Marshall however, has won just once in four prior appearances in this event.
The top-seeded Texas-El Paso Miners will make their first appearance in the final game of the quarterfinals against the survivor of the UCF/SMU contest. The 21st-ranked Miners are just one of three teams in C-USA history to win 15 league games, as they earned their first outright conference title since 1986-87. This is the fifth C-USA Tournament appearance for UTEP, which reached the semifinals in 2006 and 2008.
<< 2010 Big 12 Conference Tournament Preview
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Another year and another championship for
Kansas, which captured its sixth straight Big 12 regular-season crown with a
15-1 finish. The No.1 ranked Jayhawks are the top-seed for the sixth time in
the 14-year
<< Orioles renew contracts of Jones, Wieters
Sarasota, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles have renewed the
contracts of young stars Adam Jones, Matt Wieters, Brad Bergesen and Nolan
Reimold, while also agreeing to 2010 contracts with 22 other players.
Jones is en
<< 2010 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Preview
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 57th-annual Atlantic Coast Conference
Tournament is on tap this week from the Greensboro Coliseum and will run from
opening round action on Thursday, March 11th through the championship game on
Sunday, Ma
<< Nathan has significant ligament tear
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Minnesota Twins closer Joe Nathan
reportedly has a significant ligament tear in his right elbow.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune said tests revealed damage to the ulnar
collateral ligament.
Streaking Magic hope to make Clippers disappear >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The acquisition of Vince Carter has paid off so far for
Eastern Conference power Orlando, which will shoot for its sixth straight win
tonight versus the Los Angeles Clippers in the second test of a three-game
homestand at Amw
Sixers, Pacers clash in Indy >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia 76ers finally got off the schneid with a
big win at Toronto this weekend, and hope that carries over into Tuesday's
road bout against the Indiana Pacers at Conseco Fieldhouse.
Philadelphia was able to snap
Surging Bucks host Allen, Celtics >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sweet-stroking veteran Ray Allen has already recorded his
20,000th career point and will add to that mark tonight, when the Boston
Celtics hit the road to Milwaukee for a showdown with the Bucks.
On Sunday, Allen hit a go-
North Texas takes on Troy in Sun Belt title tilt >>
Hot Springs, AR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top-seeded Troy Trojans and the second-
seeded North Texas Mean Green have advanced to the championship game of the
2010 Sun Belt Conference Tournament, and they will compete for an automatic
bid to the "B
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
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.
To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
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