League Play Down A&m League

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

Charlottesville, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Erick Green scored 15 points, helping Virginia Tech pull out a 47-45 victory over No. 15 Virginia at John Paul Jones Arena. Dorenzo Hudson totaled 12 points, including a three-pointer in the closing moments that made it a two-possession contest and helped the Hokies (12-7, 1-4 ACC) pick up their first conference victory.

 

Lawrence, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas Jayhawks will try to remain undefeated in league play as they host the Texas A&M Aggies in a Big 12 battle on at the Allen Fieldhouse this evening. This will be the 19th meeting in the series history. The Jayhawks have won all but one of the previous encounters. Texas A&M has not defeated Kansas since Feb. 3rd, 2007.

 

Khris Middleton and Elston Turner are the leaders on the A&M roster. Middleton is questionable for tonight after leaving the Oklahoma game with a knee injury after 12 minutes of action. Middleton's presence is a huge factor in A&M's success as he had averaged 14.7 points and seven rebounds per game in his three games before sustaining the injury. After Middleton went down against the Sooners, Turner stepped up and put the team on his back. The junior guard pushed the Aggies to victory as he scored 23 points in 42 minutes of action. Dave Loubeau chipped in 16 points in the victory while Dash Harris netted 14 points and dished out six assists. Harris is a pest on the defensive end as he is second in the league in steals with 2.3 per game.

 

Kansas comes in with a 16-3 overall record after extending its winning streak on Saturday. The Jayhawks will be protecting their 16-game home winning streak and their perfect 6-0 league record. Head coach Bill Self led his team to its ninth straight win on Saturday as it took down Texas, 69-66. The Jayhawks shot 44.6 percent from the field, but made just 14-of-23 from the charity stripe in the win over the Longhorns. Kansas played well at the defensive end, as it held Texas to 34.4 percent shooting. The Jayhawks' six turnovers was its lowest total since entering Big 12 play. Kansas's +16.0 average scoring margin is the second best in the Big 12.

 

Head coach Jim Boeheim saw his team's 20-game win streak snapped as it was handed a 67-58 loss by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday. The Orange had their worst offensive performance of the year in the loss as they set new season lows in points (58), field goal percentage (34.0), and assists (13). Syracuse is still leading the Big East in scoring offense with an average of 78.9 ppg on 48 percent shooting from the field and 35.4 percent shooting from three-point range. The Orange's defense that allowed Notre Dame to make 50 percent of its field goals to score 67 points, is now allowing opponents to score an average of 60.7 ppg.

 

Cincinnati comes in with a 15-5 overall record after its 77-74 overtime loss to West Virginia on Saturday. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak and gave the Bearcats a 5-2 league record, their best start in Big East play yet. Head coach Mark Cronin has won three in a row and six of his last eight against ranked opponents with Cincinnati. Although the Bearcats have the worst field-goal percentage (39.3) in league play, they will attack the Orange's patented 2-3 zone from deep as they have made the second-most three- pointers (57) in Big East action.

 

With Melo out, Yancy Gates should be a big contributor for the Bearcats. Gates is averaging 12.2 ppg and a team-best 9.4 rpg. The senior forward has recorded double-doubles in each of his last two outings. Sean Kilpatrick is Cincy's top scorer with an average of 16.0 ppg and comes in having scored in double- figures in all but two contests this season. Dion Dixon is the team's second leading scorer with an average of 13.9 ppg, while Cashmere Wright is chipping in 10.8 ppg and a team-high 4.8 apg.

 

Notre Dame, Connecticut, Stanford, Duke and Kentucky held their places from second through sixth. Tennessee, Maryland, Ohio State and Miami-Florida complete this week's top 10. Miami moved up one spot from 11th.

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FOOTBALL BETTING

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After all the trouble that’s ensued since Braylon Edwards allegedly punched one of LeBron James’ homeboys in the face at a club, the Cleveland Browns have sent away their last remaining player of worth to the New York Jets. This is a great move for Dirty Sanchez and all, but it’s even better for the Knicks. Now Donnie Walsh can say, “You get to haunt Braylon Edwards with your posse if you sign here!” next summer.

Putting that aside for a moment, the move is a clear indication that the new-look Jets are gunning for the Super Bowl this year. I don’t think that New York thought that Dirty Sanchez was going to be such a rock star. With a 75.2 passer rating that was killed against the Jets, Sanchez is doing an admirable job of managing games and putting the Jets in a position to win. The defense has been the major story in New York thus far, but the acquisition of Braylon Edwards makes this offense loaded with talent that can dent any defense…as long as Dirty Sanchez continues his meteoric rise.

Thus far, Edwards has been a non-factor in the NFL piling up just 139 receiving yards on 10 catches. He has yet to find the endzone, and with the Browns mired in the most unsexy quarterback controversy of all time (Anderson vs. Quinn...yawn), there going nowhere fast. Edwards is two seasons removed from a career year which saw him catch 80 passes for 1,289 yards and 16 touchdowns when the Browns were the spread killing monsters of 2007. In 2008, injuries slowed the receiver down to just 873 yards and three touchdowns though he played in all 16 games.

So that being said, we really don’t know if Braylon Edwards is just a flash in the pan, or a legit threat. At 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, he is a prototypical receiver. But he’s also shown a strange, and unwarranted, talent for dropping passes. Lining up opposite Jericho Cotchery, a speed demon with 23 catches, 356 yards and a single touchdown, may give Braylon the open looks he needs. A change of scenery may also rejuvenate the star receiver.

In return, the Browns will receive Chansi Stuckey, online football betting a special teams player you’ve never heard of and a pair of draft picks. That’s a tall order for a guy whose only real value right now is in his name, and it shows no promise to the Browns that they can rebuild around those acquisitions. Braylon was the only reason to hope for the Browns to go 3-14 SU this year. Without him, they don’t have a single guy on offense that can scare any team.

For the Jets, it’s a response to the pounding that they took at the hand of the Saints. Thomas Jones and Leon Washington have averaged around 4.0 yards per carry each on the ground, but striking a fair balance between the passing and rushing attacks in New York has been a struggle. You have to believe that the trio of Dustin Keller, Jericho Cotchery and Braylon Edwards will give Sanchez the weapons he needs to unleash through the air. Theoretically, that would open up holes for the rushing game. But the proposed public option health care plan works in theory too. We need to see the proof in the pudding before we start loading up mega bucks on the New York Jets to take the AFC.

The one wrinkle in this whole thing is that Braylon could very well be suspended by the league for disciplinary action due to his “brawl” with LeBron’s friend. If that’s the case, the Jets may have to bench him for a few games leaving them with a somewhat depleted receiving corps for a few games. Also, this is a guy who gets in fights with people at clubs. New York may not be the best place for him. Just sayin’.

The Jets have a long week before they meet the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football Betting in a virtual pick ‘em game. Braylon’s excess baggage may be a distraction, and his curiously low production may be what we should be expecting of him overall, but for the Jets, taking a chance to strike gold is well worth it. At the end of the year, they can simply just blame it on their rookie quarterback.

NFL Betting Lines

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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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