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03/09/2010 - 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, March 14th.
This was not a usual season throughout the ACC, as the biggest surprise may not be who won the regular-season crown, but rather, how far the mighty have fallen. The defending national champion North Carolina Tar Heels were going to face a tough challenge in maintaining their status atop the conference, but no one could have foreseen the team's total collapse. When all was said and done though, it turned into a two-horse race, with Duke and Maryland sharing the conference title with solid 13-3 league ledgers.
The Blue Devils earned the top-seed in the tournament, but it really shouldn't effect the Terrapins all that much, as like the regular season, the tournament looks to follow suit with two legitimate candidates and the rest playing catchup. Joining Duke and Maryland with first-round byes are three-seeded Florida State and fourth-seeded Virginia Tech. The rest of the field will play in opening round action on Thursday.
The tournament will open up with ninth-seeded Virginia taking on eighth-seeded Boston College. Tony Bennett's Cavaliers finished one game under .500 overall at 14-15 and won just five conference games in his first season at the helm. To make matters worse, Virginia lost nine straight games to close out the regular season. The likelihood of a strong run in this event isn't very good, especially with the recent suspension of sophomore guard Sylven Landesberg, who finished fifth in the conference in scoring at 17.3 ppg and earned All-ACC Second-Team honors. Landesberg will miss the remainder of the season for academic reasons. The team has won just one ACC Tournament title and that came all the way back in 1976 and ending that drought isn't likely. Al Skinner's Eagles are still relatively new to this event and have yet to win a tourney title in the ACC with a 5-4 mark all-time. Boston College is also fighting an uphill battle coming into the postseason at 15-15 overall and a 6-10 mark in league play. The team did finish with three wins in its last five games, including a 68-55 decision over the Cavaliers a week ago. The team has several players averaging double-digits in points, none more important than All-ACC Third-Team member Joe Trapani (14.6 ppg).
The second opening-round matchup features fifth-seeded Wake Forest against 12th-seeded Miami-Florida. Dino Gaudio's Demon Deacons showed flashes of brilliance this season, just not enough consistency. Wake was ranked in the top-25 this year and had some quality wins over the likes of Gonzaga, Richmond, Xavier and Maryland en route to 19 total victories. Conference play resulted in a 9-7 mark, tied with Clemson for fifth place. An exciting team with an outside chance at making a run to the finals of this event, Wake relies on the low post game of sophomore forward Al-Farouq Aminu to fuel its attack. Aminu led the conference in rebounding (10.8 rpg) and averaged 15.9 ppg, earning All-ACC Second-Team honors. Point guard Ishmael Smith (13.3 ppg, 6.0 apg) joined Aminu on the all-conference Second-Team. Wake Forest has four tournament titles to its name, with the last coming in 1996. Frank Haith's Hurricanes had plenty of problems this year in league play finishing in last place at 4-12. That doesn't sum up this team though, as Miami won 18 games in the regular season, and ran flawless through the non-conference slate. However, it won't be easy to erase five losses in the last six games and start anew in tournament play. Miami is one of five schools to have never won an ACC Tournament crown. These two teams split a pair of meetings this year, each winning on its home floor.
Next on the docket in the opening round is seventh-seeded Georgia Tech against 10th-seeded North Carolina. The Yellow Jackets are an extremely young team, but Paul Hewitt's squad showed glimpses of its great potential, hovering in and around the top-25 for a good portion of the second half of the season. Tech needs just one more victory to reach the 20-win plateau, but a 7-9 in- conference record doesn't exactly have this team brimming with confidence right now. The strength of the Yellow Jackets resides in the frontcourt in the form of All-ACC Third Teamer Gani Lawal (13.6 ppg, 8.8 rpg) and All-ACC Freshman Team member Derrick Favors (11.9 ppg, 8.4 rpg). The Yellow Jackets haven't won the ACC Tournament since 1993, although the team did make a final appearance in 2005. The defending national champions fell off the face of the ACC world this season and although the Tar Heels have won 17 tournament titles, tied with Duke, it would take a miracle to earn number 18 this season. With a mass exodus from last year's title team, coupled with key injuries this season, UNC simply fell flat. A 16-15 overall mark is certainly not up to the standards set in Chapel Hill and a 5-11 league mark is unheard of. The loss of talented forward Ed Davis to a broken wrist certainly didn't help matters. Roy William's Tar Heels, who had a pair of three-game losing streaks in-conference and another four-game slide, failed to land a player on any of the all- conference squads for the first time in ACC history. Georgia Tech swept the regular-season series with North Carolina.
The final game of the opening round pits sixth-seeded Clemson against 11th- seeded NC State. Oliver Purnell's Tigers were in and out of the top-25 this season, finishing 21-9 overall and 9-7 in ACC action. At times, Clemson looked like a conference contender, but at other times, the team simply looked mediocre. Still, with wins in six of the last nine games to close out the year, a strong run in this tournament would not be a shock, despite a less than stellar 16-56 all-time mark in this event. A dangerous offensive team, Clemson looks to veteran forward Trevor Booker to lead the way. Booker was a First-Team All-ACC selection and was also named to the All-Defensive Team, averaging 15.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Sidney Lowe's Wolfpack resided around the bottom of the league standings for much of the season, but finished off at 17-14 overall and 5-11 in-conference, thanks to timely wins in three of the last four games. Junior forward Tracy Smith was clearly the catalyst for the squad, earning All-ACC Second-Team honors, averaging 17.0 points and 7.7 rebounds per outing. NC State has a rich tradition in this event, with 10 tournament titles and a 61-46 all-time record, but the last championship came back in 1987. Clemson won the only meeting between these two teams in the regular season, 73-70.
The Blue Devils will await the Virginia/Boston College winner in quarterfinal action on Friday. Mike Krzyzewski's squad won a conference-best 26 games in the regular season, but failed to nail down the outright conference crown with a loss last week to Maryland, ending an eight-game win streak. Still, the team took care of business in a rout of rival North Carolina in the regular-season finale to earn a share of the title and top overall seed. Duke, which won the tournament last season, is tied with North Carolina for most tournament titles with 17, as well as tournament victories with 84. This year's squad features a trio of All-ACC performers, including two First-Team members in point guard Jon Scheyer (18.9 ppg, 5.2 apg) and forward Kyle Singler (17.2 ppg. 6.8 rpg). Nolan Smith (17.6 ppg) is another outstanding scoring option, earning Second- Team status as a result.
The Terrapins picked up the second seed, despite sharing the regular-season crown. All-ACC First-Team star Greivis Vasquez was the main reason why. The senior guard was arguably the ACC's best court general, ranking second in the league in scoring (19.6 ppg) and first in assists (6.3 apg). Gary William's Terrapins will take on the North Carolina/Georgia Tech winner in the quarterfinals. No team comes into the postseason any hotter, as Maryland brings a seven-game win streak with it to Greensboro, including huge wins over Duke and Virginia Tech over the last two weeks.
Leonard Hamilton's Seminoles picked up the three-seed and an opening-round bye with a solid 10-6 league mark. More impressive was FSU's 22-8 overall mark. It didn't look good for the Seminoles in mid-February, but the team ran off five wins in its last six games to earn the bye. FSU is one of those teams without a tournament title and is just 9-18 all-time in this event. The Seminoles will get the winner of the NC State/Clemson game in the quarterfinals and will no doubt attempt to enforce their will defensively on whoever they are playing. Solomon Alabi (11.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 70 blocks) and Chris Singleton (10.4 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 69 steals) earned All-ACC Third-Team recognition for their efforts this year and both were named to the All-Defensive Team as well.
The fourth and final bye went to Seth Greenberg's Hokies. Virginia Tech had a run in February that had the team on the verge of breaking into the top-25, but three straight losses to Duke, Boston College and Maryland left the team on the outside looking in. Still, Tech finished strong with back-to-back wins to close out the regular season and finished 10-6 in-conference and 23-7 overall. The Hokies await the winner of the Miami-Florida/Wake Forest opening round matchup. An explosive team, Virginia Tech has an outside shot at making a run to the finals. If so, expect All-ACC First-Teamer Malcolm Delaney to play a big part. The junior guard led the league in scoring this season, pouring in almost 21 points per game (20.9). Fellow juniors Dorenzo Hudson (Third-Team member at 14.4 ppg) and Jeff Allen (12.1 ppg, 7.3 rpg) provide plenty of support. Virginia Tech is just 3-5 all-time in this event.
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Alexander Frolov had a goal and t
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on Decemb
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Sportsbook betting odds favor Europe in Ryder Cup
September 19, – Despite holding a decided edge in the all-time series, with 24 wins, 2 ties and 10 losses, Team USA is the underdog again heading into the Ryder Cup in Kidare, Ireland this weekend, according to MySportsbook.com. The Europeans have captured four of the past five editions, including their largest victory ever, an 18 ½ to 9 ½ thumping in Michigan in 2004. Current Ryder Cup betting odds favor the Europeans to continue their winning ways; they are a 4-5 bet to take the title, compared to 6-5 for the Americans.
Despite being knocked out in the first round of World Match play by Shaun Micheel, Tiger Woods is predicted to lead the US charge and be their highest point scorer for the week, with odds listed at 9-4 that he outpoints all other American players, including Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco to name a few. Team USA has four relatively unknown players on the roster but all four are 2007 tournament winners and have posted some of season’s best performances, each earning over $1.5 million on the PGA TOUR. They include Zach Johnson, Vaughan Taylor, JJ Henry and Brett Wetterich.
The experienced European squad includes the likes of Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Jose Maria Olazabal and Darren Clarke, who’s emotions will be tested after the passing of his wife to a battle with cancer. Donald and Garcia are in particularly good form and each is a 5-1 bet to lead the European squad in the points race. Donald has proven he can go head to head with Woods at a major event after a run for the $1.2 million purse at the PGA Championship. Garcia’s Ryder Cup credentials prove he’s ready for battle too.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your golf sportsbook needs.
Ryder Cup Odds| Europe Tie USA |
4-5 10-1 6-5 |
| Tiger Woods Jim Furyk Phil Mickelson Chris DiMarco David Toms Stewart Cink Chad Campbell Scott Verplank Zach Johnson Vaughan Taylor JJ Henry Brett Wetterich |
9-4 4-1 5-1 7-1 8-1 12-1 15-1 15-1 25-1 30-1 30-1 50-1 |
| Sergio Garcia Luke Donald Padraig Harrington Colin Montgomerie Darren Clarke David Howell Lee Westwood Paul Casey Henrik Stenson Jose Maria Olazabal Paul McGinley Robert Karlsson |
5-1 5-1 6-1 13-2 8-1 9-1 9-1 11-1 12-1 12-1 20-1 25-1 |
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com
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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