Top-25 showdown in Stillwater

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/16/2007 - Stillwater, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two outstanding Big 12 teams will collide in Stillwater tonight, as the 12th-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys host the 21st-ranked Texas Longhorns.

Texas comes into this contest with a five-game winning streak that has enabled the club to move to 13-3 overall and 3-0 in Big 12 action. On Saturday, the Longhorns showed a great deal of toughness in an 80-69 victory over Oklahoma. All three league victories have come by double figures.

Oklahoma State was slated to take on Nebraska on Saturday, but poor weather conditions restricted travel and caused the game to be postponed. The Cowboys are eager to get back to action, as they dropped a 30-point decision to Kansas last time out. Despite that ugly defeat, OSU is still 15-2 overall and a perfect 10-0 at home, as the only other loss came against an outstanding Tennessee squad by two points.

Texas owns a narrow 34-33 edge in the all-time series with Oklahoma State.

College basketball's best player was at it again on Saturday, as Texas star freshman Kevin Durant scored 28 points to lead his team over Oklahoma. Durant has led the Longhorns in scoring in seven straight games, and he has topped 20 points in all of those tilts. He racked up 37 points against Colorado in the league opener and followed that performance with a 34- point effort against Missouri. Durant is averaging 23.7 ppg and 11.0 rpg while shooting 50 percent from the floor, and he has blocked 29 shots as well. The fact that he is shooting 38 percent from three-point range and 85.6 percent from the foul line suggests that there is no apparent weakness in his game. Durant does get some help from A.J. Abrams (16.7 ppg) and D.J. Augustin (13.4 ppg, 6.5 apg), but the 6-9 freshman phenom is clearly the headliner. Texas connected on 54.7 percent of its field goal attempts against Oklahoma on Saturday and earned a 34-23 rebounding advantage.

Oklahoma State relies heavily on the duo of Mario Boggan and JamesOn Curry to be productive at the offensive end, and those two players have responded in a big way. Boggan is scoring 21.1 ppg on 59.7 percent shooting from the floor, and he is pulling down 7.4 rpg as well. Curry does his damage from the backcourt, as he is racking up 18.5 ppg on 42.1 percent accuracy from three-point range to go along with 78 assists. Oklahoma State is averaging 83.2 ppg on 50.2 percent shooting from the floor, and it is holding the opposition to 69.4 ppg. The Cowboys shot a lowly 32.1 percent from the floor and committed 20 turnovers against Kansas last week in a game that featured few positives. Defensively, Oklahoma State permitted the Jayhawks to hit 57.6 percent of their field goal attempts. Boggan was limited to eight points on 4-of-16 shooting from the floor, and he failed to grab a single rebound in 26 minutes of action.

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MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.

Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.

According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).

Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.

''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
    
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.

Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.

''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''

Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
   
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.

”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
   
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.

For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.


Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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