Around College Basketball: It's tournament time

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/03/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first college basketball tournament I covered was so long ago that many basketball fans wouldn't even remember the name of the conference.

I spent the first weekend of March, 1979 covering the Pacific Coast Athletic Association tournament in the shadow of Disneyland at the Anaheim Convention Center. I wasn't quite prepared for 12 hours of basketball, watching four quarterfinal-round matchups from 12 noon to 12 midnight, but over the years the concept has grown on me.

Eventually, the University of the Pacific, led by a 6-10 center named Ron Cornelius, held off Utah State to earn an automatic bid in the NCAA tournament - an event that had just expanded to 48 teams that year. UOP's tournament experience would last just one game, as the Tigers were waxed in the opening round.

Years later, the PCAA changed their name to the Big West Conference, so that ESPN could promote something called "Big Monday," with games from the Big East, the Big 10 and the Big West. The PCAA moniker slipped into the dark recesses of history.

Thirty years after my first tourney experience, the concept of the postseason basketball tournament - first started by the Southern Conference in 1922 - is still going strong.

The next two weeks of the college basketball season are among my favorites in the entire sports calendar. Like most college basketball fans, I love having the chance to see teams you seldom see on national television battle their way into the NCAA field.

If it were up to me, I'd make the conference tournaments a do-or-die proposition for every league, with only regular-season conference champions immune from the sudden death of the tournament format.

Three conference tournaments tip off on Tuesday night at campus sites with first round action - the Big South, the Horizon and the Ohio Valley, as March Madness commences.

The Big South will have seven teams trying to end Winthrop's four-year stranglehold on the league's automatic bid, though it might be asking too much for the Eagles to repeat in 2009.

Winthrop, which has offered up some memorable March moments in recent NCAA tournaments, has been rebuilding this year with an 11-18 record and will be on the road at UNC Asheville, and in every subsequent game, if it hopes to unleash some postseason magic.

A year ago, that matchup had an NCAA bid attached to it in the Big South championship game, with Winthrop winning 66-48 at UNCA. This year, the Eagles and the Bulldogs will just be trying to extend their seasons until Thursday.

Radford (18-11) comes in as the top seed in the Big South and will host beleaguered High Point (9-20) in the quarterfinals. The Highlanders could get pushed by two other stalwart teams from No. 2 seed VMI (22-7) and No. 3 Liberty (21-10). VMI entertains Coastal Carolina and Liberty meets Gardner- Webb in the first round.

Few people probably remember VMI making back-to-back trips to the Elite Eight and the Sweet 16 in 1976-77, with future-NBA performer Ron Carter leading the way. The Keydets haven't been back to the NCAA tournament since.

The Big South's semifinals and final will be televised on Thursday night and Saturday by ESPNU and ESPN2, respectively.

The Horizon League, another loop that has pulled off some inspiring NCAA upsets in recent years, also gets started on Tuesday night with its 10-team event. Former giant killer Cleveland State, the third seed at 21-10, is the highest-seeded team in action in the first round.

Many people probably still remember Cleveland State marching to the Sweet 16 in 1986 with wins over Indiana and St. Joseph's before David Robinson and Navy knocked them off, 71-70.

The top two seeds, Butler (25-4) and Wisconsin-Green Bay (22-9) will wait until Saturday to get started in the semifinals, which are on ESPNU. The championship game will be played at Butler's historic Hinkle Fieldhouse on March 10 and televised by ESPN.

The OVC gets into the swing of things on Tuesday with quarterfinal action at campus sites before moving to Nashville's Sommet Center for the semifinals and final. Top-seeded Tennessee-Martin has put together a sparkling 21-8 campaign, but the Skyhawks will need three more wins to get their first NCAA bid.

UTM opens play by hosting Tennessee Tech (12-17), but will likely receive bigger challenges from defending champion and No. 2 seed Austin Peay (17-12), or No. 3 Murray State (18-11) - a 13-time OVC tournament champion.

One of my earliest memories of watching the NCAA tournament was seeing a colorful player named Fly Williams leading Austin Peay in the early 1970s. And I nearly witnessed a No. 16 seed beat a No. 1 in the 1990 Southeast Regional in Knoxville, TN, when Popeye Jones and Murray State pushed Michigan State to overtime before losing 75-71.

The OVC will have its semifinals and final televised on Friday and Saturday by ESPNU and ESPN2 as the first conference to conclude its tournament.

Tournament play will kick off on Wednesday in the Atlantic Sun and the Patriot League, on Thursday in the Northeast Conference and the Missouri Valley, on Friday in the American East, the Colonial Athletic Association, the Southern and the West Coast and on Saturday in the Big Sky.

For a college basketball fan, whether at the arena or watching on television, it's hoop nirvana.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

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MySportsbook.com Favors Fighting Irish to win College Football betting odds

According to odds makers at MySportsbook.com, on January 8, the Fighting Irish faithful may be toasting their 14th national title in Arizona – Notre Dame’s first national championship in close to 20 years.

Although MySportsbook.com has listed Notre Dame as the 5-1 favorite to win thecollege football College Football betting, fans in Columbus do not need to cancel their tickets to Glendale just yet.  The Ohio State Buckeyes, listed right behind the Irish at 7-1, are also heavy favorites to win college football’s most coveted prize, while West Virginia, USC and the 2007 National Champion Texas Longhorns - all listed at 8-1 – are strong contenders as well.

MySportsbook.com has also posted gambling odds on the conference championships for the ACC, Big 12 and SEC.  In the ACC – it could be anyone’s title, particularly for the two schools from the Sunshine State.  Florida State and Miami, both listed at 2-1, are favored to win the ACC Championship Game odds, with the ‘Noles hoping to finish in the nation’s top 10 for the first time in five years, and the ‘Canes looking to avenge their 10-7 loss against FSU in last year’s ACC Championship betting.

Moving west to the Big 12, MySportsbook.com has betting lines listing Texas as 7-5 favorites to repeat as conference champions, even though the Longhorns lost their national championship-winning quarterback Vince Young to the NFL.  In the south, the Auburn Tigers – led by Heisman-hopeful senior running back Kenny Irons – have been given the best odds to win the SEC Championship odds at 5-2.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Visa needs.


ODDS TO WIN THE BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Notre Dame
Ohio State
West Virginia
Texas
USC
Florida
California
Auburn
Oklahoma
Iowa
Louisville
Florida State
Michigan
Miami (FL)
LSU
Penn State
Virginia Tech
Nebraska
Tennessee
Georgia
Arizona State
Oregon
Clemson
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
Alabama
Arkansas
Boston College
Michigan State
Maryland
South Carolina
Colorado
Purdue
Georgia Tech
TCU
UCLA
Arizona
Pittsburgh
Iowa State
Wisconsin
North Carolina State
Virginia
North Carolina
Fresno State
Hawaii
Northwestern
BYU
Oregon State
UNLV
Field (Any Other Team)		 5-1
7-1
8-1
8-1
8-1
12-1
15-1
15-1
18-1
20-1
20-1
20-1
20-1
20-1
25-1
40-1
40-1
50-1
60-1
60-1
60-1
70-1
70-1
100-1
100-1
100-1
100-1
100-1
150-1
200-1
200-1
200-1
200-1
200-1
250-1
250-1
300-1
300-1
300-1
300-1
300-1
300-1
400-1
500-1
500-1
500-1
500-1
1000-1
1000-1
40-1



ODDS TO WIN ACC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Miami (FL)
Florida State
Virginia Tech
Clemson
Georgia Tech
Boston College
Maryland
Virginia
North Carolina State
North Carolina
Wake Forest
Duke		 2-1
2-1
3-1
7-1
15-1
15-1
15-1
30-1
30-1
30-1
50-1
500-1



ODDS TO WIN BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Texas
Oklahoma
Nebraska
Texas Tech
Colorado
Iowa State
Texas A&M
Kansas State
Missouri
Kansas
Baylor
Oklahoma State		 7-5
9-5
9-2
12-1
14-1
15-1
15-1
30-1
30-1
35-1
100-1
100-1



ODDS TO WIN SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Auburn
Florida
LSU
Georgia
Tennessee
Arkansas
Alabama
Mississippi
South Carolina
Mississippi State
Kentucky
Vanderbilt		 5-2
11-4
4-1
6-1
7-1
7-1
9-1
20-1
28-1
75-1
100-1
300-1

For complete NCAA football odds please visit Mysportsbook.com.