Florida State Leaves Orange Down 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 has an array of weapons at the offensive end. Thomas Robinson is the team's top scorer (17.7 ppg) and the Big 12's top rebounder (12.1 rpg). The junior forward recorded his Big-12 leading 13th double-double of the season in the team's win over Baylor before finishing with 17 points and nine rebounds against Texas. Tyshawn Taylor has been a big factor to the Jayhawks' success as well. Taylor has been absolutely on fire lately as he has averaged 26 ppg and 5.3 apg in his last three outings. Travis Releford and Elijah Johnson are both helping the cause with scoring averages above nine points per game.

 

Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off its first loss of the season, the Syracuse Orange will look to avoid a losing streak as they head to Fifth Third Arena for a Big East battle with the dangerous Cincinnati Bearcats. This will be just the ninth meeting between the Orange and Bearcats. Syracuse holds an 8-2 edge in the series after winning the last three encounters. The Orange handled Cincinnati in last year's contest with a 67-52 decision in a game played at the Carrier Dome.

 

Syracuse will be without its rebounding and shot-blocking center Fab Melo for the second straight game as he attends to academic issues. Although he does not score an overwhelming amount of points, Melo's inside presence was missed against Notre Dame on both ends of the floor. Kris Joseph and Dion Waiters will need to step up with Melo out. Joseph is the team's leading scorer with an average of 13.6 ppg, but he will need to do better than 4-of-12 from the field to score 12 points, as he did against the Irish. Waiters scored in double-figures for the ninth-straight game against Notre Dame, but also shot a poor percentage to do so. The Orange's 7-1 record in the Big East has them in sole possession of first place, but another defeat would give them the same total of losses as five another teams in the league.

 

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.

 

Rutgers, after a loss last week at St. John's, dropped four spots from seventh and starts the second 10, which is also comprised of Green Bay, Purdue, Texas A&M, Delaware, Louisville, Georgia, Penn State, Nebraska and Georgetown.

 

New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kentucky is back at the top of the Associated Press men's college basketball poll. It's the second time the Wildcats have ascended to the No. 1 spot this season. They had a two-week stay as the top-ranked team -- earning the position for the last week of November and the first week of December before a one-point loss at Indiana on December 10.

 

Kentucky moved up one spot after Syracuse suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday at Notre Dame. The Orange, who had been No. 1 for six straight weeks, dropped two spots to third, just behind Missouri, which vaulted three spots from fifth to second after winning at Baylor on Saturday.

 

The second 10 consists of Murray State, UNLV, San Diego State, Florida, Creighton, Indiana, Marquette, Mississippi State, Virginia and Michigan. Murray State is the lone unbeaten team in Division I men's basketball.

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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