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03/03/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Missouri Valley Conference will have a different top seed for the fourth straight year, as the Northern Iowa Panthers claimed the No.1 spot by virtue of its tie-breaker with the Creighton Bluejays. Both the Panthers and Bluejays shared the regular season crown at 14-4 and each will begin play in the quarterfinal round on Friday.
The Illinois State Redbirds were defeated by both Northern Iowa and Creighton in their last two games, as the team had to settle for third seed with an 11-7 finish. The Bradley Braves went 10-8 during the season and they are the fourth and final team to post a winning league mark.
The Evansville Purple Aces, Wichita State Shockers and Southern Illinois Salukis all ended up with 8-10 marks and the tie-breaker rules were needed to separate the teams. After all was worked out, SIU landed the fifth spot followed by Evansville at six and WSU at seven. The Shockers really lost out on the deal, as they are now forced to play an opening round game. The Indiana State Sycamores and Drake Bulldogs had identical 7-11 league ledgers and will meet each other in an opening round game as well, while Missouri State rounds out the field with the 10th-seed.
The MVC Tournament gets underway on Thursday with ninth-seeded Indiana State taking on eighth-seeded Drake in the opening round. The Sycamores lost twice as many games as they won overall, but they came to life down the stretch, capturing victories in six of their final seven bouts after winning just four their first 23 contests. Indiana State is 17-26 all-time in this event and has won two titles, with the last coming in 2001. As for Drake, it was the darling of the MVC last season, winning both the regular season and tournament titles. The Bulldogs, though, struggled to find consistency this season and will now look for an unlikely run to salvage the campaign.
The opening round wraps up when the 10th-ranked Missouri State Bears lock up with seventh-seeded WSU. The Bears were clearly the league's worst team during the regular season, finishing with just three wins against 15 losses. Despite a 23-17 record in this tourney, Missouri State has won just one title and that came all the way back in 1992. Since that championship, the Bears have reached the finals five times, losing out on each occasion. WSU, on the other hand, is 2-1 all-time in title games in this tourney, but it hasn't brought home the hardware since 1987. The Shockers played well over the second half of the season, but their 2-12 mark away from home leaves a lot to be desired.
The top seeded Panthers await the winner of the Indiana State/Drake match in the first quarterfinal bout on Friday. UNI, which was tabbed sixth in the preseason poll, captured a share of their first-ever MVC regular-season title and went 20-10 overall. The Panthers highest finish prior to this season was a second place tie in 2004, the same year the program won their only title in this event. The top seed in this tourney has only won the title once since 1998, as Drake accomplished that feat last season.
The fifth-seeded Salukis and fourth-seeded Braves clash in the second quarterfinal round match on Friday. SIU had one of its most disappointing campaigns in some time, but it has enjoyed a lot of success in this tourney, going 31-24 all-time. The Salukis' five championships are second most among current members and they last took home the title with a victory over Bradley in the 2006 finals. Speaking f the Braves, they won four of their last five games down the stretch to finish in sole possession of fourth place. Bradley has captured two tourney crowns, most recently in 1988, and is 26-27 lifetime in this event.
The second-seeded Bluejays make their first appearance in the tourney against the winner of the Missouri State/Wichita State affair in the quarterfinals on Friday. With 10 straight wins down the stretch, Creighton earned a share of its 14th regular season title. The Bluejays are the most decorated team in the MVC and have won this tournament a record 10 times, with their last coming in 2007. At 25-6, Creighton owns the league's best overall mark, as it reached the 20-win plateau for the 11th consecutive season.
Quarterfinal round play will come to an end when the sixth-seeded Purple Aces duel with the third-seeded Redbirds. Evansville went from 3-15 in league play last season to 8-10 this year, a drastic improvement. The Purple Aces though, are the only current league member without a title in this event, where they have gone just 4-14. On the flip side, ISU has gone 32-23 all-time in the MVC Tournament and has captured four titles. The Redbirds opened the season with 14 straight wins, but went just 8-8 down the stretch and enter the postseason riding a three-game slide.
<< 2009 Sun Belt Tournament Preview
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 33rd-annual Sun Belt Conference
Tournament, which includes all 13 members, will begin at campus venues on
Wednesday, before moving to Summit Arena for the final three rounds.
The Western Kentucky Hillt
<< Desperate Wild resume road trip in Vancouver
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Wild will try again for the first win on
their longest road trip of the season in tonight's clash with the Vancouver
Canucks at GM Place.
The Wild have lost each of their last three games, including the first
<< Billups returns to Motor City as Nuggets face Pistons
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Denver point guard Chauncey Billups will make his return to
Auburn Hills this evening when the Northwest Division-leading Nuggets pay a
visit to the Detroit Pistons at The Palace.
Billups was dealt to the Nuggets in Novemb
<< Blackhawks host Ducks in key conference tilt
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Blackhawks will try to win consecutive home
games for the first time in nearly two months when they host the Anaheim Ducks
tonight at the United Center.
Chicago plays the third and final game of a current homes
Cowboys sign LB Stewart >>
Irving, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Cowboys have signed linebacker Matt
Stewart to a one-year contract.
Stewart was out of football in 2008 after being released by Arizona just
before the start of the season.
In seven years
Buyout bonanza hits the NBA >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There are conventional ways to build a
championship in any sport.
You know the drill -- good general managers can use trades, free agency and
the draft to build the core of a title contender.
In the NBA
Monsters goalie earns AHL Player of the Week >>
Springfield, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lake Erie Monsters goaltender Jason
Bacashihua has been named the American Hockey League Player of the Week.
In three appearances, Bacashihua went 3-0-0 with a 0.65 goals-against-average
and a .97
Derrick Ward signs with Bucs >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made it official on
Tuesday and signed running back Derrick Ward.
Terms of the deal for the former New York Giant were not disclosed, but the
Tampa Tribune had previously reporte
Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).
Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.
A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.
Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.
"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.
De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.
The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.
The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.
De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.
Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.
But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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