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Cornell battles Kentucky in Sweet 16NCAA Basketball Betting Lines03/25/2010 - Syracuse, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The "Cinderella" Cornell Big Red, the 12th seed in the East Region, will attempt to upset the top-seeded Kentucky Wildcats in the Sweet 16 of the 2010 NCAA Tournament tonight. The winner of this contest will move on to the Elite Eight to do battle with either the second-seeded West Virginia Mountaineers or the 11th-seeded Washington Huskies. Cornell is the first Ivy League team to reach the round of 16 since 1979, a tremendous accomplishment to say the least. The Big Red, who are 29-4 overall, had never won an NCAA Tournament game prior to the start of this year's event. After beating fifth-seeded Temple by a 78-65 final in the first round, Cornell was even more dominant in the second round, easily handling fourth-seeded Wisconsin, 87-69. The Big Red have set the Ivy League single-season wins record, but coach Steve Donahue's group is still hungry for more and refuses to view itself as an underdog despite Kentucky's prowess. Speaking of the Wildcats, they are led by first-year head coach John Calipari, and he boasts quite possiblly the nation's most talented starting five. Three of the starters are freshmen, and while youth can be a detriment, Kentucky has been dominant through the first two rounds of this event. After crushing 16th- seeded East Tennessee State to open play, 100-71, the team rolled past ninth- seeded Wake Forest by a 90-60 final on Saturday. The Wildcats are making their record 50th NCAA Tournament appearance and own a 100-44 record in the tourney. They are 34-2 overall this season and won both the SEC regular season and tournament titles. The Big Red won their only previous meeting with the Wildcats way back in 1967. Cornell is led by Ivy League Player of the Year Ryan Wittman, who is scoring 17.8 ppg on the strength of his 43.0 percent shooting from three-point range. While that efficiency from behind the arc is tremendous by most standards, it actually leaves Wittman slightly below the curve in regard to the team's overall accuracy. The Big Red are connecting on 43.4 percent of their three- pointers, staggering to stay the least, and they are netting 75.8 ppg while holding opponents to 63.4 ppg on 41.8 percent shooting from the floor. Louis Dale, Cornell's point guard, provides 12.6 ppg and 144 assists against a mere 66 turnovers. As for Jeff Foote, a 7-0 center, he checks in with 12.4 ppg and 8.1 rpg. Taking a look at the 18-point win over Wisconsin, the Big Red shot a stellar 61.1 percent from the floor, including 8-of-15 from three-point range. Dale led the charge with 26 points, and Wittman added 24 points. Foote and Chris Wroblewski pitched in 12 points apiece for Cornell, which earned a 29-21 rebounding advantage and only committed eight turnovers. Kentucky freshmen John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins may be the two most talented players in the nation. Wall, a dynamic point guard who recently garnered SEC Player of the Year honors, is scoring 16.8 ppg to go along with 228 assists and 60 steals. As for Cousins, a bullish power forward, he is posting 15.1 ppg and 10.0 rpg to complement his 67 blocked shots. Fellow forward Patrick Patterson is sometimes overshadowed by the rookies, but his 14.6 ppg and 7.2 rpg shouldn't be overlooked. The third freshman starter in the fold is Eric Bledsoe who brings 11.4 ppg to the floor. Kentucky is posting 80.1 ppg while limiting opponents to 65.3 ppg on 37.9 percent shooting. In the 30-point blowout of Wake Forest, it was Darius Miller, the only starter not averaging double figures in scoring, who led the squad with 20 points. Cousins added 19 points and eight boards for the Wildcats, who shot 60.3 percent from the field and limited Wake to 32.8 percent efficiency.
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Mens NCAA Basketball Tournament odds Right behind the Gators are the 5th ranked UNC Tar Heels at 9-2. The Heels (21-3, 7-2) are absolutely loaded with top notch talent and are as deep as any team in the country. A concern for the Tar Heels might be inexperience. Of their top four scorers/ minute earners, three are freshmen and the other is a sophomore. The rest of the regular season, the Tar Heels play only one team that is currently ranked (Duke). Their remaining opponents do combine for an impressive 107-58 record though. Arizona 20-1 To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook betting needs. MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting. "They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over." Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.) According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26. As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines). Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday. Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind. *UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007 New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results. "We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games." While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season." About MySportsbook.com Sports Casino Poker To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Master Card needs. |
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