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2010 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament PreviewNCAA Basketball Betting Lines03/01/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Ohio Valley Conference Tournament will begin this Tuesday when the top eight teams from the regular season will tangle for the right to be named champions of the OVC and more importantly earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Morehead State, which claimed the tournament title last season, finished with an impressive 15-3 mark in conference action, but that was only good enough for the second seed. The top seed belongs to Murray State, which earned that honor by posting an outstanding 17-1 mark against league foes. However, claiming the regular-season title is nothing new for the Racers, who now have accomplished the feat 21 times. After Murray State and Morehead State there is a large drop off in production, as Austin Peay, Eastern Illinois and Eastern Kentucky all finished with 11-7 marks on the season and will play as the third, fourth and fifth seeds in the tournament, respectively. The final three seeds belong to Tennessee Tech (8-10), Jacksonville State (7-11) and Tennessee State (6-12), all of which finished below .500 in conference action. Since the Racers claimed the top spot during the regular-season the team will now have the luxury of hosting the eighth-seeded Tennessee State Tigers. The Racers completely dominating the Tigers in both meetings this season, winning each game by more than 20 points apiece. However, that should not be surprising since the Racers led the conference at both ends of the floor. Murray State finished the regular season on top of the conference with 78.5 ppg, and also held the opposition to a league best 61.4 ppg. Five different players are posting double figures for the Racers, but none of those players are producing more than 11.0 ppg. B.J. Jenkins is leading the team with 10.7 ppg, to go along with 105 assists, while Danero Thomas and Ivan Aska are posting 10.6 and 10.5 ppg, respectively. There is no doubt that the Tigers will have their hands full in this first round matchup, as the team will likely need to play a perfect game to corral a victory. Tennessee State, which finished just 9-22 on the season, and 6-12 in league play, comes into this matchup struggling at the offensive end of the court. With Josh Sain out, the Tigers have relied on Jacquan Nobles to pace the squad, but the guard is netting just 11.4 ppg. TSU is producing only 67.8 ppg on the season, but the team's play defensively is what has hurt the Tigers, as they are currently surrendering 73.9 ppg. The Eagles will take their first steps towards repeating as tournament champions Tuesday night when they host the Jacksonville Gamecocks, who will be playing as the seventh-seed. The Eagles finished regular-season action with a 15-3 conference mark, and usually a ledger of that nature would be good enough for the top seed. However, Morehead State will have to roll as the second seed in the tournament. Morehead State closed out its regular season with six wins in its last eight games, and that includes an impressive 70-65 victory over Murray State back on February 25th. Morehead State is currently holding opponents to just 63.4 ppg, and at the other end of the floor the team is being paced by Kenneth Faried, who is one of the best players in the conference. Faried averaged a double-double on the year with 16.8 ppg and 13.0 rpg, while Maze Stallworth has helped out with 12.6 ppg. The Gamecocks will have a tall mountain to climb Tuesday, especially since the team closed out its regular season with seven losses in its last eight games, and that includes a five-game skid. Jacksonville State has been nothing more than mediocre offensively and comes into this first round matchup producing 70.1 ppg. Trenton Marshall is leading the team with 17.7 ppg, while Nick Murphy is posting 14.4 ppg, to go along with a team-high 7.2 rpg. After Murray State and Morehead State, the Governors were the next best thing in the Ohio Valley, finishing with an 11-7 mark, which earned them the third seed in the tournament. Due to their mild success, the Govs will now get to host the sixth-seeded Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles Tuesday night on their home floor. Austin Peay closed out its regular-season in thrilling fashion by defeating Southeast Missouri State, 71-68, in overtime. It was the seventh win in the last 11 games for Austin Peay, which heads into this matchup averaging 72.7 ppg. Wes Channels is currently leading the team with 17.0 ppg, and has also dished out 93 assists on the season. As for the Golden Eagles, they were soaring through the season, but hit a wall in the month of February, dropping six of their last eight games. However, the team was able to close out its regular-season schedule with a 72-62 victory over Jacksonville State. Thanks to Kevin Murphy (15.6 ppg) and Frank Davis (14.0 ppg) the Golden Eagles finished second in the conference with 75.3 ppg. However, what has hurt TTU has been its inability to stop the opposition from scoring, as teams are currently averaging 77.8 ppg against the Golden Eagles, which places them last in the conference. The final game of the first round will pit the fourth-seeded Eastern Illinois Panthers against the fifth-seeded Eastern Kentucky Colonels. Both teams finished 11-7 on the season in league play, and Eastern Illinois and Eastern Kentucky defended their respective home courts with a victory against one another. EKU finished the year with 20 total wins, but down the stretch the team lost three of its last five games, including an 88-74 loss to Murray State in its season finale. The Colonels have played tough offensively and are being paced by Justin Stommes, who is netting 14.3 ppg, to go along with a team-best 111 assists. The Panthers on the other hand could be one of the hottest teams in the OVC tournament, as the team heads into this game riding a seven-game winning streak. Eastern Illinois has relied heavily on its play defensively, as the team is holding opponents to just 65.8 ppg. At the other end of the court the team is being paced by Tyler Laser, who is netting 14.1 ppg. Jeremy Granger, who is leading EIU with 96 assists, is also posting 10.3 ppg for the Panthers.
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Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 31st annual Horizon League Tournament will tip off on Tuesday and once again the regular-season title belongs to the 15th-ranked Butler Bulldogs. Butler, which currently owns an 18-game winning streak, ha
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Football BettingNFL Football Betting OnlineThe 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 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 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) ** The 2008 NFL betting lines season is almost upon us! If you like to bet on the NFL, you are in the best possible place for online betting. The sportsbook has NFL odds up on a ton of futures, and you will also find NFL lines up for early games as well. Join sportbook today and we'll help guide you right through to Super Bowl XLIII and beyond! Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds . |
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