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03/13/2010 - Greensboro, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Derrick Favors registered 17 points and eight rebounds, as Georgia Tech overcame sloppy play down the stretch to get by NC State, 57-54, and advance to the ACC Tournament final.
Gani Lawal posted 12 points and 10 rebounds and D'Andre Bell scored nine for the seventh-seeded Yellow Jackets (22-11), who advanced to play Duke for the championship.
Tech, considered to be on the bubble, took down North Carolina in the opening round and may have done enough with Friday's quarterfinal win over Maryland to get to the NCAA Tournament should they fall short against the Blue Devils on Sunday, when the Jackets aim for a fourth ACC Tournament title.
Tracy Smith recorded 15 points, while Javier Gonzalez and Scott Wood each scored nine for the 11th-seeded Wolfpack (19-15), who beat sixth-seeded Clemson and third-seeded Florida State to reach the semis.
NC State shot a lackluster 30 percent in the first half, including a 1-for-12 showing from three-point range, to end with just 19 points and a 10-point deficit after 20 minutes.
The Wolfpack regrouped early in the second half and embarked on a go-ahead 12-0 run, capped by a pair of three-pointers from Gonzalez for a 36-33 game nearly six minutes in.
The lead stuck until Iman Shumpert put in back-to-back buckets for Tech, tying the game at 40 with just under nine minutes left.
The two sides played to within a possession down the stretch run until the Yellow Jackets produced a crucial 8-0 run to gain control with 1:27 to play. Favors scored five of those points and his layup to cap things off made it 52-46.
NC State had a chance to take the lead, though, thanks to a lack of closing skills on Georgia Tech's part.
C.J. Williams' tip-in preceded Glen Rice Jr. making just 1-of-2 at the line, and after the Jackets inexplicably sent State to the line twice in the final minute, Gonzalez drained a three after Shumpert missed both his free throws for a sudden 55-54 game with 12.4 seconds showing.
Bell made two clutch free throws on the other end, but the Wolfpack still had a chance for a tying three on the final possession. Gonzalez got a decent look from beyond the right elbow, but his shot caught the back of the rim just before time expired.
<< Minnesota crushes Purdue to reach Big Ten final
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ralph Sampson III scored a team-high 13
points and Minnesota continued its quest to an unlikely NCAA Tournament bid
with a dominating 69-42 drubbing of No. 6 Purdue in the semifinals of the Big
Ten Tou
<< Zardana edges Rachel Alexandra in New Orleans Ladies
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, making
her first start in six months, was defeated by Zardana in Saturday's $200,000
New Orleans Ladies at the Fair Grounds.
The 1 1/16-mile race had a field of five
<< Allen's OT goal leads Florida over San Jose
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bryan Allen scored at the 2:46 mark of
overtime to give the Florida Panthers a 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks at HP
Pavilion.
In the extra season, a left circle faceoff was won by Shawn Matthias a
<< Quinn exit may be near as Delhomme lands with Browns
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Browns have reportedly signed
quarterback Jake Delhomme, lending credibility to the rumors that Brady Quinn
will soon be dealt.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Saturday that Delhomme si
Lookin At Lucky captures Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn >>
Hot Springs, AR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Champion colt Lookin At Lucky made a
successful debut Saturday as a three-year-old in the $300,000 Rebel Stakes at
Oaklawn Park. The 2009 champion two-year-old was the even-money favorite in
the sev
Kuznetsova falls at Indian Wells >>
Indian Wells, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain upended No.
1 seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, in second-round action at
the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open tennis event.
Navarro's victory was the only s
NBA suspends Bulls' Hinrich one game, fines Suns coach Gentry >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NBA suspended Chicago Bulls guard Kirk
Hinrich for one game and fined Phoenix Suns head coach Alvin Gentry $25,000
for separate incidents from Friday.
Hinrich made contact with an official during
No. 2 Stanford handles Cal, on to Pac-10 final >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nnemkadi Ogwumike led all scorers with 18
points along with 10 rebounds as the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal handled the
California Golden Bears, 64-44 in the semifinals of the Pac-10 Conference
Tournam
Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.
After all the trouble that’s ensued since Braylon Edwards allegedly punched one of LeBron James’ homeboys in the face at a club, the Cleveland Browns have sent away their last remaining player of worth to the New York Jets. This is a great move for Dirty Sanchez and all, but it’s even better for the Knicks. Now Donnie Walsh can say, “You get to haunt Braylon Edwards with your posse if you sign here!” next summer.
Putting that aside for a moment, the move is a clear indication that the new-look Jets are gunning for the Super Bowl this year. I don’t think that New York thought that Dirty Sanchez was going to be such a rock star. With a 75.2 passer rating that was killed against the Jets, Sanchez is doing an admirable job of managing games and putting the Jets in a position to win. The defense has been the major story in New York thus far, but the acquisition of Braylon Edwards makes this offense loaded with talent that can dent any defense…as long as Dirty Sanchez continues his meteoric rise.
Thus far, Edwards has been a non-factor in the NFL piling up just 139 receiving yards on 10 catches. He has yet to find the endzone, and with the Browns mired in the most unsexy quarterback controversy of all time (Anderson vs. Quinn...yawn), there going nowhere fast. Edwards is two seasons removed from a career year which saw him catch 80 passes for 1,289 yards and 16 touchdowns when the Browns were the spread killing monsters of 2007. In 2008, injuries slowed the receiver down to just 873 yards and three touchdowns though he played in all 16 games.
So that being said, we really don’t know if Braylon Edwards is just a flash in the pan, or a legit threat. At 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, he is a prototypical receiver. But he’s also shown a strange, and unwarranted, talent for dropping passes. Lining up opposite Jericho Cotchery, a speed demon with 23 catches, 356 yards and a single touchdown, may give Braylon the open looks he needs. A change of scenery may also rejuvenate the star receiver.
In return, the Browns will receive Chansi Stuckey, online football betting a special teams player you’ve never heard of and a pair of draft picks. That’s a tall order for a guy whose only real value right now is in his name, and it shows no promise to the Browns that they can rebuild around those acquisitions. Braylon was the only reason to hope for the Browns to go 3-14 SU this year. Without him, they don’t have a single guy on offense that can scare any team.
For the Jets, it’s a response to the pounding that they took at the hand of the Saints. Thomas Jones and Leon Washington have averaged around 4.0 yards per carry each on the ground, but striking a fair balance between the passing and rushing attacks in New York has been a struggle. You have to believe that the trio of Dustin Keller, Jericho Cotchery and Braylon Edwards will give Sanchez the weapons he needs to unleash through the air. Theoretically, that would open up holes for the rushing game. But the proposed public option health care plan works in theory too. We need to see the proof in the pudding before we start loading up mega bucks on the New York Jets to take the AFC.
The one wrinkle in this whole thing is that Braylon could very well be suspended by the league for disciplinary action due to his “brawl” with LeBron’s friend. If that’s the case, the Jets may have to bench him for a few games leaving them with a somewhat depleted receiving corps for a few games. Also, this is a guy who gets in fights with people at clubs. New York may not be the best place for him. Just sayin’.
The Jets have a long week before they meet the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football Betting in a virtual pick ‘em game. Braylon’s excess baggage may be a distraction, and his curiously low production may be what we should be expecting of him overall, but for the Jets, taking a chance to strike gold is well worth it. At the end of the year, they can simply just blame it on their rookie quarterback.
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