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03/11/2010 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 21st-ranked Baylor Bears are seeded third in the Big 12 Conference Tournament, and they will begin action in the event tonight with a quarterfinal-round matchup against the sixth-seeded Texas Longhorns.
Up next for the winner is a date with either second-seeded Kansas State or seventh-seeded Oklahoma State.
Texas was defeated by Kansas in three straight Big 12 title games from 2006-2008. The Longhorns have never won this tournament and are 17-13 in the event all-time. They are 23-8 this season, but the campaign has clearly been a tale of two halves. After jumping out to a 17-0 start to earn the nation's top ranking, Texas lost eight of its next 14 games. Fortunately, the team was able to earn an 82-75 victory over Iowa State yesterday in the first round of this event.
Baylor has never won the Big 12 Conference Tournament and is 8-12 all-time at this event. Scott Drew has done a phenomenal job of resurrecting a program that was in peril when he arrived, and the 2009-10 Bears own a 24-6 overall record, including 11-5 in Big 12 play. They carry a four-game win streak into this tournament and are coming off a 15-point romp over these same Longhorns in the regular-season finale.
Baylor has beaten Texas twice this season, but the Longhorns still own a commanding 155-78 advantage in the all-time series.
Damion James exploded for 28 points and 16 rebounds to power his Longhorns to the seven-point victory over Iowa State yesterday. Gary Johnson racked up 15 points and 10 boards for Texas, Dexter Pittman helped the Longhorns with 16 points, and Avery Bradley added 10 points. Texas scored the first seven points of the game and owned a 31-28 lead at intermission. The contest was close in the second half until an 11-0 run enabled the Longhorns to pull away for good. Texas earned a 46-34 rebounding advantage in the showdown, a key to the victory. James is posting 18.0 ppg and 10.4 rpg this season, and the fact that he also has 52 steals and 38 blocks to his credit speaks to his tremendous versatility. Bradley checks in with 11.7 ppg for the 'Horns, who are getting 10.5 ppg from Pittman. Texas is racking up 81.7 ppg while holding foes to 69.2 ppg on 39.8 percent shooting.
There is no doubt that Baylor gets the job done at the offensive end of the floor, as it is netting 77.4 ppg on 48.6 percent shooting from the field, including 39.1 percent from three-point range. What is rarely mentioned however, is that the team excels at the defensive end as well, limiting opponents to 65.3 ppg on 38.2 percent shooting from the floor. The Bears are tremendous on the boards, ripping down 7.4 rpg more than the opposition. LaceDarius Dunn leads the club with 19.2 ppg on the strength of his 42.4 percent shooting from three-point range. Tweety Carter provides 15.8 ppg, and he has dished out 164 assists while committing a mere 67 turnovers. As for Ekpe Udoh, he adds 13.4 ppg, 9.8 rpg and 123 blocked shots. Udoh is second on the team in assists as well, proof of his tremendous versatility. Dunn scored 30 points in the regular-season finale against Texas, and Quincy Acy had 10 dunks en route to 24 points off the bench.
<< TCU seeks upset of BYU in Mountain West quarterfinals
Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A rematch of the regular-season finale has
14th-ranked and second-seeded BYU taking on the seventh-seeded TCU Horned
Frogs in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Mountain West Conference Tournament
tonight at the Thom
<< Falcons face tall task in Mountain West Tourney tilt with Lobos
Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Less than 24 hours after picking up just
their second win all-time in the Mountain West Conference Tournament, the Air
Force Falcons are back on the hardwood of the Thomas & Mack Center in Las
Vegas as they
<< No. 1 Kansas begins Big 12 Tournament play against Texas Tech
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top-ranked Kansas Jayhawks are the top
seed in the Big 12 Conference Tournament, and they are slated to do battle
with the ninth-seeded Texas Tech Red Raiders this afternoon in the
quarterfinal round.
<< Cowboys tangle with Wildcats in Big 12 quarterfinals
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Quarterfinal action of the Big 12
Conference Tournament pits the ninth-ranked and second-seeded Kansas State
Wildcats against the seventh-seeded Oklahoma State Cowboys.
Awaiting the winner of this tilt is a
Cornhuskers battle Red Raiders in Big 12 Tournament action >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 23rd-ranked Texas A&M Aggies are the
fourth-seeded team in the Big 12 Conference Tournament, and they will play a
quarterfinal-round game against the surprising 12th-seeded Nebraska
Cornhuskers today.
Mountaineers and Bearcats collide in quarterfinal action >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The third-seeded and seventh-ranked West
Virginia Mountaineers begin their march towards a Big East Tournament title
tonight, as they face off against the 11th-seeded Cincinnati Bearcats in the
quarterfinals at M
Orange and Hoyas clash in Big East quarterfinals >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The third-ranked and top-seeded Syracuse
Orange make their much anticipated debut in the Big East Tournament today, as
they lock up with the 22nd-ranked and eighth-seeded Georgetown Hoyas in the
quarterfinals at
Wildcats and Golden Eagles square off in Big East Tourney >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams that have a history of playing close
games meet in the quarterfinal round of the Big East Tournament today, as the
fifth-seeded Marquette Golden Eagles battle the fourth-seeded and 10th-ranked
Villanova
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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