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Third-ranked Orange clash with Bearcats in Big East battleNCAA Basketball Betting Lines02/07/2010 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Off to their best start ever, the third- ranked Syracuse Orange take their show on the road today to tangle with the Cincinnati Bearcats in a Big East clash at Fifth Third Arena. On Tuesday, the Orange squashed Providence, 85-68, to improve to a healthy 22-1 overall, marking the best start to a season in program history. Winners of nine straight, Syracuse is tied with Villanova atop the Big East standings at 9-1. Furthermore, the Orange have been impressive on the road this season, going a perfect 8-0 in games played away from home. As for the Bearcats, they are seeking another victory against a ranked opponent, having gone 3-1 against Top 25 foes this season. Cincinnati could use another quality win, as it has fallen in two of its past three outings, including an 83-65 setback at Notre Dame on Thursday. Now at 5-5 within the conference, the Bearcats return home, where they have been tough on opponents and own an 11-1 record. This is just the seventh all-time meeting between Syracuse and Cincinnati on the hardwood, with the Orange holding a 4-2 edge in the series. The Orange opened the second half with a 22-5 run, as they turned a 37-34 halftime advantage into an 85-68 victory over Providence earlier in the week. Syracuse shot an efficient 57.6 percent from the floor and that is not surprising for a club that is hitting on 53.1 percent of its field goals on the season. Kris Joseph led the attack with a career-best 23 points off the bench, while Arinze Onuaku added a season-high 20 points. Wes Johnson had an off night with just eight points and five boards, but he is still the go-to- guy for this club, leading the Orange with 16.7 ppg and 9.0 rpg for the season. Joseph, who has started just one game, is next with 11.0 ppg and he is averaging 16.8 ppg over his last four games. Onuaku and Andy Rautins chip in 10.3 ppg apiece, with Rautins also dishing off a team-high 4.9 apg. The Bearcats shot a lackluster 38.2 percent from the floor, including a poor 7-of-28 effort from long distance, as they were handled by Notre Dame on Thursday. Cincinnati, a normally strong rebounding team, also lost the battle on the boards 41-32. Larry Davis guided the squad in defeat with 12 points on 4-of-8 three-pointers, while Deonta Vaughn had 11 points and six helpers. Lance Stephenson tacked on eight points and he remains the team's leading scorer on the season with an average of 12.0 ppg. Vaughn puts forth 11.9 ppg and a team-high 3.6 apg, while Yancy Gates adds 10.5 ppg and a team-best 6.6 rpg to the mix.
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Johannesburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Feliciano Lopez of Spain beat France's Stephane Robert in Sunday's final at the SA Tennis Open. Lopez, the third seed, defeated Robert 7-5, 6-1 in just over an hour to win his second career
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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?" A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook. In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small. "Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets." But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?" Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year. This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here. Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions. In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries. No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning. And that's all any bettor can ask for. To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. |
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