Green wins dunk contest; Kapono 3-point champ

Basketball Betting Lines

02/18/2007 - Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston's Gerald Green soared over last year's slam dunk champion and then a table to win the 2007 slam dunk title as part of All-Star Saturday night.

Green received a perfect 50 score from a distinguished panel of judges for his final dunk to beat New York's Nate Robinson, the 2006 winner, on a night with interesting twists.

A pair of Miami Heat players were winners Saturday. Jason Kapono outlasted Washington's Gilbert Arenas to win the three-point shootout, while Dwyane Wade repeated as the Skills Challenge title victor.

Also, Detroit won the Shooting Stars challenge by default when the Chicago team took its shots out of turn in the final round.

However, the night belonged to Green, who compiled 91 points on a pair of dunks in the final round to beat Robinson.

Chicago's Tyrus Thomas and Orlando's Dwight Howard were eliminated before the finals, during the early rounds. However, Howard wooed the crowd by placing a sticker of himself on the backboard with his left hand while dunking with his right for his final dunk in the opening round. However, the dunk only added up to 42 points after the scores were posted by Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, Julius "Dr. J" Erving, Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins.

During the dunk competition, Green changed his uniform and then his sneakers before walking away with the title. First, he put on the jersey No. 7 of former Boston dunk champion Dee Brown in 1991 for his final dunk of the opening round and leaped over a still Robinson for a jam, drawing a score of 47 to advance to the finals.

Robinson had trouble with both of his dunks in the final round, scoring a 39 on his first attempt and a 41 on the 10th attempt of his second dunk. Green netted a 41 on his first try and then came up with a perfect score by soaring over a table put in the lane, bringing the ball to his knees while in the air before hammering it through the basket.

Kapono tied Mark Price's final-round record with 24 points to win the three- point shootout. Arenas scored 17 in the final round, while Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki, last year's champion, had nine.

Memphis' Mike Miller, Cleveland's Damon Jones and Dallas' Jason Terry were eliminated in the opening round.

Wade posted a final-round time of 26.4 seconds to beat Bryant to win the skills event. Wade's first-round time of 31.3 seconds was second only to Bryant (29.8) and eliminated Cleveland's LeBron James (35.4) and New Orleans/Oklahoma City's Chris Paul (39.6).

Detroit's team of Chauncey Billups, Swin Cash and Bill Laimbeer won the shooting stars portion, made up of NBA, WNBA and former NBA stars. Scottie Pippen thought he led Chicago to a victory after hitting a half-court shot, but Ben Gordon and Candice Dupree didn't shoot in turn.

In the lightest moment Saturday night, Hall of Famer Charles Barkley backpedaled down the stretch to beat 67-year-old NBA referee Dick Bavetta in a relay race. Bavetta dove to the finish line, while Barkley jogged backward before falling to the floor in an event for charity.

The festivities were a prelude to the NBA All-Star game, scheduled to take place Sunday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Worldcupwagering Basketball Betting News

<< Zetterberg's hat trick lifts Red Wings past Coyotes
Glendale, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Henrik Zetterberg's first career hat trick led the Detroit Red Wings to a 4-1 win over the Phoenix Coyotes. Jason Williams also scored, while Pavel Datsyuk notched four assists and Mathieu Schneider

<< Repeat road: Murray ousts Roddick again
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In a repeat-type performance, Andy Murray beat American Andy Roddick for a second consecutive time in the semifinals at the SAP Open. The third-seeded Murray surpassed the top-seeded Roddick, 7-6 (10-8), 6

<< Smith's three-pointer lifts Louisville over Marquette
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It was a happy homecoming for Jerry Smith, as the freshman guard nailed the winning three-pointer at the buzzer, lifting Louisville to a 61-59 win over No. 12 Marquette. Dominic James hit a free

<< 19th-ranked Cornhuskers fall to Missouri
Lincoln, NE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlynn Savant scored 17 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, leading Missouri over 19th-ranked Nebraska, 65-53, at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Eetisha Riddle chipped in with 16 points for the Tiger

<< Stanford routs No. 15 Oregon
Stanford, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brook Lopez scored a career-high 26 points and pulled down nine rebounds, leading Stanford over 15th-ranked Oregon, 88-69, at Maples Pavilion. Lawrence Hill added 15 points and four blocks shots for the Car

Cal beats Oregon State in double-OT >>
Corvallis, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ashley Walker scored 18 points to lead 22nd- ranked California to a 67-61 double-overtime win over Oregon State. Walker hit two free throws, right after Devanei Hampton's layup gave Oregon State the lead

Flames burn Avalanche >>
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kristian Huselius had a pair of goals and added an assist to lead the Calgary Flames to a 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche in the second of three meetings between the teams in a six-day span. Jarome Iginla

Perry scores in shootout to lift Ducks over Kings >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Corey Perry scored in the fifth-round of the shootout to lift Anaheim past Los Angeles, 3-2, in the opener of a home- and-home set at the Staples Center. Teemu Selanne had a goal and an assist while

Sterling wins Jacob's Creek Open >>
Lockleys, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Unheralded American Scott Sterling only managed a one-under 71 on Sunday, but it was enough to collect his first Nationwide Tour victory at the Jacob's Creek Open Championship. Sterling got to t

Ilonen takes the title in Indonesia >>
Jakarta, Indonesia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Despite a bogey on the final hole, Finland's Mikko Ilonen shot a one-under 70 on Sunday to earn his first European Tour victory at the Indonesia Open. He finished at nine-under-par 275 and won by a single s

Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional basketball lines can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.


College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.