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Mountain West showdown pits Aztecs against CougarsNCAA Basketball Betting Lines02/24/2010 - Provo, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With the regular-season title in the Mountain West Conference still up for grabs, the San Diego State Aztecs and the 13th- ranked BYU Cougars battle each other for another win tonight as the programs clash at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah. San Diego State has come on strong in recent weeks with four straight wins and victories in six of the last seven outings overall. In fact, over the last 10 games, the Aztecs have lost only twice and those came against BYU and nationally-ranked New Mexico on the road in The Pit. On Saturday, the team moved to 9-4 in conference with a 68-61 decision over Utah at home. As for the Cougars, who like SDSU are chasing 10th-ranked New Mexico at the moment, they have already equaled last year's win total and are showing their best record ever after 28 games. At 25-3 the squad has now posted at least 25 victories in each of the last four seasons for the first time in school history. The squad drilled Wyoming over the weekend with an 85-63 romp in Laramie, the team's third win in a row. SDSU has won at least one game against the Cougars in each of the last six seasons, but the Aztecs are a mere 3-27 in Provo since the series began. Earlier this season, BYU picked up a 71-69 win in Southern California, accounting for the only home loss of the campaign for San Diego State. As a result, the Cougars lead the all-time series by a count of 45-22. Shooting just 20-of-33 at the free-throw line on Saturday, the Aztecs nearly let one slip away against Utah, but in the end SDSU claimed the seven-point home win on the strength of Malcolm Thomas and his career-high 28 points. Kawhi Leonard registered a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 15 rebounds as well. Head coach Steve Fisher has his team moving in the right direction when it counts the most, but he still has to be concerned with the fact that this group is one of the worst free-throw shooting teams in the country, ranking 329th as of Sunday with a level of accuracy that measures a mere 60.5 percent. Thomas (10.8 ppg, 8.0 rpg) is one of the biggest culprits with a feeble 66-of-132 showing at the charity stripe through 27 games. If it were not for Leonard (12.7 ppg, 9.6 rpg) and his somewhat respectable 70.1 percent shooting at the line, there's no telling how bad off the Aztecs might be at this point. BYU shot only 43.9 percent from the field and 7-of-22 behind the three-point line in the meeting with the Wyoming Cowboys over the weekend, but the squad also held an advantage on the glass (43-31) and had few turnovers (six) in order to cruise to the 22-point road victory. Tyler Haws shared the spotlight with Jimmer Fredette as they both delivered 22 points, while Jonathan Tavernari turned in another strong effort off the bench with his 17 points and eight boards, followed by Jackson Emery with 10 points to complete the list of double-digit scorers. The Cougars were right on target with their scoring production, the team averaging 82.8 ppg at the moment to rank fourth in the nation. What's even more impressive is that the team entered the week ranked second in the country in scoring margin, second only to top-ranked Kansas, beating foes by 19.2 ppg. Fredette has been a scoring phenom in 2009-10, putting up 21.5 ppg as he shoots not only 48.8 percent behind the three-point line but also 89.9 percent at the charity stripe. Because of him, BYU is first in the nation at the line, hitting 77.9 percent, which is head-and-shoulders beyond the competition at just 66.7 percent right now.
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Online Sportsbook Football BettingColts give the ‘D’ its dueThe Indianapolis Colts know that winning the Super Bowl last season put a huge target on their backs, and they expect opponents to go all-out to knock them from the top of the mountain. They’ll get their first test from the New Orleans Saints this Thursday night. The defending champs had nothing but good things to say about the New Orleans defense this past week, praising their opponents’ pass rush and run-stopping abilities. "They play very aggressively," head coach Tony Dungy told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "They play a lot of man-to-man coverage, and they come after you. They have good pass rushers, and they're going to try to pressure us, I'm sure." Both center Jeff Saturday and quarterback Peyton Manning gave New Orleans’ front four props, admitting keeping guys like Will Smithand Charles Grant contained would be a tall task for the offensive line. New Orleans ranked second in total defense during the preseason at a sportsbook, allowing just under 233 yards per game. Last season, the defense finished 11th in the league after giving up 307.3 yards and 20.1 points per contest. Not so sound on the ground If Indianapolis' efficient offense has a weakness it has to be its running attack. The Colts one-two-punch of Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai is no longer, leaving the bulk of the carries to Addai, the second-year back out of LSU. Former Saskatchewan Roughrider Kenton Keith was named Addai’s backup this week after beating out DeDe Dorsey for the second-string position. Indy has only three backs on the roster right now, including fullback Luke Lawton, and coach Dungy is aware of the thinness of his ground game. Sports Betting lines on the game can be found at BettingExpress.com “We’ll continue to look. Luke Lawton’s done a good job for us too. So probably getting a third true tailback is something that we’d like to do,” Dungy told the Indiana Tribune-Star. Last season, Addai rushed for over 1,000 yards in his rookie campaign and scored seven touchdowns on the ground. Brees says bring it on Opening the season on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions is not the way most teams would like to kick off their year – unless you’re the New Orleans Saints or their quarterback Drew Brees. This internet Sportsbooks had the Saints as the favorites. Brees told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he is excited to get the regular season started and the Colts are a great challenge for him and his teammates. The 28-year-old QB, entering his second season with the Saints, is expecting a wild environment in the RCA Dome this Thursday when the franchise celebrates its 2007-2007 championship. Brees said he sees the opening game scheduling as an honor and a testament to how well New Orleans did last season. The Saints missed facing the Colts in the Super Bowl by one game, losing to the Chicago Bearsin the NFC Championship game. "I mean, people think we can hang with these guys," Brees told reporters. "Even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter what they thought because as a team we're very confident. We know what we can do. We're not satisfied where we finished the season last year. And we've been looking forward to this opportunity for a long time." SportsBooks ready for a shootout Oddsmakers are preparing for some fireworks this Thursday when the NFL season kicks off. online Sportsbooks have Thursday’s total set at a whopping 52 points, accounting for two of the league’s most explosive offenses. “This is like must-see TV,” Saints cornerback and former Colt Jason David told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “It’s two exciting offenses with great players. You’ve got a lot of star power on offense. At any given time a big play can happen. If I was a fan, I wouldn’t miss a snap.” New Orleans, who ranked No.1 in total offense last season, can go blow-for-blow with the Colts’ attack. Head coach Sean Payton’s offensive schemes will get even better production out of Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and receiver Marques Colston now that they’ve each had a season of playing together under their belts. The Saints and Colts were the top two passing teams in the NFL last year, but while Indianapolis managed to put up almost 27 points per game, New Orleans struggled to capitalize on their efforts. The Saints ranked fifth in points per game. “Yards are great,” running backDeuce McAllister told reporters, “but to be able to score more touchdowns would be important for us.”
FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 millionIn the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree. And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so. Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal. So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them. Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.) The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money. As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached. The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs. In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season. Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done. And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting. So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year. There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve. So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal. And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million. There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.) Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft. Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey. Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year. So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation. To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs. |
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