2010 Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament Preview

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/08/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jackson State has played in the last three Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament Championship games and the top- seeded Tigers have a strong chance to reach that point again in the 33rd- annual SWAC Tournament, starting on Wednesday.

Jackson State, which collected a 17-1 ledger in conference play this season, lost in the final game the last two seasons, but claimed its fifth title back in 2007. The second seed went to Arkansas-Pine Bluff, while the third seed was corralled by last season's SWAC tournament champion, Alabama State. The Golden Lions only finished 14-15 overall on the season, but in conference play the team was an impressive 14-4. As for the Hornets, they hoisted the SWAC trophy for the third time in their history last year, but this season might be a tough challenge for Alabama State, which finished with a 12-6 league ledger. Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern come into this event as the fourth and fifth seeds, respectively, after both posting an 11-7 mark against SWAC opponents. The final three seeds are rounded out by Alabama A&M (8-10), Mississippi Valley State (8-10) and Grambling State (4-14).

Quarterfinal action will begin Wednesday when the second-seeded Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions battle the seventh-seeded Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils. These two schools closed out the regular season against each other and the meeting was claimed by Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 84-68. The Golden Lions earned the second spot with a 14-4 league mark, and caught fire down the stretch, winning eight of the last nine matchups. As for the Delta Devils, they tallied only nine victories on the season, but eight of those wins came in league play. MVSU, which won its fourth SWAC title in 2008, closed its regular season with five losses in its last eight matchups.

The Tigers will be let out of the cage in the second quarterfinal matchup on Wednesday, as the top-seeded Tigers of Jackson State tangle with the eighth- seeded Tigers of Grambling State. Jackson State rolls into this event with a 13-game winning streak, and is the favor to not only win this matchup, but earn a spot in its fourth straight SWAC Tournament title games. The success for Jackson State clearly makes this an uphill battle for Grambling State, which finished just 4-14 in league play and comes into this contest with a seven-game slide. Jackson State won both meetings this season, but Grambling State was able to force overtime in the second matchup, which could give the team some type of confidence.

The other two quarterfinal matchups will take place on Thursday, beginning with a meeting between the sixth-seeded Alabama A&M Bulldogs and the third- seeded Alabama State Hornets. The Bulldogs fell into the sixth seed with an 8-10 record in conference play. Alabama A&M snapped a three-game slide in its regular-season finale, but claiming its second tournament title could be a tough task. As for the Hornets, they claimed their third SWAC Tournament title this past season with a victory over Jackson State. This season Alabama State finished 12-6 in conference play, but ended its regular season with a loss to Jackson State that snapped the team's six-game winning streak. In the two meetings between the schools this season, the Hornets were victories twice.

The final quarterfinal battle will pit the fifth-seeded Texas Southern Tigers against the fourth-seeded Prairie View A&M Panthers. The Panthers won their lone SWAC Tournament title back in 1998, and the team will have to be at its best if it plans on ending the drought. Prairie View A&M lost two of its last three regular-season games, but still finished with a respectable 11-7 mark in conference action. As for the Tigers, they also posted an 11-7 mark and roll into this event with a three-game winning streak. Texas Southern, which has won this championship four times, last reigned supreme in the SWAC back in 2003. Although these two teams both finished 11-7 in conference action, the Panthers defeated the Tigers twice during the regular season.

Cbssportslone NCAA Basketball Betting News

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MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.

Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.

According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).

Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.

''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
    
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.

Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.

''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''

Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
   
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.

”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
   
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.

For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.


SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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