2010 Great West Conference Tournament Preview

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/08/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The inaugural Great West Conference Tournament takes place at the McKay Center in Orem, Utah from March 10-13. The champion of this event receives an automatic bid to the Collegeinsider.com Tournament, as the league won't be eligible for an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament until 2020.

Earning the top seed by virtue of its 11-1 league record are the South Dakota Coyotes, who finished a stellar 20-9 on the year and come into this event riding an 11-game win streak. USD has won at least 20 games in each of the past seven seasons. The Coyotes, who rank at the top of the GWC in scoring offense (79.2 ppg), scoring margin (+6.8), field goal percentage (.478) and field goal percentage defense (.408), won't see their first action in the tournament until the semifinals on Friday. South Dakota has three double-digit scorers in the form of Tyler Cain (15.1 ppg), Roman Gentry (13.6 ppg) and Jake Thomas (12.6 ppg). Cain has been a monster this season, as he leads the conference in field goal percentage (.665), rebounding (10.2 rpg) and blocked shots (84).

Houston Baptist went 9-3 in conference during the regular season to claim the second seed in the tourney, but the Huskies won only one other game all year to finish a dismal 10-20. HBU, which has won four of its last five coming into this event, boasts the top scorer in the league in Andrew Gonzalez (18.8 ppg), and the team is averaging 70.2 ppg to rank second in the Great West. Unfortunately, the Huskies give up a league-worst 79.1 ppg and they also rank last in turnover margin (-3.40).

The No. 3 seed went to North Dakota after it went 5-7 in conference to match the record achieved by fourth-seeded Utah Valley, but the Fighting Sioux won the tie-breaker by beating the Wolverines twice during the regular season. UND closed out the 2009-10 campaign by losing two in a row, but the team has won four of its last seven games overall. Only two players are averaging double figures in the scoring column, as Travis Bledsoe (14.8 ppg, league-leading .441 three-point FG percentage) and Travis Mertens (10.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg) help the Fighting Sioux put up 62.0 ppg, which helps explain the club's dreadful 8-22 record.

As mentioned, Utah Valley finished two games under .500 in league play, and the team won just 12 of its 29 games on the year. The Wolverines, who are the host team of this event, have dropped five of their last six games coming into the postseason, with their lone win being a 65-57 decision against visiting NJIT on March 4th. UVU is the top defensive team in the Great West, yielding just 65.4 ppg -- a shade more than it produces (63.9 ppg). Jordan Swarbrick leads the team at the offensive end with his modest 12.7 ppg.

The No. 5 seed was awarded to UT-Pan American, which went just 5-26 on the year and 4-8 in conference. The Broncs have tasted victory just twice in their last 12 games, the most recent of which came in the regular-season finale at North Dakota on Saturday. UTPA doesn't have one double-digit scorer in the fold, and is averaging a league-worst 61.0 ppg as a result. Defensively, the Broncs are giving up 72.7 to rank sixth in the Great West. Foes have found it relatively easy to hit their shots, doing so 48.7 percent of the time, while also having their way on the glass (-7.7 rebounding margin) -- both of which have the team ranked last in the conference.

NJIT picked up the sixth seed after going 4-8 in league play this season, matching the conference records of both Chicago State and UTPA. The Highlanders, who went just 1-59 the previous two seasons, limp into this event having lost three straight and five of their last six overall, the most recent setback coming in an 83-49 shellacking at regular-season champ South Dakota on Sunday. Despite averaging just 61.1 ppg (sixth-worst in the Great West), the team features three double-digit scorers in the form of Jheryl Wilson (14.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg), Chris Flores (13.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg) and Isaiah Wilkerson (12.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg). NJIT is shooting a league-worst 37.8 percent from the field, but at 66.9 ppg allowed, the Highlanders rank second in scoring defense.

Chicago State is the No. 7 seed, earning that distinction after going a mere 9-22 on the year and as mentioned, winning just four of its 12 league bouts. The Cougars have just two players averaging double digits in the scoring column, with Carl Montgomery (13.3 ppg) and Christian Wall (12.8 ppg) doing what they can to help the team achieve its goals. Unfortunately, CSU is putting up just 62.4 ppg to rank fifth in the conference, and the team sits sixth in field goal percentage (.381), which includes a league-worst 26.9 percent showing from three-point range. The one area the Cougars have excelled in this year is on the glass, as they lead the GWC in rebounding margin (+1.3).

Utah Valley takes on UT-Pan American in the first game of the event, and the teams split a pair of meetings during the regular season, with each winning at home. The winner will move on to face top-seeded South Dakota in the semifinals on Friday.

Houston Baptist will battle Chicago State in the quarterfinals, and the Huskies won both regular-season matchups with the Cougars, the last being an 85-83 overtime affair in early February.

North Dakota and NJIT lock horns in the third game of the quarters, and the teams split their two games during the regular season with the home team winning each time.

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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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Kurt Warner to start, Matt Leinart to watch

Despite the debate that's swirling , Kurt Warner will remain the starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, coach Dennis Green said today. The Arizona Cardinals are the +7 point underdog at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com for this Sunday's game.

Green's comment came in a statement released by the team following an ESPN report that Green decided that rookie Matt Leinart would replace Warner as starter for Sunday's game at Atlanta.

"Generally talking about the starting lineup is not something we do," Green told the AP. "However, given the speculation that was out there we want to make it clear. We're disappointed after last week, but we still expect to be a playoff football team and we fully expect Kurt Warner to be the quarterback that leads us. That has not changed."

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