Broncos battle 17th-ranked Aztecs
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
02/01/2012 - San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trying to win their first conference game as a member of the Mountain West, the Boise State Broncos face one of their toughest tests yet as they tangle with 17th-ranked San Diego State at Viejas Arena tonight.
Boise State, which has lost all five MWC games thus far, has fallen in six straight games overall and won just twice in the last 10 outings. Over the weekend, the team was pitted against Wyoming at home and failed to take advantage of the favorable surroundings in a 75-64 setback. Since starting the 2011-12 campaign with eight wins over nine games, the team has won just twice.
As for the Aztecs, they suffered their first setback in nearly two months on Saturday when they were stunned by an up-and-coming Colorado State squad in a 77-60 final at Moby Arena in Fort Collins. The defeat snapped an 11-game win streak during which SDSU took down UNLV in a battle between nationally-ranked MWC members back on January 14. Now 4-1 in conference, the Aztecs enter play on Wednesday tied with the Runnin' Rebels for first place in the standings.
This is just the second meeting ever between these two teams, which makes sense since Boise State is the latest edition to the MWC. The only other clash took place during the Bicentennial when the Aztecs picked up a 78-68 win at Peterson Gym.
Boise State fell behind early against the Cowboys at home over the weekend, making just seven field goals and shooting 2-of-10 behind the three-point line in the first half, so by the time the Broncos connected on 55.6 percent from the floor in the second half it was too late. Not a single starter scored in double figures for the hosts, instead it was Joe Hanstad who tallied 13 points off the bench, followed by fellow reserves Ryan Watkins and Tre' Nichols with 12 and 11 points, respectively. The loss of Jeff Elorriaga with a broken thumb certainly doesn't help the BSU cause as the team tries to find the mystery behind winning in the MWC. Before bowing out Elorriaga was the top scorer for the Broncos in conference with his 9.3 ppg, now that falls to Westly Perryman who is posting 9.0 ppg as he shoots 40.5 percent from the field. As a group, Boise State is converting just 38.5 percent from the floor and scoring 60.4 ppg versus the new set of conference foes.
Against the Aztecs on Saturday, Colorado needed more than just a little luck to handle one of the most successful teams in college basketball the last two seasons, and the Rams got it as they nailed all 23 of their free-throw attempts to set a new conference record. Over on the other side, SDSU missed just three of its 20 free-throw tries and forced 17 turnovers, but that simply didn't cut it. Jamaal Franklin tried to keep the visitors in the mix with his 24 points and 10 rebounds, while Xavier Thames and Chase Tapley both added 10 points in the losing cause. Overall this season, the Aztecs are scoring a modest 72.2 ppg, 10.8 ppg more than the competition, but when it comes to conference games the points become slightly more scarce for SDSU which is producing only 62.6 ppg in those outings. Still, the defense is holding MWC opponents to just 60.0 ppg, but the margin for error is far too small. Jamaal Franklin accounts for 17.2 ppg in those outings and is also first on the glass with better than nine rebounds per game, but those pesky Mountain West opponents are beating San Diego State on the glass by almost four per game.
Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Connecticut Huskies have made their way to the nation's capital for tonight's Big East Conference showdown with the 14th-ranked Georgetown Hoyas. UConn is hoping to put the brakes on a three-game slide
<< Hoosiers and Wolverines meet in Big Ten showdown
Ann Arbor, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of ranked foes in the Big Ten
Conference square off in Ann Arbor this evening, as No. 20 Indiana comes
calling on No. 23 Michigan.
Indiana started the season impressively, jumping out to a 12-0 record
<< Feathers are sure to fly in clash between Redbirds and Bluejays
Omaha, NE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 13th-ranked Creighton Bluejays continue one
of their most memorable seasons ever, as they play host to the Illinois State
Redbirds tonight in Omaha in Missouri Valley Conference action.
Illinois State is 14-8
<< Georgia Tech hits road to tangle with No. 21 Florida State
Tallahassee, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams at opposite ends of the ACC
standings meet in Tallahassee tonight, as the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
challenge the 21st-ranked Florida State Seminoles.
Georgia Tech's first season under head coac
<< Jayhawks host Sooners in Big 12 affair
Lawrence, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Coming off their first Big 12 loss of the
season, the eighth-ranked Kansas Jayhawks return to the friendly confines of
the Allen Fieldhouse for a league bout with the Oklahoma Sooners.
Bill Self's Jayhawks had
Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Off to their best start since the 1991-92 campaign, the UNLV Runnin' Rebels find themselves ranked 11th in the nation and tied for the top spot in the Mountain West Conference as they prepare for the arrival of
Nets pick up G Bogans >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seeking to bolster its defensive
performance, the New Jersey Nets signed 6-foot-5 free agent guard Keith Bogans
on Wednesday.
Per team policy, contract terms were not disclosed.
"Keith will
Hannover's Pogatetz hit with three-match ban >>
Hannover, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hannover defender Emanuel Pogatetz has
been handed a three-match ban by the German Football Federation (DFB) for
punching Nurnberg's Philipp Wollscheid.
The incident occurred in last Friday's 1-
No arguing with Patriots' (tight) end results >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In the 2007 NFL season, the New England Patriots reached the
Super Bowl on the strength of an extraordinarily explosive offense that
contained a record-setting quarterback, a wide receiver with over 100 catches
and another wi
Isles center Tavares named top NHL player for January >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Islanders center John Tavares has
been named the NHL's First Star for the month of January.
Tavares led the league in points last month with nine goals and 13 assists
while registering a plu
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.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts MasterCard needs.