Duke, UConn among top seeds in women's bracket
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
03/13/2007 - Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Duke, Connecticut, North Carolina and Tennessee have been installed as the No. 1 seeds for the women's NCAA Tournament.
Duke, which has an NCAA-record seven consecutive 30-win seasons, was given the No. 1 seed in the Greensboro region and will take on Holy Cross in Raleigh on Sunday.
The Blue Devils (30-1) won their first 30 games of the season before losing to North Carolina State in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament. Their run includes two victories over North Carolina and one over the Lady Vols.
Despite the success over the last seven years, Duke has never won a national championship, although the Blue Devils did reach the final last year before losing to ACC rival Maryland in overtime.
"It's been really good this year because everyone can contribute and there is no one person to rely on," Duke junior guard Wanisha Smith said. "It allows you to go out there and have a lot of fun and not that much pressure on you."
The Huskies (29-3) were given a top seeding despite losing to Rutgers in the Big East Tournament championship. UConn, national champions from 2002-04, is the No. 1 in the Fresno region and will play Maryland-Baltimore County on Sunday at the Hartford Civic Center.
North Carolina (30-3) is the top seed in the Dallas region and will have a first-round game in Pittsburgh, against Prairie View A&M. The Tar Heels, off their third consecutive ACC Tournament title, lost to Maryland in the Final Four last year. Their lone championship came in 1994.
The Lady Vols (28-3) are the top seed in the Dayton region and were awarded a game against Drake also in Pittsburgh on Sunday. Amazingly, Pat Summitt's Lady Vols, a No. 1 seed for the 17th time in the last 20 years, have lost in their last three trips to the final last winning the final in 1998, the final stretch of a three-year title run.
The top four seeds in the Greensboro region are Duke, Vanderbilt, Arizona State and Rutgers. Should the Blue Devils win their first-round game they would play either Temple or Nebraska. Vanderbilt faces Delaware State in the first round on Sunday in East Lansing, while Arizona State takes on UC- Riverside Saturday in Los Angeles, and Rutgers plays East Carolina Sunday in East Lansing.
UConn, Stanford, LSU and North Carolina State are the top four seeds in the Fresno region, but aside from the games, the big storyline out of the region will come from the Lady Tigers. LSU head coach Pokey Chatman announced her resignation last week amid reports the school found out she had inappropriate conduct with one or more players. Assistant coach Bob Starkey is serving as the head coach during the NCAA Tournament.
Stanford will host a first-round game against Idaho State, while LSU will be in Austin on Saturday for a first-round contest versus UNC-Asheville. NC State plays in Raleigh against Robert Morris.
Assuming the Huskies win their first-round game, they would play either New Mexico or Wisconsin-Green Bay. The ninth-seeded Phoenix will take a 25-game winning streak into the tournament.
North Carolina, Purdue, Georgia and Texas A&M make up the top four seeds in the Dallas region. The Boilermakers play Oral Roberts in Minneapolis on Saturday, while Georgia takes on Belmont, also at Williams Arena. The Aggies play in Los Angeles versus Texas-Arlington on Saturday.
A win Sunday would put the Tar Heels into a matchup against either California or Notre Dame.
Tennessee, Maryland, Oklahoma and Ohio State are the top four seeds in Dayton region. The Terps will take on Harvard in Connecticut, while Oklahoma plays Southeast Missouri State in Austin, and the Buckeyes play Marist in Stanford.
The Lady Vols would face either Pittsburgh or James Madison in the second round.
The women's Final Four will be held at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on April 1 with the championship game to take place two nights later.
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Duke, Connecticut, North Carolina and Tennessee have been installed as the No. 1 seeds for the women's NCAA Tournament. Duke, which has an NCAA-record seven consecutive 30-win seasons, was gi
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Betting Football
NFL Football Betting OnlineIs there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.