UC Santa Barbara drops Long Beach State in Big West final
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
03/14/2010 - Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Orlando Johnson finished with 20 points as UC Santa Barbara pulled out a 69-64 win over Long Beach State in the Big West Conference Tournament final.
James Nunnally added 19 points for the top-seeded Gauchos (20-9), who secured the automatic NCAA Tournament berth with their second-ever Big West tourney title. UCSB's only other victory in this tournament came in 2002.
"I thought back to all this hard work that we put in, I figured it had to pay off," Johnson said. "We worked so hard, nine months strong, ever since the beginning of the summer we had one goal, which was to get here and make the tournament."
Casper Ware had 19 points to pace the third-seeded 49ers (17-16), who were looking for their fifth Big West tourney title. T.J. Robinson and Greg Plater added 15 and 14 points, respectively, in the loss.
"We just didn't quite play good enough," Long Beach State head coach Dan Monson said. "You can sit here as a coach and bemoan our execution or your rebounding or whatever. But the bottom line is they made plays and they beat us."
UCSB led 47-37 after James Powell connected on a three-pointer with a little under 13 minutes to play, but Long Beach State charged back with a 10-0 run to even the game. Ware's fastbreak layup with 9 1/2 minutes left capped the rally.
The game remained close down the stretch, and with 2:09 left, Robinson's layup had the 49ers within 60-59. However, at the other end, Nunnally drained a three to provide a two-possession edge for UCSB.
Ware then sank two free throws with 1:45 on the clock, and neither team scored again until Robinson went to the line with 28.8 seconds remaining. He made just 1-of-2 to keep Long Beach State down a point, 63-62.
The 49ers fouled Powell, who made both attempts to make it a three-point game. Instead of trying for the long-distance shot, Long Beach State tried to get a quick basket. However, Ware missed a floater, and Stephan Gilling was called for an offensive foul going back up with the rebound.
Powell and Nunnally each sank two more free throws in the remaining time to seal the win.
The Gauchos built up a 10-point lead late in the first half, but Long Beach State ended the period on a Plater three and Robinson layup to get within 35-30 at the break.
UCSB continued to play in front in the second half, and consecutive baskets from Jaime Serna about three minutes in had the Gauchos up 41-32.
Game Notes
UCSB will go into the NCAA tourney on a three-game win streak. The Gauchos have won nine of their last 10...Long Beach State had won its previous three...The teams split the regular season series.
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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.
Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"
A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.
In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.
"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"
Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.
This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.
Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.
In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.
No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.
And that's all any bettor can ask for.
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Barry Bonds Watch: Giants Slugger Says He'll Be Back
With only 21 home runs standing between him and Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds is indeed planning on coming back for more in 2007. At least, that's what his agent told the Los Angeles Times.
"Barry's going to play in 2007," Jeff Borris of Beverly Hills Sports Council told the Times on Tuesday. "I've had many discussions with Barry and he's going to play. My intentions are to see to it he's in a big-league uniform next season. Those are my marching orders."
Contract negotiations could get started as early as next week. Let's see which team has the deeper pockets. Will MLB baseball betting lines despite allegations of steroid use? Bet On It at www.MySportsbook.com .
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