Michigan uses balanced attack to beat Illinois
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
02/12/2012 - Ann Arbor, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Hardaway, Jr. led a balanced attack with 15 points, as No. 22 Michigan downed Illinois, 70-61, at Crisler Arena.
Trey Burke added 14 points, Evan Smotrycz had 13 and Zack Novak totaled 12 points with nine rebounds for the Wolverines (19-7, 9-4 Big Ten), winners in three of their last four.
Brandon Paul's game-best 21 points weren't enough for the Illini (16-9, 5-7), who skidded to their sixth loss in seven outings. Tyler Griffey clocked in with 18 points and Meyers Leonard pulled down 12 boards in defeat.
The Wolverines surged to victory thanks to an early run and only surrendered the lead once thereafter.
A 10-4 run was kicked off by Hardaway's trey, Smotrycz added a triple plus a pair of free throws and Hardaway capped the burst with a layup for a 17-12 game just prior to the midway point of the first half.
Though Griffey's bucket moments later gave Illinois a 20-19 edge, an 11-1 run ensued, during which Smotrycz bookended with two foul shots and a three- pointer to give the hosts a 30-21 edge.
Michigan led by nine once more, 37-28, on another Hardaway make from beyond the arc, but Griffey responded before the break to get Illinois within six.
A Stu Douglass bucket less than seven minutes into the second half provided a 10-point edge for the hosts. It would reach as high as 14, at 58-44 with 6:55 to play after a Jordan Morgan jumper, before the Wolverines coasted home.
Leonard scored the game's first four points and Paul hit from long distance as the Illini were up 7-2 inside with just over 3 1/2 minutes played.
Game Notes
Michigan has reeled off 15 straight wins at home...Illinois has lost its last three against the Wolverines...The hosts shot 50 percent (23-of-46) from the floor and 7-of-16 from beyond the arc, while holding the Illini to 39 percent efficiency...Paul committed a game-high seven turnovers in defeat.
Tallahassee, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Haley Peters scored 18 points and the fifth-ranked Duke Blue Devils held off the Florida State Seminoles, 67-57. Elizabeth Williams and Shay Selby added 13 and 11 points, respectively, for the Blu
<< Clark lifts No. 12 Georgetown over St. John's
Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Clark struggled mightily from the
floor, but provided two key baskets late, lifting No. 12 Georgetown to a 71-61
wire-to-wire win against St. John's.
Clark netted 11 points on just 1-of-8 shootin
<< Star-spangled Sunday: Rangers stay hot, clip Capitals
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Prust's short-handed goal early in the
third period proved to be the difference, as the Eastern Conference-leading
New York Rangers took down the Washington Capitals, 3-2.
Fresh off a hat trick ag
<< Hertha fires Skibbe after five matches
Berlin, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Skibbe's tenure as Hertha Berlin
coach is over after just five matches.
Hertha Berlin lost all five matches since Skibbe replaced Markus Babbel, and
now sits in 15th place and just two points
<< Celtics' Bass to miss time with knee injury
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Celtics forward Brandon Bass will miss at
least 10 days of action due to a knee injury.
Bass, who could miss up to two weeks, is averaging 11.6 points and 6.1
rebounds in 25 games (five starts) th
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kobe Bryant broke away from the double team of James Johnson and DeMar DeRozan while Metta World Peace led him perfectly into the right corner on the inbounds pass. Bryant pulled up along the right base
Bordeaux edges Lille in nine-goal thriller >>
Lille, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ludovic Obraniak scored 3 minutes into injury
time and Bordeaux escaped Stadium Lille Metropole with a 5-4 win over Lille on
Sunday in Ligue 1, despite blowing a three-goal second-half lead.
Nicolas Maurice-B
Ronaldo's hat trick lifts Real over 10-man Levante >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat trick after
Levante had Vicente Iborra sent off, and Real Madrid won 4-2 at the Bernabeu
on Sunday to open a 10-point lead atop La Liga.
Gustavo Cabral fired fourth-place
No. 6 Miami-Florida edges No. 8 Maryland >>
College Park, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stefanie Yderstrom poured in a game-high
26 points and No. 6 Miami-Florida edged eighth-ranked Maryland, 76-74, on
Sunday.
Shenise Johnson netted 20 points and pulled down seven rebounds to go w
Suarez 'sorry' for latest incident with Evra >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Liverpool's Luis Suarez apologized Sunday
for refusing to shake hands with Manchester United's Patrice Evra prior to an
English Premier League match Saturday, admitting he made a mistake and that he
was "so
MySportsbook.com is the Internet’s largest online sportsbook site serving customers in more than 80 countries worldwide. Founded in 1997, MySportsbook.com was the first sports book to introduce reduced margin wagering, using a -105 pricing model that gives bettors up to 50% better value on wagers than traditional bookmakers. With low minimum bet requirements and the highest maximum limits on the Web, MySportsbook.com has earned an industry leading reputation for providing consistent value to the player, professional customer service and the quickest payouts online. Fully licensed and regulated in Antigua and the UK, the company offers a secure environment for sports betting, horse racing and online casino games.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts credit cards needs.
2007 online football betting Preview
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
2007 College Football Betting Preview
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
Las Vegas Sports Lines
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
To visit this sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.