A-10 title up for grabs as Owls take on Spiders

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/14/2010 - Atlantic City, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gunning for their ninth Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament title, the third in as many seasons, the 17th-ranked and top-seeded Temple Owls take the floor at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City this afternoon against third-seeded Richmond.

The Owls, who are attempting to become only the second team in the A-10 to ever win three straight tourney titles after the five in a row posted by UMass from 1992-96, haven't been truly challenged in this year's event. The squad opened with a 69-51 defeat of eighth-seeded St. Bonaventure on Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals and then moved on to a 57-44 victory against Rhode Island on Saturday. With the triumphs, Temple is now 51-19 in the tournament all-time.

As for the Spiders, currently an even 8-8 in this event since joining the league, they have yet to bring home the trophy. Then again, this is just the second trip to the title game for the program following a 72-60 loss to Xavier back in 2002. Ironically, it was an 89-85 overtime victory against those same Musketeers yesterday that propelled Richmond into the tournament finale.

The Spiders have tied the school-record for the most wins in a single season and have defeated four straight ranked opponents, with their eye on making it five this afternoon in Atlantic City.

Of Temple's two conference losses this season, one was at the hands of the Spiders in a 71-54 final in Virginia back on February 6th, the last time the Owls also lost any outcome. As a result, the all-time series now numbers 8-7 in favor of Temple.

After getting to overtime against Xavier yesterday, the Spiders had little trouble disposing of the Musketeers as they shot 4-of-5 from the floor and a perfect 2-of-2 behind the three-point line and 6-of-6 at the charity stripe to seal the deal. All-conference performer David Gonzalvez posted 26 points, converting all but one of his 14 free-throw attempts, while adding five assists and four rebounds. Just ahead of Gonzalvez in the scoring column was Kevin Anderson, who logged a game-high 27 points as he made good on 10-of-21 shots from the field. Playing a significant role off the bench was Dan Geriot with 11 points in a mere 16 minutes, while fellow reserve Francis Martel tacked on 10 points and eight rebounds. Richmond, which has played three overtime games in the last five outings overall, is led in scoring by Anderson and his 17.9 ppg, having made more shots at the free-throw line (122-of-147) than all but one of his teammates has attempted this season. Gonzalvez accounts for another 14.7 ppg having made good on a team-best 73 three-point attempts. The defense for the Spiders has held opponents to just 39.2 percent shooting from the field, 29.3 percent out on the perimeter and 62.4 ppg overall.

Sticking with the starters for as much as possible, the Owls had little worry as they easily took care of Rhode Island on Saturday afternoon by double figures. In fact, Temple ran out to a commanding 15-2 lead and never looked back as the defense held URI to just seven total field goals in the first half and 27.1 percent shooting from the floor overall in the contest. The Owls themselves had some issues from the field in the second half with just five field goals, but the squad hit on 12-of-20 at the free-throw line to keep their distance. Ryan Brooks was responsible for 16 points, Juan Fernandez 14 and seven assists, while Lavoy Allen came up a point shy of logging another double-double as he cleared a team-best 10 rebounds. Winners of nine in a row, the Owls have had a different leading scorer in each of the last four outings, a testament to the team's balanced scoring attack. Brooks tops the scoring list with his 14.3 ppg, followed by Fernandez and Allen with 12,4 and 11.7 ppg, respectively. While the points can be evenly divided in any given contest, Allen is easily the leader in the paint for Temple with his 10.9 rpg. In fact, in the meeting last month against Richmond the big man was a beast in the paint with not only 17 points, but also a game-high 19 rebounds.

Cvssportsline NCAA Basketball Betting News

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.