2010 Atlantic Sun Tournament Preview

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/02/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlantic Sun regular-season title race came down to the wire and after all was complete, four teams finished in a tie for first place at 14-6. After all the tie-breaker scenarios played out, the Lipscomb Bisons came away with the top seed in this event. The Jacksonville Dolphins ended up as the second seed, while the Belmont Bruins and the Campbell Camels checked in at third and fourth seeds, respectively.

East Tennessee State finished one game off a five-way tie for first place at 13-7 and the Buccaneers will be seeded fifth. At 10-10 within the conference, the Mercer Bears grabbed the sixth seed. The North Florida Ospreys own the seventh spot at 8-12 and the Kennesaw State Owls are the eighth and final seed at 7-13. Florida Gulf Coast and USC Upstate are still in the reclassifying period and are not eligible to participate in this tourney. Stetson meanwhile, missed the cut due to its 5-15 finish.

The victor of this event will represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament.

The A-Sun Tournament gets started on Wednesday, as top-seeded Lipscomb takes on eighth-seeded Kennesaw State in the quarterfinals.

The Bisons won their last four games of the regular season, including an 85-73 win over Mercer over the weekend, to grab a share of their first title since 2006. Lipscomb is the highest scoring team in the conference at nearly 80 ppg and the team is paced by center Adnan Hodzic, who is tallying over 22 ppg. The Bisons have never won this event, but they did reach the finals in 2006. On the flip side, Kennesaw State is in the tourney for the first time after completing its reclassifying requirements. The Owls though, enter the tournament riding a seven-game losing skid following a streak of six wins in a row. Kennesaw State and Lipscomb split a pair of meetings during the regular season.

The second quarterfinal game on Wednesday features second-seeded Jacksonville against seventh-seeded North Florida. The Dolphins won their first-ever regular-season crown a season ago and were in line to repeat until they were defeated by East Tennessee State, 64-62, in their finale over the weekend. Jacksonville has had its struggles against East Tennessee State, as it also fell in last year's tourney title game, 85-68, to the Bucs. It marked the second straight season the Dolphins came up short in the championship game of this event. As for the Ospreys, they are eligible for the postseason for the first time and are hoping to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of Jacksonville.

The quarterfinals resume on Thursday, as fourth-seeded Campbell locks up with fifth-seeded East Tennessee State. The Camels earned a share of their first regular-season title since moving to the Division I level, as they won seven of their last eight games. Campbell finished the regular season with the second most wins (19) in school history and its 14 A-Sun victories were the most ever for the program. On the other side, the Bucs are the defending champions of this event and they have appeared in two of the past three title games. East Tennessee State and Campbell split a pair of meetings during the regular season, each winning at home.

The final game of the quarterfinal round consists of third-seeded Belmont against sixth-seeded Mercer. The Bruins earned a share of their third A-Sun regular-season title in five years, as they won eight of their final nine outings. Belmont is 12-5 all-time in this tourney, winning three straight titles from 2006-08. As for Mercer, it has won this event twice, but not since 1985. With all the changes to the conference over the past few years, the Bears are the veterans of this event, having gone 20-23 all-time. Mercer dropped both meetings with Belmont during the season, losing each by just four points.

Kisscasnio NCAA Basketball Betting News

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NFL ODDSTop Football Betting Free Agents to Change Teams

NFL Betting

It’s time to see how the biggest NFL free agent signings will perform for their news teams. Some will work out and could be the difference that makes a difference in the win column.

We look at the best off-season signings and if they should influence your NFL betting this season. Julius Peppers – Peppers was the biggest prize available on the 2010 NFL free agent market and the Chicago Bears opened the bank to bring his talents to the south side.

Peppers is explosive, he can get around blockers and cause quarterbacks to lose their minds. We all remember the classic Peppers game last year against the Vikings where he hounded Brett Favre into his worst game of the season. Peppers joining the Bears could be the reason Favre retired for good Tuesday morning. In addition to Peppers, the Bears added Chester Taylor to back up Matt Forte, Forte didn’t have the same intensity in 2009 compared to 2008 and bringing in Taylor will challenge Forte to bring it every game or he’ll risk losing carries to Taylor.

Betting on the Bears is a good option this season because of Julius Peppers and to a lesser extent Taylor. Antonio Bryant and Terrell Owens – The Cincinnati Bengals signed two former number one wide receivers to line up with Chad Ocho Cinco. Antonio Bryant had a huge season in 2008 catching 83 passes for over 1200 yards but regressed last season. Playing for the Tampa Bay Bucs last season was a large part of the regression, everyone was bad in TB last season.

Bryant should have a bounce back season if he can win the number two spot from Terrell Owens. If Bryant wins the number 2 WR spot, it will open up a completely new set of problems for the Bengals. If Owens is forced to the bench in favor of Bryant, his attitude will create trouble for Carson Palmer and head coach Marv Lewis. If Owens is the number two receiver, it means Bryant can’t live up to his past numbers and the Bengals are still limited in the passing game. NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. 2010 football betting lines for this can be found at this top online sportsbook. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense.

NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense. They signed away the Arizona Cardinals top linebacker Karlos Danby. In the past two seasons, Danby has totaled 228 tackles, 5 sacks, 3 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles. The Dolphins are the forgotten team of the AFC East with the second longest odds to win the division but with the addition of Karlos Danby and a trade for WR Brandon Marshall makes the Miami Dolphins legitimate contenders in the AFC East and in the NFL’s Eastern Conference.

The Dolphins will make NFL wagering fans a lot of money this season, get in early and enjoy the cash.

NFL Wagering

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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.

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