SEC Tournament showdown pits Volunteers against Wildcats

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The semifinal round of the 2010 SEC Tournament pits the second-ranked Kentucky Wildcats against the 15th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers.

Up next for the winner of this game is a trip to tomorrow's championship showdown against either Vanderbilt or Mississippi State.

Tennessee, the East Division's third seed, knocked off LSU by 10 points in the first round on Thursday. In quarterfinal action yesterday, the Vols pulled away in the second half for a 76-65 victory over a solid Ole Miss squad. They have won the SEC Tournament four times, but it has been 31 years since their last title. Last season, Tennessee reached the title game only to fall to Mississippi State in a 64-61 final. This team is 25-7 overall and has won five straight games dating back to the regular season.

The Wildcats have won this event 25 times and own an incredible 111-22 record in SEC Tournament games. Still, they haven't cut down the nets since 2004 and haven't reached the title game since 2005. Kentucky is a sensational 30-2 overall under first-year head coach John Calipari, and the 'Cats are the top seed from the loaded East Division of the SEC. Yesterday, they survived a scare against Alabama (W-4), erasing an 11-point deficit en route to a 73-67 victory.

Tennessee is one of the only two teams that has beaten Kentucky this season. The programs split a pair of meetings during the regular season, and the Wildcats own a 143-66 advantage in the all-time series.

Wayne Chism was tremendous for Tennessee in yesterday's win over Ole Miss, as the standout forward had 16 points and 15 rebounds. J.P. Prince led the Vols with 17 points, and Cameron Tatum posted 15 points. Bobby Maze rounded out the double-digit scorers with 13 points, and his Tennessee squad scored 20 points off Ole Miss turnovers. A 26-12 advantage in points from the foul line was key for Tennessee. Through 32 games, the Vols are generating 74.5 ppg while holding foes to 64.7 ppg. Chism is now averaging 12.6 ppg and 7.2 rpg, and he has blocked more than twice as many shots as any other player on the roster. Scotty Hopson, who shot 2-of-11 yesterday and finished with six points, is also netting 12.5 ppg.

Star point guard John Wall of Kentucky recently became just the second freshman ever to receive SEC Player of the Year honors, and he proved worthy of the award with a stellar performance against Alabama yesterday. Wall scored 23 points, pulled down seven rebounds and dished out five assists to lead his team. Patrick Patterson checked in with 20 points, and Eric Bledsoe tallied 10 points. The Wildcats connected on 50 percent of their field goal attempts in the tilt and earned a 22-16 edge in points from the foul line. The positives helped the team overcome a 45-33 rebounding deficit and a 1-of-13 shooting effort from three-point range. Overall this season, Wall is scoring an even 17.0 ppg to go along with 6.2 rpg. DeMarcus Cousins, another sensational rookie for Kentucky, was quiet yesterday, but he is scoring 15.4 ppg while ripping down 10 boards per contest. Patterson provides 15.1 ppg, and Bledsoe adds 10.4 ppg. The Wildcats are posting 79.5 ppg this season while permitting 65.7 ppg to foes.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.