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**LeRoy** · 02-13-2012, 07:29 PM

GL tonite Bum and congrats on the NICE run you are on

**StarDust Bum** · 02-13-2012, 07:31 PM

Syracuse Travels To Louisville In Big East Battle

The Illiniois Fighting Illini might just play themselves out of an NCAA tournament bid if they continue to struggle down the stretch. For the second year in a row, Illinois (16-8 overall, 5-6 in conference play) appears to be hitting a wall at around the same time with five losses in six games both straight-up and against the spread. They will try to turn things around on Sunday when they visit the 22nd-ranked Michigan Wolverines (18-7, 8-4) in a Big Ten battle that tips off at 1:00 p.m. (ET) and will be televised on CBS.

Last year, Illinois dropped five of seven to fall to 15-8 and then split its last eight of the regular season before losing to Michigan in the Big Ten tournament. The Illini still got into the NCAA tournament as one of seven teams from the league to receive invitations along with the Wolverines even though both teams finished with 9-9 conference records.

Michigan has not faced Illinois yet this season and split two meetings a year ago with the total going ‘under’ each time. The Wolverines are a perfect 13-0 at home but have alternated wins and losses in their past nine games overall. However, five of their last six games have been on the road with the lone home win during that stretch coming on February 1 against the Indiana Hoosiers, 68-56.

Another team looking to break out of a slump on Sunday is the St. John’s Red Storm (10-14, 4-8) as they visit the 12th-ranked Georgetown Hoyas (18-5, 8-4) at 1:00 p.m. (ET) on ESPN. The Red Storm has lost three of four and seven of nine with the past two setbacks decided by a combined 47 points.

One of those recent blowout losses for St. John’s came last Saturday at home by the score of 95-70 against the second-ranked Syracuse Orange (24-1, 11-1) who also edged Georgetown 64-61 in overtime on Wednesday. Like the Orange, the Hoyas routed the Red Storm 69-49 at Madison Square Garden in the first meeting between the teams on January 15.

Syracuse will be coming off a home game against the defending national champion Connecticut Huskies (15-8, 5-6) on Saturday when the team travels for a road matchup with the 24th-ranked Louisville Cardinals (19-5, 7-4) in the first game of ESPN’s Big Monday doubleheader at 7:00 p.m. (ET). The Orange are 6-1 ATS on the road this season but have lost the last seven meetings with the Cardinals, going 0-6-1 ATS.

Louisville had won five in a row both SU and ATS heading into Saturday’s road game against the West Virginia Mountaineers (16-9, 6-6) after going 1-3 in its previous four. The ‘over’ was 5-1 in the team’s last six before the West Virginia game and has cashed in three straight at home.

The second game of ESPN’s Big Monday doubleheader pits the Kansas State Wildcats (17-6, 6-5) against the 10th-ranked Kansas Jayhawks (19-5, 9-2) in Big 12 action at 9:00 p.m. (ET). Kansas won the first meeting at home 67-49 back on January 4 as a 10-point favorite during a 10-game winning streak and had since split its last four before hosting the Oklahoma State Cowboys (12-12, 5-6) on Saturday.

The Wildcats had won consecutive games following a two-game skid before visiting the Texas Longhorns (15-9, 5-6) on Saturday, but they have gone 1-4 ATS in their past five at home. They covered the spread in a 65-46 rout of the Texas Tech Red Raiders (7-16, 0-11) on Tuesday as 18-point favorites. The ‘under’ was 5-1 in Kansas State’s last six games prior to Saturday.

**StarDust Bum** · 02-13-2012, 07:35 PM

Thanks LeRoy....lets hope it continues Bradda.....

**StarDust Bum** · 02-13-2012, 07:36 PM

Hoops bail out Books

February 13, 2012

The Super Bowl may have come and gone, but that doesn’t mean the excitement in Las Vegas sports books goes away. In many ways, the excitement level is just beginning as college and pro basketball can finally take center stage.
Many recreational bettors have to get football fully out of their system before they start concentrating on hoops, but when they do, they fire repeatedly on a daily basis. And in 2011, it was that type of play that salvaged some positives in an otherwise down year for Nevada sports books. Who would have ever thought in this age of football being America’s sport that basketball would reign with the best numbers in the books?

Nevada Casinos won $44.2 million (3.3% hold) in the football category, which includes both college and pro, according to Nevada Gaming Control Board statewide numbers released last week. Meanwhile, pro and college basketball brought in $48.8 million (6.6%) combined to the bottom line showing just how important these next two months are to the sports books.

Granted, parlay cards generated $17.6 million in win for a whopping 28% hold -- the majority of play of which comes during football season, and football also wrote more action on the year. But many people are astonished to believe that basketball actually has that type of impact on a comparative level with football in the sports books.

“These next eight weeks are always huge for us,” said South Point sports director Bert Osborne. “Between the college conference tournaments coming up and all the nightly action between the pros and college, our book is jumping Monday through Friday more than any time of the year.”

To give another feather in the NBA’s cap of importance to the state, you also have to factor in that each NBA team lost 16 games on the season, which would have been played in November and December of 2011. The regular season didn’t start until Christmas day which cost sports books collectively an estimated $2 to $3 million in win.

When there was a threat of losing the NBA season due to labor issues, it didn’t come close to bothering the masses like the football lockout did, but every sports book director in town was scrambling to adjust their green sheets as each day passed without them.

“We don’t have a real estimate on what the delay of the NBA season cost us in 2011, but it does help that we do get some of those games back this year with their compressed schedule,” said Osborne.

Pro football attracts a broad level of fans and crosses over into all areas, like grabbing the attention of our grandparents or perhaps our priest, but where basketball comes close in catching football is that there is more to offer.

Football is only once a week while basketball is daily. Hoop fans may be less in numbers as a group, but at the betting windows they make up for the differences because of all the daily wagers where money is constantly churning rather than waiting weekly for the big Saturday or Sunday action.

College basketball is going into the final stretch run over the next four weeks and then the March Madness begins where every sports book will be rocking with consecutive days of excitement. And not to be forgotten, this year’s version of the NBA may be as entertaining as ever on a nightly basis with their condensed schedule where we see teams playing four games in five days on a regular basis.

The NBA also got a surprise marketing gift with Jeremy Lin taking over New York during a five-game winning streak, sparking life into an otherwise unmotivated lackluster team. It doesn‘t hurt that New York, the media capital of the world, has fueled the popularity of the second year player out of Harvard. Lin’s instant stardom, now known as ’Lin-sanity’, is almost at Tim Tebow type of proportions and has made everyone want to watch, all of which has also translated through the betting windows in Las Vegas.

2011 Final Statewide Sports Book Numbers

As a whole, Nevada sports books won $140 million (4,8% hold), a 6.8% decrease from 2010 with most of it due to football (-21.5%), baseball (-13.9%) and believe it or not, parlay cards (-7.35%) were also higher. The football and parlay card decreases this year has more to do with the public getting it handed to them in 2010’s NFL season while having several more stellar weeks in 2011, including handing the sports books a miniscule win in the Super Bowl with the Packers winning.

“We’ve been accustomed to expect about three to four huge weeks out of the 17 annually during the pro football season and last season we had only one,” said Osborne who also noted that college football was consistently strong for the first seven weeks of action.

The sports books started out doing quite well in baseball with several teams like the Pirates and Royals playing competitive ball in the early going, much to the dismay of the bettors. But the bettors got their revenge in late August and September when four-team parlays were regularly hitting with the Rays, Phillies, Brewers and Cardinals.

And then the big bomb hit when the Cardinals paid out at some sports books with 250/1 odds to win the pennant and 500/1 to win the World Series.

It’s always a big win for the sports books when a favorite like Yankees win the World Series. Even though they may have the most tickets written on them, or second most -- Cubbies usually lead that category, they have so much volume from the season to overcome payouts of 10/1 or less.

Most sports books build in an average theoretic hold in their futures at around 37%. No matter how high you make the hold percentage, 500/1 is going to do some damage.

The NGCB lists one of the categories as “Other,” which includes combined revenues of the NHL, Soccer, Boxing, Golf and NASCAR. That category dropped 24% below 2010 with much of that due to the World Cup being missed. Because of the Euro Cup this summer we should see a boost in revenues for this category in 2012.

It’s well understood that $140 million is a lot of cash, but to put the sports book’s contributions to the casino in perspective, consider that Nevada casinos had $10.7 billion in revenues. It may be the most exciting place to be in every casino, but it’s got a long ways to go before it can match penny slots.

**StarDust Bum** · 02-13-2012, 07:38 PM

Games to Watch

February 13, 2012

Selection Sunday for this season’s NCAA Men’s Tournament is less than a month away and while we have already witnessed a number of amazing buzzer-beaters and stunning upsets, you know the best is yet to come. The remaining basketball schedule is filled with a number of key contests that will go a long way towards shaping the field of 68 teams when the madness gets underway in mid-March.
The following is a brief look at this week’s top matchups for each day along with a few facts and figures to help handicap the games.

Monday, Feb. 13 - No. 4 Kansas Jayhawks vs. Kansas State Wildcats (ESPN)

Kansas followed-up last Wednesday night’s 68-54 rout of No.6 Baylor as a two-point road underdog with an 81-66 victory over Oklahoma State on Saturday as a 17 ½-point home favorite. The Jayhawks are now 20-5 straight-up and 12-11-1 against the spread. The total has stayed ‘under’ in 15 of their 24 games.

Kansas State fell to 17-7 SU and 9-11 ATS after losing to Texas 75-64 this past Saturday as a four-point road underdog. The Wildcats are 10-2 SU at home, but just 3-5 ATS. The total has stayed ‘under’ in five of the eight games. These two met on Jan.4 with Kansas coming away with a 67-49 victory as a 10-point home favorite. The Jayhawks are favored by four points on the road in this one.

Tuesday, Feb. 14 - No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers (ESPN)

Ohio State will surely fall in the rankings after a stunning 58-48 loss to Michigan State this past Saturday as an 8 ½-point home favorite. The Buckeyes are now 21-4 SU and 12-8 ATS. They are 4-3 SU (3-4 ATS) on the road and the total has gone ‘over’ in four of the seven games.

Minnesota has lost three of its last five games and is now 17-8 SU on the year and 11-10-1 ATS. It is 12-3 SU at home and 6-5-1 ATS. The total has gone 4-7-1 in the 12 games. The Golden Gophers are 1-5 SU and 2-4 ATS in their last six games against the Buckeyes overall, but 3-1 SU and ATS at home.

Wednesday, Feb. 15 - No. 8 North Carolina Tar Heels vs. Miami Hurricanes (ESPN)

North Carolina bounced-back from last Wednesday’s last-second 85-84 loss to No.9 Duke as a six-point home favorite with a 70-52 romp over No.20 Virginia as a nine-point home favorite this past Saturday. The Tar Heels are 21-4 SU (12-12 ATS) overall and 6-3 SU (4-5 ATS) on the road. The total has gone ‘over’ in five of their last eight games.

Miami is 15-8 SU (10-9-1 ATS) on the year and 10-2 SU (4-5-1 ATS) at home this season. The total has stayed ‘under’ in four of its last six games. The Hurricanes lost to North Carolina 73-56 on Jan.10 as 16 ½-point road underdogs.

Thursday, Feb. 16 - No. 15 Wisconsin Badgers vs. No. 7 Michigan State Spartans (ESPN)

Last Thursday, Wisconsin knocked-off Minnesota 68-61 in overtime as a 1 ½-point road favorite. The win boosted the Badgers’ record to 19-6 SU and 13-9 ATS. They are 6-2 SU on the road and 5-3 ATS. The total is an even 4-4 in those eight games.

Michigan State beat the Badgers 63-60 in overtime on Jan.3 as a 6 ½-point road underdog. With Saturday’s win over Ohio State, the Spartans are now 20-5 SU overall and 9-3 SU in the Big Ten. They are 15-7 ATS overall and 9-3 ATS at home. The total has stayed ‘under’ in five of their last seven games.

Friday, Feb. 17 - Northern Iowa Panthers vs. Virginia Commonwealth Rams (ESPN2)

Northern Iowa is 17-10 SU (13-13 ATS) including a 65-62 victory over then-No.12 Creighton as a 1 ½-point home underdog earlier this month. The Panthers are 3-7 SU on the road this season and 4-6 ATS. The total has stayed ‘under’ in six of the 10 games.

VCU has reeled-off 11 straight wins to move to 22-5 SU on the year. It is 14-11-1 ATS overall and the total has gone 11-14-1 in the 26 games. The Rams are 11-1 SU at home this season and 6-4-1 ATS. The total has stayed ‘under’ in nine of the 11 games.

Saturday, Feb. 18 - Mississippi Rebels vs. No. 1 Kentucky Wildcats (ESPN3)

Ole Miss is 15-9 SU heading into a Thursday night matchup with Vanderbilt. It is 10-11-1 ATS and the total as gone 10-12. The Rebels are 4-8 SU on the road this season and 5-5 ATS. The total has gone 6-4 in those 10 games.

Kentucky got by Vanderbilt 69-63 this past Saturday as a 4 ½-point road favorite. The Wildcats are now 25-1 SU on the year and a perfect 16-0 SU at home, but just 10-14-1 ATS overall and 4-10-1 ATS in 15 home games. They have covered the spread in their last six games overall with the total staying ‘under’ in five of those games.

**StarDust Bum** · 02-13-2012, 07:40 PM

Louisville, Behanan ready for Syracuse

February 12, 2012

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Louisville freshman Chane Behanan takes former Pittsburgh standout DeJuan Blair's mindset to heart when it comes to rebounding by pretending each loose ball is worth money.

The Cardinals will need Behanan to cash in against Syracuse.

``It's having heart, just going to get it,'' Behanan said. ``Treat every rebound like it's dollar signs. That's what I started thinking about.''

When the 24th-ranked Cardinals (20-5, 8-4 Big East) host No. 2 Syracuse (25-1, 12-1) on Monday night, the outspoken forward will face his biggest challenge. He will battle the length of the Orange while being expected to make things happen inside.

``He's just become more serious about the game and more serious about rebounding and playing defense and doing little things besides scoring,'' Louisville associate head coach Richard Pitino said. ``He's got a chance to be one of the best rebounders in our league and I think he's starting to figure that out and he's taking a lot of pride in it.''

The Cardinals have been surging, too, winning six straight games heading into their biggest home game of the season. Behanan has grabbed 53 rebounds, including 24 on offense, while averaging 12.5 points over the winning streak.

Behanan said he is ``understanding the game more fundamentally. Coach always talks about on film getting on the inside of a player, get to the baseline and box him out, ride him up just to get the rebound. That's one of the fundamentals I've learned.''

The Cardinals started the season 12-0 and rose to No. 4 before dropping five of seven to begin league play that sent them tumbling out of the rankings. But even after the fast start, Louisville's players felt they weren't together before a players' only meeting changed their course.

``At the beginning of the year, we were worried more about offense. Everybody was down because nobody was scoring,'' point guard Peyton Siva said. ``Now that everybody is just locked in on defense and not worried about their shots - shots are going to come, like Coach P (Rick Pitino) says - but everybody's clamping down on defense and it's really helping us out.''

Pitino continues to point to practice as the reason Louisville has improved after the Cardinals struggled with injuries early in the season as eight players missed at least one game. Two players are out for the year because of knee injuries - Mike Marra and Rakeem Buckles - and Stephen Van Treese (left knee) is out indefinitely.

``I haven't seen any difference in our team when they were 12-0, when they were in that brief losing streak they were in, and now. I think everybody looks for reasons why you win and why you lose. I'm a little more pragmatic than that,'' coach Rick Pitino said. ``I think we're winning because we've time to keep a unit together in practice and execute. I think we're winning because we're executing better due to practice.''

Now, the Cardinals will get to measure themselves up with the conference's elite with history on their side.

Louisville has had an advantage over Syracuse in recent years - winning the last seven meetings in the series. The Cardinals are looking for their first victory over a team ranked as highly as the Orange since beating them twice in the 2009-10 season when they were ranked No. 2 and later No. 1.

But this is one of Jim Boeheim's deepest Syracuse's teams. The Orange have seven players scoring seven points or more while continuing their trademark 2-3 matchup zone, a look that Louisville has used at times this year.

When ``every guy in your lineup is over 6-2, it's very tough to penetrate that zone, and they do a very good job of that. We've got to attack it the right way and be smart with what we're doing,'' Richard Pitino said. ``The one thing about them that's so important to them is they've got to get steals and they've got to get out on the break. So it's important for us to take care of the basketball and really value the basketball - take good shots and keep them out of transition.''

**StarDust Bum** · 02-13-2012, 07:42 PM

Kansas, K-State ready for Monday tussle

February 12, 2012

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) - Frank Martin has the utmost respect for Bill Self and seventh-ranked Kansas.

The Jayhawks have won seven consecutive Big 12 championships, and are tied with Missouri for first place as they pursue another down the stretch. The program spits out NBA prospects like an assembly line, yet always seems to have a budding superstar waiting in the wings.

Perhaps what most impresses the Kansas State coach, though, is the fact that the Jayhawks often get the short end of the scheduling stick.

Their national profile and winning ways means they're often picked by the Big 12's television partners for high-profile time slots, such as ESPN's Big Monday. And that means they routinely play two games in a span of three days, recovering from the first while preparing for the second.

``That's why I really respect them,'' said Martin, whose Wildcats play the Jayhawks on Monday night at Bramlage Coliseum, both teams having just played Saturday afternoon.

Since the inception of the Big 12 in 1996-97, the Jayhawks are 43-16 on Big Monday, though just 18-15 on the road. That includes a 24-8 mark since Self took over as coach.

Only recently has Kansas State risen to the level of such marquee matchups, making four Big Monday appearances last season. Their game against the Jayhawks is their only one this season.

``It will be a juiced atmosphere, and it's probably the hardest game to play in, but the most fun game at the same time,'' Self said. ``It seems like they do a great job whenever they play us (in Manhattan), and we're going to have to play a team that is very, very hungry.''

Especially the way the Wildcats performed in the second half Saturday.

Kansas State built a 15-point lead at Texas before foul trouble, turnovers and defensive lapses turned things around. The Longhorns stormed away over the final 20 minutes for a resume-building 75-64 victory - and a humbling loss for the Wildcats.

Texas was a staggering 35 of 48 from the foul line, matching a school record for the most attempts in a Big 12 game. That included 22 made free throws in the second half, two points fewer than what Kansas State (17-7, 6-6) managed overall after the break.

``We are who we are. We're not going to reinvent ourselves in the next 24 hours. We're a good basketball team,'' said Martin, taking a defend-my-team approach to the monumental meltdown.

``Our kids have got nothing to apologize for,'' he said. ``This is what drives me nuts about the Big 12. It's like we did something wrong. How about giving Texas some credit? How about giving our league some credit? You know what? This league has some real good teams.''

The Wildcats will see another one Monday night.

Kansas rolled to a 29-point lead against Oklahoma State over the weekend before a ragged second half made things interesting. Still, Jeff Withey and Thomas Robinson contributed impressive double-doubles to help the Jayhawks (20-5, 10-2) roll to their 19th consecutive home victory.

They reached at least 20 wins for the 23rd consecutive season, and at least 10 league wins for the 18th straight year, despite losing the Morris twins, Josh Selby and several other contributors from a team that went 35-3 and advanced to the round of eight in the NCAA tournament.

The biggest reason there hasn't been a drop-off has been the big guys inside.

Robinson has gone from a contributor off the bench to a likely NBA lottery pick. The brutish junior forward had 24 points and 14 rebounds against the Cowboys for his 18th double-double, despite getting constant double- and triple-teams in the paint.

Withey has been an even bigger surprise.

The 7-footer averaged 2.3 points and 1.8 rebounds in a little over six minutes per game last season. But he's become a rock in the post alongside Robinson, averaging closer to 24 minutes and taking a lot of the pressure of his fellow big guy.

``It makes it a lot easier for me,'' Robinson said. ``I feel like I'm not even working to score anymore now with the way Jeff is playing.''

Withey has been especially good the past couple games. He scored a career-best 25 points in a victory at No. 6 Baylor last week, and followed that up with 18 points and a career-high 20 boards on Saturday against Oklahoma State. He also blocked seven shots against the Cowboys.

``I was definitely more aggressive,'' Withey said. ``My teammates definitely helped me out by looking for me. Thomas takes so much attention, it leaves me open a lot of times.''

Don't expect the Wildcats to have similar defensive breakdowns.

Robinson and Withey were a force inside against them earlier this season, leading Kansas to a surprisingly easy 67-49 victory in Lawrence.

``It's late in the year. You've learned the lessons you need to learn to prepare for this time of year,'' Martin said. ``We can't go home and cry and pout. We've got a hard game on Monday.''

**StarDust Bum** · 02-13-2012, 07:44 PM

Hoop Trends - Monday

February 13, 2012

SU TREND OF THE DAY:

The Bobcats are 10-0 ATS (8.4 ppg) since February 13, 2005 as a dog with at least one day of rest after a double digit home loss in which they allowed at least 50% from the field.

OU TREND OF THE DAY:

The Jazz are 10-0 OU (12.2 ppg) since December 22, 2010 as a favorite after a win in which they had an assist to turnover ratio of at least two.

PLAYER BASED TREND OF THE DAY:

The Magic are 0-10 OU (-12.9 ppg) since January 07, 2011 at home after Dwight Howard played more than 40 minutes the last two.

CHOICE TREND:

The Suns are 0-12-1 ATS (-9.5 ppg) since January 09, 2008 with at least one day of rest after a game in which they blocked at least 10 shots.

TODAY’S TRENDS:

The Suns are 0-8 OU (-15.5 ppg) since December 01, 2009 on the road after a game on the road in which their DPA was minus 15 points or less.The Bobcats are 0-9 ATS (-15.0 ppg) since December 21, 2010 at home after a loss in which Tyrus Thomas played fewer than 30 minutes.

**StarDust Bum** · 02-13-2012, 08:00 PM

Ok i lied i tried to get as much information for you guy and gals before 4 pm pacific time........good luck !

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