Rebels tangle with Tigers in SEC action

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/28/2010 - Auburn, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 18th-ranked Ole Miss Rebels invade Beard- Eaves Memorial Coliseum to do battle with the Auburn Tigers in SEC action.

Back-to-back victories have enabled Ole Miss to move to 15-4 overall and 3-2 in SEC action. On Saturday, the Rebels knocked off LSU on the road by a 73-63 final and they are now 3-2 in true road games.

As for Auburn, it has lost four of its last five games to fall to 10-10 overall and 1-4 in conference. The Tigers suffered an 82-74 loss to Vanderbilt on the road on Saturday and scored its lone SEC victory over the same LSU team that Ole Miss beat last weekend.

Auburn has won three of its last four meetings with Ole Miss to increase its series lead to 71-47.

There are four double-digit scorers in the fold for Ole Miss, which is generating 81.2 ppg this season while allowing 68.5 ppg to opponents. Explosive guard Chris Warren provides 16.5 ppg on 40 percent shooting from the floor, and he has dished out 64 assists. Terrico White is netting 15.2 ppg, and Zach Graham brings 10.6 ppg to the floor. Rounding out the foursome is Eniel Polynice with 10.2 ppg and 78 assists. Ole Miss connected on 53.1 percent of its field goal attempts against LSU on Saturday, and the Rebels limited the Tigers to 40 percent shooting. A 38-26 edge in points in the paint certainly helped the cause. Warren, Polynice and Terrance Henry all scored 14 points.

Like Ole Miss, Auburn has four double-digit performers on its roster as well. DeWayne Reed, Frankie Sullivan and Lucas Hargrove have started all 20 games thus far, and they are scoring 16.5 ppg, 13.8 ppg and 13.3 ppg, respectively. Reed has dished out 89 assists, while Hargrove is pulling down 7.3 rpg. As for Tay Waller, the final member of the group, he contributes 11.5 ppg. The Tigers are netting 76.2 ppg while allowing 73.3 ppg. Hargrove posted 19 points and 10 rebounds against Vanderbilt on Saturday, but that strong effort wasn't good enough to avoid defeat. Reed tallied 16 points, and Sullivan added 14. Defensively, the Tigers permitted the Commodores to connect on 53.7 percent of their field goal attempts, an obvious factor in the setback.

Virtuslvegas NCAA Basketball Betting News

<< Knicks aim to stay on track vs. Raptors
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atlantic Division rivals collide in the world's most famous arena Thursday night when the New York Knicks welcome the Toronto Raptors to Madison Square Garden. The Knicks bounced back from their worst home loss in fra

<< Dredge, Wilson share lead at Qatar Masters
Doha, Qatar (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bradley Dredge birdied his last hole to shoot a five-under 67 and join Oliver Wilson in the lead Thursday after the first round of the Qatar Masters. Dredge and Wilson both carded six birdies and a bogey on the

<< Team Williams reaches Oz Open final
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The mighty Williams sisters -- Venus and Serena -- will play in their fourth Australian Open final. The second-seeded sisters topped a sixth-seeded tandem of American Lisa Raymond and Aussie

<< Bryans reach sixth Aussie Open final
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top-seeded twin American Bryan brothers -- Bob and Mike -- landed in their sixth Australian Open doubles final on Thursday. The mighty Bryans beat an unseeded duo of German Michael Koh

<< Murray reaches first Aussie Open final
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fifth-seeded Andy Murray came from behind to beat 14th-seeded Croat Marin Cilic on Thursday and reach his first career Australian Open final. Murray, who will move up to No. 2 in the world when the

Bulldogs come to Santa Clara to tangle with Broncos >>
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The last undefeated team in the West Coast Conference tries to put some more distance between itself and the rest of the league as 13th-ranked Gonzaga contends with the Santa Clara Broncos at the Leavey Center

Panthers seek turnaround against Red Storm >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 17th-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers will try to get back on track tonight, as they host the St. John's Red Storm in a Big East clash at the Petersen Events Center. After winning eight straight games and clim

Yellow Jackets and Demon Deacons square off in Atlanta >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams battling for position near the top of the ACC, collide this evening in Atlanta, as the 22nd-ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets welcome the Wake Forest Demon Deacons to Alexander Memorial Coliseum. D

Top-25 foes collide in Big Ten battle >>
West Lafayette, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Big Ten heavyweights collide in West Lafayette this evening, as the 10th-ranked Purdue Boilermakers and 16th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers meet in Mackey Arena. The Badgers have won two straight and four of t

Eastern heavyweights clash as Celtics visit Magic >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference collide again at Amway Arena tonight, as the Boston Celtics pay a visit to the Orlando Magic. It will be the third of four meetings between the teams and the season series is

American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.

SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.