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2010 Mid-American Conference Tournament PreviewNCAA Basketball Betting Lines03/06/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Mid-American Conference was a tug-of- war from start to finish and the fireworks continued all the way down to the final regular-season game on Friday. Kent State and Akron battled for the right to the number one seed in the tournament and more importantly the title of 2010 regular season champions. Although the game was in Akron, the Golden Flashes were too tough for the Zips and claimed the top seed for this tournament. Akron, which won last year's tournament title and has played in the last three championship games, will play as the number three seed in this event. Due to Kent State's victory on Friday, the Miami-Ohio RedHawks fell into the fourth seed, while the West Division champion Central Michigan Chippewas will take part in the fun as the second seed. All four teams earn a bye through the first round, while the remaining eight schools will duke it out on Sunday. The first matchup Sunday will pit the ninth-seeded Ohio Bobcats against the eighth-seeded Ball State Cardinals. Ohio, which has won this tournament four times, with the last one coming in 2005, struggled through an up and down season as the team finished just 7-9 in league play. However, the Bobcats finished the year with three wins in their last four games, and are one of the more dangerous scoring teams in the conference, averaging 74.1 ppg. As for the Cardinals, they finished the regular season with an 8-8 mark in league play, but the team blew its last three matchups and lost a chance to claim the west division title. Ball State has a rich history in this event, winning the title seven times, but the team has not hoisted the trophy since 2000. The second matchup in the first round features the 12th-seeded Toledo Rockets will battle the fifth-seeded Buffalo Bulls. The Rockets struggled this season, winning just four games, while finishing a miserable 1-15 in MAC play. Toledo, which lost 20 of its last 21 contests heading into this event, ended the regular season at the bottom of the conference in scoring (54.2 ppg). As for the Bulls, they narrowly missed a first-round bye, However, Buffalo does not enter this tourney on a high note, as the team lost two of its last three regular season tilts. Rodney Pierce and Calvin Betts lead the Bulls this season, as the team looks to corral its first-ever MAC Tournament title. First round action will continue Sunday when the 10th-seeded Bowling Green Falcons battle the seventh-seeded Western Michigan Broncos. The Falcons had their wings clipped down the stretch and head into the tournament with four losses in their last five matchups. Bowling Green is only producing 62.6 ppg on the year and if the team plans on claiming its first Mid-American Tournament championship that is an area where BGSU will have to improve very quickly. The opponent for the Falcons has an advantage, as the Broncos possess last season's Player of the Year in David Kool. Kool, who led the league in scoring with 21.0 ppg, heads a Western Michigan squad that finished just 8-8 in league play. The Broncos did capture a win in three of their last five games, but for WMU to claim its first title since 2004 the team will need more than Kool to perform at a high level. The final first-round contest will place the 11th-seeded Northern Illinois Huskies against the sixth-seeded Eastern Michigan Eagles. The Huskies opened league play with four straight wins, but followed their hot start with nine consecutive losses, eight of which came against league foes. The final result for NIU was a meager 6-10 mark in MAC play. As for the Eagles, they put forth a respectable 16-14 overall ledger, but inside league action the team was inconsistent, posting an 8-8 ledger. EMU actually had a chance to claim the West Division title, but a regular-season finale loss to Central Michigan (56-55) at home left the Eagles as the sixth seed. Eastern Michigan has won this tournament on four different occasions, but the last came way back in 1998. The Golden Flashes needed their last regular season contest to claim their fourth-ever MAC regular season title. Kent State, which has won the league championship in three of the last five seasons, defeated Akron on Friday night, earning the top-seed in the tournament. Kent State finished with 23 wins on the year and posted an impressive 13-3 ledger in conference action. However, and more importantly, the team has been outstanding since the middle of January, winning 13 of its last 14 matchups. The Golden Flashes have relied on their play defensively this year, as the team is holding opponents to just 64.0 ppg. Leading the way at the other end of the floor has been Justin Greene, who is netting 13.9 ppg, and collecting a team-best 6.8 rpg for Kent State, which is trying to grab its second tournament title in the last three seasons. The Chippewas also closed out their regular season with an important matchup, as they took on the Eastern Michigan Eagles to a shot at the west division title. Central Michigan was on the road, but still managed a one point win and with Ball State losing to Western Michigan on the same night, the Chippewas were tabbed the outright west division champs. Although the Chippewas are playing as the two seed, the team did not enjoy an impressive season. In fact, Central Michigan finished with just 15 victories and posted a mediocre 9-7 mark in conference action. Offensively the team was rather pedestrian, averaging 64.7 ppg, but at the same time, CMU possesses a veteran tandem in Jordan Bitzer and Robbie Harman. If Harman and Bitzer and put together a couple impressive matchups then the Chippewas might have a shot for their first title since 2003. The defending tournament champion Akron Zips blew a chance to play as the top seed when they lost at home to Kent State on Friday. Instead, the Zips will have to try to repeat in this tournament as the third seed, but to Akron the team's seeding is nothing more than a number. The Zips have played in the last three conference tournament titles, and claimed the championship last year with a win over Buffalo (65-53). Akron has used a tenacious defensive approach to the season, and comes into this tournament holding opponents to just 63.8 ppg. However, the team's inconsistency at the offensive end of the floor could cause Akron to fall just short of a repeat run. The Zips are netting 70.2 ppg on the season, which is not terrible, but the team only possesses one double figure score in Brett McKnight, and he is only posting 10.5 ppg. The fourth seed and the final first-round bye belongs to the Miami-Ohio RedHawks, who captured their fourth tournament title back in 2007. Claiming a fifth title however, could prove to be tough for Miami, which finished with a lackluster 13-17 overall mark. In conference play the team was slightly better, finishing with a 9-7 record, but down the stretch the team faltered, losing four of its last six contests. The RedHawks are defensively sound, holding teams to just 63.7 ppg, but their problems have come offensively. Miami-Ohio finished the regular season netting a poor 62.7 ppg, and currently only have one true scoring threat in Kenny Hayes, who is posting 14.6 ppg.
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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." 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. |
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