Posts Tagged ‘College’
The only match-up top 25 teams on Tuesday will feature the #13 Minnesota Golden Gophers vs #24 Wisconsin Badgers on ESPN2 live from Madison, Wisconsin with tip-off time scheduled for 7:00pm EST. Online sportsbooks have opened with Wisconsin as a 8-point favorite in college basketball picks vs Minnesota. Sportsbooks also favor the Badgers -400 in money line college basketball odds vs the Gophers +325 for Tuesday’s game on ESPN2. The Vikings vs Eagles match-up will kick-off on NBC at 8:30pm EST while the 2010 Champs Sports Bowl (6:30pm EST) and Insight Bowl (10:00pm EST) will kick-off on ESPN for a full day of sports betting action.
Minnesota has gone 11-1 straight up, 4-5 against the spread in college basketball picks and have won five straight games heading into Tuesday’s game Big Ten conference match-up vs Wisconsin. The problem for the Gophers is that they have gone 9-9 in Big Ten action for the past two seasons and 1-12 when playing on the road at the Kohl Center vs the Badgers. Minnesota had a wakeup call vs the San Diego State Jackrabbits last Thursday as they were tied at halftime 63-apiece. The Gophers were able to go on a 12-3 run to win the game 85-73 but failed to cover the spread as 13.5-point favorites in college basketball odds.
Wisconsin enters Tuesday’s game after winning their past six non-conference match-ups including a demanding 80-56 win over the Coppin State Eagles last Thursday to go 10-2 straight up and 5-3 against the spread in college basketball picks this season. The Badgers lit up the nets vs Coppin State nailing a school record of 17-three pointers with Jon Leuer going 5-10 from long range for a total of 19-points. Leuer has been averaging 19.8-ppg for Wisconsin and is only 7-points shy of recording 1,000-points for his career but has only averaged 6.6-ppg vs Minnesota. The Badgers have gone 9-0 in conference home openers and 5-0 straight up in college basketball odds for their past five games at home but have lost three straight match-ups vs the Gophers.
College Basketball Picks – December 28th, 2010: Minnesota Golden Gophers +8
Lexington, KY – If No. 2 Kentucky was playing for style points, South Carolina already erased the ultimate one last month: a potential zero in the loss column.
While some of the Wildcats (26-1, 11-1 Southeastern Conference) acknowledge they wouldn’t mind exacting a little payback on Devan Downey and Co. in Thursday’s rematch at Rupp Arena, coach John Calipari says it’s too late in the season and his team is too good to be worrying about style points – and certainly revenge.
NCAA Basketball Betting
He wants a top seed in the NCAA tournament but figures if the wins keep coming – even occasionally ugly ones – that will take care of itself.
“If we win it at a halfcourt bank shot, I’ll be happy,” Calipari said Wednesday.
South Carolina (14-12, 5-7), behind Downey’s 30 points, handed Kentucky its only loss last month with a 68-62 upset in Columbia – the Gamecocks’ first win over a team then nationally ranked No. 1.
Oddsmakers from online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.com have made Kentucky –16.5 point spread favorites for Thursday’s game against S Carolina. Current College Basketball Public Betting Information shows that 61% of more than 339 bets for this game have been placed on Kentucky –16.5.
Going in, conditions seemed ripe for yet another Kentucky cakewalk. The undefeated record. The return to the top of the polls. Even President Barack Obama’s call that afternoon to congratulate the Wildcats on a fundraising effort for the earthquake victims in Haiti.
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But then, the buzzer sounded. Fans rushed the Colonial Life Arena floor (sparking a ,000 fine), and Kentucky’s record was perfect no more.
“You want to get them back more than anything,” freshman forward Daniel Orton said. “It gets the Adrenalin running.”
Calipari wants his team to feel the Adrenalin but insists the motive shouldn’t be revenge. South Carolina was on a three-game losing streak entering the last meeting with the Wildcats and is on another such streak now.
Kentucky will be heavy favorites yet again, and while Calipari acknowledges another upset is always possible, he’s more concerned about showing progress. That starts with stopping Downey, who leads the SEC in scoring and who managed his typical 30 points against the Wildcats even when missing 21 of his 29 shots.
“Downey’s going to take 30 shots,” Calipari said. “That’s what he’s going to do. Guard him.”
Easier said than done, even for Kentucky’s much-bigger defenders. Orton says he has been practicing defensive against the Wildcats’ own shifty guards, John Wall and Eric Bledsoe. Sometimes, the circus shots just fall in – and that’s what happened with Downey late in the last game.
Orton also says there may have been some hometown officiating down in Columbia.
“Down there we couldn’t even touch him really,” Orton said. “Everything we did to him was a foul. Maybe we’ll have a little more leeway this time.”
Guard DeAndre Liggins says he sees no reason why Kentucky should allow Downey to light up the scoreboard again.
“We’d done a good job, but he’s the leader of that team,” Liggins said. “He takes the most shots. The other guys know that. We’ll have to do a good job of stopping him and making other people beat us.”
Downey’s heroics against Kentucky include one of his career highlights last year at Rupp, when his late bucket helped the Gamecocks pull out a 78-77 victory.
Although Calipari says he got “scared” after watching game tape from last month’s loss, he realizes the Wildcats are rolling right now. After knocking off Vanderbilt in Nashville Saturday, Kentucky’s lead in the SEC East is two games, and it would take a monumental collapse for college basketball’s all-time winningest team to avoid winning the regular season conference championship.
Some pundits have even argued the Wildcats’ No. 1 seed is inevitable, although Calipari insists he doesn’t agree. Still, he says, the focus now is on surviving and improving. His team is young, with three freshman starters – including Wall, who could be a top overall pick in the NBA draft, NBA Picks and figures to push Downey for player of the year honors.
Kentucky’s other two freshmen, Bledsoe and DeMarcus Cousins, have had occasional on-court flare-ups with their tempers. Those are the things that need to get corrected before tournament time, Calipari says.
“We have to be mature,” he said. “We don’t want to put ourselves in a position to lose a national championship opportunity because in a 30-second decision you can’t keep your wits about you.”
Basketball scholarships help defray the college costs of basketball players. If you are a basketball player and you get appreciation for your game, you can opt for this scholarship program. In fact, sports scholarships are quite common along with academic scholarships and have been in use by athletes since many years. It is obviously gone through many changes and today competing with the requirements and expectations of the sponsor has become a bit difficult. If you are a basketball player and you have the passion for games, you should start preparing for scholarship program at least one year before you actually have to attend college.
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Preparing earlier will help you get the right recognition and your chances of winning the scholarship will increase. Along with the requirements for this type of scholarship programs, it is vital that you put your best foot forward. Keeping your coach impressed with you is significant here and so you should work for getting recognition as much as you can. Your coaches should be completely aware of you and your game as their recommendations can make or break your chances of winning the scholarship award money.
Basketball scholarships were designed and created to help out basketball players pay for their college and cover related expenses as well. There are basically two types of scholarship funds – one that is awarded through the college or university and another one can be acquired with the help of outside funding. To be eligible for the scholarships funded by college, you need to play for the college and stay in the team for long. Acknowledgment and appreciation is also very essential.
However, if any individual or sponsor from outside admires your game and wishes to sponsor, do not lose the chance. Just be careful and understand the terms before you agree and accept the scholarship award money. Find out details about the sponsor and see that it is a reputed source of funding and are included in the list of best basketball scholarships of that area. Do not underestimate this award because after all you have to compete with other applicants and give outstanding performance.
College sports are some of the most watched and enjoyed events in the entire sporting industry. People are passionate about their colleges, and there are few sports that have as much pride and traditions as these ones do. One school that is rich with history and tradition is that of the Pittsburgh Panthers and their men’s basketball team.
The men’s basketball team at the University of Pittsburgh is part of the NCAA Division 1 intercollegiate sports program and they compete in the Big East conference against many other top teams. The team is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is often referred to as “Pitt”. The team plays all of their home games in the Peterson Events Center where they enjoy a huge fan base from the University.
Throughout their time in the division they have been able to get 15 selections from the first team All-American, as well as win two of the Helms Athletic Foundation National Championships. They have been in the Final Four once, and have appeared in the NCAA tournament 22 different times. They still have yet to clinch a national championship, but they usually recruit enough talent that they are a threat each and every year.
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The men’s basketball team was first formed in 1905 and was coached by Benjamin Printz. There were two years around 1910 were the University did not actually have a team, but they have had one ever since. In the 1920′s, the team was coached by Henry “Doc” Carlson and he helped lead the team to their two national championships (before the NCAA). The team was then led by their all-star player Charlie Hyatt who has since been inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. These were some of the glory years for Pitt and continue to be looked upon fondly.
Over the next century, the team passed through a variety of different coaches and players including all-American Billy Knight who helped get the team to the Elite Eight in 1974 and an chance to compete in the NIT a year later.
In 1982, the team entered into the Big East conference. During this time, the team was led by Paul Evans as head coach and with the help of all-Americans Jerome Lane and Charles Smith they were able to capture the Big East Championship twice. Even with these great players, the team failed to meet expectations in the post season.
Most recently, the team is led by Jamie Dixon who has been the head coach since 2003. In 2009 the team was ranked as the number one time for a total of three weeks. During that season, the Pittsburgh Panthers also beat two other formerly number one ranked teams that season and became only the seventh team in NCAA history to do so. In 2010, the team continued their success and ended up losing in the second round to Xavier but still finished with a record of 25-9. Pitt fans are looking forward to this next season to see what Jamie Dixon can do with the newly recruited talent that they got over the summer.
If you are looking for more information about how to become a college basketball player then take advantage of this useful information – it will have the effect of revolutionizing everything you know about playing basketball. What would you do if you discovered that you can enhance your skills in the game by unbelievable 30%? And better yet, it can be done without even leaving your chair. If this sounds unlikely, or might think it’s just not possible, scan the information that follows – you will find it most amazing.
Before we get into details, you need to be aware of a simple but crucial observation – in the game of basketball it is not about who runs faster or jumps higher, but also about making the right choices and the right moves. The power to know your rival’s game strategy, or to know when to pass, when to dribble, and when to shoot, relates to your cognitive or thought process, to put it simply – brain skills. A lot of people have the incorrect notion of this aptitude for sports as completely natural, while in reality, they are not “born instincts,” but rather absolutely trainable brain skills.
It doesn’t really matter if you only want to learn about how to become a college basketball player, or whether you play on your junior high, high school, or college team – it is now possible to drastically increase your capacity to compete at a high level by learning some valuable pointers. A group of specialists has developed an exceptional software application that assists on achieving that; founded on the idea of a “video game”, all one has to do is “play” it for 30 minutes or less, 1 or 2 times per week, for a period of a few weeks – the results are amazing. Head coaches from all across the country, including memphis, uconn, and others, have reported amazing results through the use of, with individual athletes and even entire teams, this unbelievable system.
Before going on to get more information about how to become a college basketball player, it is recommended to “test drive” this groundbreaking new software. It appears that the once unlikely dream of playing basketball at a professional level for a wide range of school and college players is becoming so close and attainable; athletes who have tried it out reported an overall dramatic improvement after “practicing” with this system for less than a month.
With the 2011 Pro Bowl that was played this past Sunday evening and Super Bowl XLV odds that will take place this coming Sunday, sports betting fans have plenty to cheer for this week. That also includes Monday’s Big 12 conference college basketball betting action as the #8 Texas Longhorns travel to take on their longtime rivals the #11 Texas A&M Aggies. Tip-off time from Reed Arena is scheduled for 9:00pm EST on ESPN following the Louisville vs Georgetown game that starts at 7:00pm EST.
Online sportsbooks have listed the Longhorns as 1.5-point favorites in college basketball betting odds on the road vs the Aggies with an over/under betting total of 129 UNDER (-115). The money line at bookmakers has opened with Texas as a -120 favorite and Texas A&M as EV money home underdogs. The Longhorn head into tonight’s match-up on ESPN having won their last six games including a 71-58 manhandling vs the#13 Missouri Tigers last Saturday.
Texas won by an overwhelming 13-points and easily covered the 7.5-point spread as college basketball betting favorites to go a stellar 13-2 ATS on the season. Texas A&M will be trying to get back on the winning track after falling 48-57 at the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Sunday. The Aggies lost by 9-points and didn’t come close to covering the 2-point spread as college basketball betting favorites to go 6-4-1 ATS for the season. Texas A&M will also be trying to avenge the 60-81 beating they suffered at the hand of the Longhorns just two weeks ago in Austin.
That being said, the Aggies do have positive trends heading into Monday’s Big 12 battle as Texas A&M has won six straight games at home in college basketball odds vs the Longhorns and have won 14-straight games overall when playing at Reed Arena. The Aggies shot 75.8% during the current winning span vs the Longhorns and have also held them to an average of only 62.5-points. In last season’s February meeting between Texas vs Texas A&M at College Station, the Aggies pulled off a demanding 74-58 victory.
College Basketball Betting Picks: Texas Longhorns -1.5
The Kentucky Wildcats were forced to sit out the 1952-53 season as a result of a point shaving scandal involving several Kentucky players from previous years. They practiced together three or four times per week all year and came back in 1953-54 better than ever. The fast-breaking 1954 Kentucky Wildcats basketball team went 25-0 and outscored opponents by an unbelievable average score of 87.5 to 60.3 per game at a time when teams shot approximately 35% from the field. The 27.2 scoring margin is still third in NCAA history. Kentucky’s Hall of Fame coach Adolph Rupp said “There is no question that this is the best team we’ve ever had at Kentucky and the finest team I have ever seen.”
Hall of Fame guard Frank Ramsey (19.6 pts., 8.8 reb.), Hall of Fame center Cliff Hagan (24 pts., 13.5 reb.) and forward Lou Tsioropoulos (14.5 pts., 9.6 reb.) were all seniors in 1953. They were all drafted by the NBA. Because Kentucky did not play the 1953 season, the three seniors had a remaining year of eligibility for the 1954 season. Although they graduated in 1953, they elected to return in 1954 and try to win the national championship. They took graduate courses in 1954 and played for the Wildcats.
Ramsey could drive to the basket or pull up and shoot from long range. After Kentucky beat St. Louis 71-59, St. Louis’ coach said “Frank Ramsey is the best college player in the country.” Hagan had a spectacular hook shot that he could hit from anywhere on the floor. Adolph Rupp said that Hagan had “the greatest natural touch of any player I’ve seen.” Tsioropoulos could pound the ball inside. All were great rebounders.
The starting five was rounded out by junior forward Billy Evans (8.8 pts., 7.3 reb.) and junior guard Gayle Rose (6.7 pts., 1.4 reb.).
The 1954 season got off to a rocky start. Southeastern Conference foes LSU, Tulane, Mississippi and Mississippi State had all played Kentucky in Lexington in 1952. In 1953, Kentucky would have traveled to Louisiana and Mississippi to play had the season not been canceled. For 1954, Kentucky was scheduled to play LSU, Tulane, Mississippi and Mississippi State in Lexington again. The four teams threatened to cancel their games with Kentucky rather than play twice in a row in Lexington. “In all fairness,” an LSU official said, “Kentucky owes us a trip down here before we have to go back to Lexington.” The Southeastern Conference schools held a vote and voted that the games would be played in Lexington. All of the teams but LSU agreed to abide by the vote.
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Adolph Rupp was angered by the NCAA suspension. “I will never be satisfied until the men who suspended us hand us the national championship trophy,” Rupp said. “They’ll be no point shaving this year,” said Rupp. “When we run up one of those 95 or 97-point totals – and we used to do it often – and there’s still a couple of minutes to play, I’m not going to pull my boys up and have them stand around at midcourt and try to hold the score down so we don’t humiliate somebody. We’ll just keep playing our game and let the other guy worry.”
The first game of the season, December 5, 1953, Kentucky pounded Temple, 86-59. Cliff Hagan put up 51 points, nearly outscoring Temple on his own. On December 18, 1953, Kentucky beat St. Louis 71-59. St. Louis’ coach said that the 1954 Wildcats were “the sweetest operating team to watch that I’ve ever seen.” On December 22, 1953, Kentucky took on eventual NCAA tournament champion LaSalle and easily beat them, 73-60.
Before their first SEC game of the season against Tulane on January 16, 1954, Adolph Rupp told his players that Tulane’s coach led the efforts to suspend Kentucky from playing in 1953. “He’s on the floor now, the man that led the fight against you last year. For ever blister, every bruise, every black eye, every tooth knocked out last year, that little runt of a coach owes you. Tonight you pay them back for all of last year.” Kentucky crushed Tulane, 94-43. When asked what he thought of Kentucky, Tulane’s coach said, “That Kentucky team, whew!”
Kentucky rolled through the rest of the schedule and ended the season in a tie with LSU for the Southeastern conference title. LSU agreed to a playoff game in Nashville, Tennessee. Kentucky beat the eighth ranked LSU team 63-56 to complete a perfect 25-0 season. At the beginning of the next season, a Philadelphia newspaper story said “Apparently the University of Kentucky basketball dynasty is to continue forever.”
The NCAA declared Ramsey, Hagan and Tsioropoulos ineligible to play in the NCAA tournament because they had graduated before the start of NCAA tournament play. Rather than go to the tournament without their three best players, the Wildcats declined the invitation to play in it. Cliff Hagan couldn’t believe he, Ramsey and Tsioropoulos were being penalized for graduating in four years instead of five. “We were penalized for the year we were forced to sit out and that was for something we had not been involved in. If we had taken five years to graduate we wouldn’t have had a problem. So we were penalized for trying to do the right thing. Isn’t that something?” Frank Ramsey said “The rest of these boys and I were in high school when those things happened. Why’d they take it out on us?” When asked whether the 1954 Kentucky team would have won the NCAA tournament, Frank Ramsey said “In our minds, we felt we were good enough.”
For more information visit 1954 Kentucky Wildcats
Basketball picks are done using information from the players on the team, using their plays during a game or several games to rate their projected performance in the future as well as provide information for scouts for other teams. The games that are won or lost and other information help to make these players picks; this can include things like time on the bench, fines and also injuries. This gives the player as well as the team they are playing for information that can be used by their fans to know how they will do during the season and if this is a team or player that the sports fan should back for the season.
Hundreds of colleges are competing in different leagues on a regular basis. Most of the players in the teams are new and different from the previous seasons. That is why it is very hard to evaluate the teams unless extensive investigation is done. The other negative issue involved is the lack of complete records and documentations of the teams and players involved. This is because college basketball is still in the amateur level. This means the coverage would be less compared to the NBA, Euroleague and FIBA. The person betting for college teams should find a steady and reliable way to win in wagers instead of investing and wasting large resources on scouting teams.
Betting in college basketball is very hard since a lot of teams are involved. It would be very impractical to monitor the different teams participating in the dozen leagues established due to the volume of data that needs to be evaluated and analyzed. In order to succeed, the person should employ a betting scheme that would increase the chances of winning. The continuous betting method is a good and reliable way to earn money despite the large odds and risks present in the wagers. It provides people with several advantages and benefits which cannot be found in other betting schemes used by competitors. It would help consumers to earn money from the college basketball picks.
Many sports fans have tried their hand at sports betting and wagers only to be deeply disappointed by the outcome. Without solid sports picks from a professional sports handicapper, odds are against you. Expertise and enthusiasm are not the same thing. This is not because they don’t know their favorite teams or sports well enough; it is because they don’t know how to apply their knowledge to the specific betting systems around their favorite sports. This takes a twofold set of analysis skills and complete season data. There are not many sports fans who know enough about an entire league’s statistics or current season to wager successfully.
The internet has changed the way how people choose picks in basketball games. The internet has provided consumers with access to the different NCAA teams. This is very helpful since picking a team is very hard. All the information available should be used to help consumers win in wagers. Winning in the long term requires a very effective strategy.
Numerous college basketball games are on tap for tonight including a top 20 showdown between the #5 Pittsburgh Panthers (15-1) travel to take on the #19 Georgetown Hoyas (12-4) on ESPN live from the Verizon Center with tip-off time scheduled for 7:00pm EST. ESPN2 will have Louisville vs Villanova also at 7:00pm EST followed by #1 Duke vs Florida State at 9:00pm EST on ESPN. Sportsbooks have opened with Georgetown as a 2.5-point favorite in college basketball predictions vs Pittsburgh with an over/under betting total 140 for the Big East conference match-up. Sportsbooks also favor the Hoyas -140 in money line college basketball odds vs the Panthers +120 for Wednesday night’s game on ESPN.
Pittsburgh dropped their first conference game and only loss of the season vs Tennessee on December 11th has but has had no problems since winning three straight Big East match-ups heading into college basketball predictions as betting favorites for tonight’s game vs Georgetown. Since the loss to the Volunteers, the Panthers have won five straight games including a 89-81 win vs Marquette on January 8th but couldn’t cover the spread as 8.5-point home favorites in college basketball odds to go 4-6 ATS for the season. Pittsburgh has lit up the net vs conference opponents shooting nearly 55% from the floor, 52% from behind the arc and averaging 82-points per game. The Panthers rank 16th overall in PPG averages, 1st in assists averaging 20.4-ppg and 3rd overall in rebounds with 42.8-ppg.
Georgetown quite simply is not playing typical Hoya basketball right now having lost their last two games and going a dreadful 1-3 in Big East action. Georgetown lost on the road to St. John’s 58-61 on January 3rd and followed that up with a 59-65 loss at the Verizon Center to the West Virginia Mountaineers last Saturday. The Hoyas failed to cover the 7.5-point spread as home betting favorites in college basketball odds vs West Virginia to fall to 8-6 ATS on the season. Georgetown will need to find their three-point range tonight if they are to pull off the win at home since shooting only 25.7% in their last four Big East games including going 5-17 vs West Virginia. The Hoyas rank 45th overall in points with a 76.9-average, 17th in assists per game (17.2), 2nd in field goal percentage (.516) and 224th in rebounds per game (34.3).
College Basketball Predictions: Pittsburgh Panthers +120
ESPN will feature a Big East battle on Monday evening when the #19 Louisville Cardinals travel to take on the #20 Georgetown Hoyas with a scheduled start time of 7:00pm EST. Following the Louisville vs Georgetown game, ESPN will also feature #8 Texas vs #11 Texas A&M at 9:00pm EST. Online sportsbooks have opened with Georgetown as a 4.5-point favorite in college basketball picks vs Georgetown with an over/under betting total of 143. Sportsbooks also favor the Hoyas at home -200 in money line college basketball odds vs the Cardinals +170 for Monday’s prime time game on ESPN.
The Cardinals head into tonight’s game with a record of 17-4 straight up, have gone 6-2 in Big East conference action and have won their last two games. Louisville defeated West Virginia in a 55-54 thriller last Wednesday and then followed that up with 79-78 double overtime win on the road vs the #5 Connecticut Huskies. The Cardinals took down UConn by 1-point and easily covered the spread as 5-point underdogs in college basketball picks to go 9-6 ATS for the season. Head coach Rick Pitino’s defense managed to limit Husky G Kemba Walker to only 20-points which is 4.2-points less than his average. Louisville C Gorgui Dieng is expected to be on the bench for tonight’s match-up vs Georgetown after landing on his head in the win vs Villanova.
Louisville will need to play a similar style of defensive without the 6-foot-10 Dieng on Monday night vs Hoya G Austin Freeman if they are to pull off the upset as underdogs in college basketball picks. Freeman has helped Georgetown to four straight victories by averaging 24.3-points during that span including 30-points in the 69-66 victory over #8 Villanova on Saturday. The Hoyas went on the road to record the 3-point win over the Wildcats and also won outright to cover the 4.5-point spread as sports betting underdogs in college basketball odds to go 12-7 ATS for the season. Georgetown his lit up the nets this season with a shooting percentage of .509, which includes the .522% performance vs Villanova on Saturday but only rank 50th overall in points per game at 75.6.
College Basketball Picks: Georgetown Hoyas -4.5