Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
03/11/2010 - Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Less than 24 hours after picking up just their second win all-time in the Mountain West Conference Tournament, the Air Force Falcons are back on the hardwood of the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas as they clash with top-seeded and eighth-ranked New Mexico in the quarterfinals of the 11th annual event this afternoon.
The Falcons, who had just a single league win this season and are the ninth seed in the tourney, completely confused eighth-seeded Wyoming yesterday and came up with a stunning 59-40 win over the Cowboys. It was the fewest points allowed by the academy this season and by far the fewest points scored by the Pokes as well. The victory snapped a nine-game losing streak by Air Force, which began just after the squad's first and only MWC win, a 70-63 triumph over those same Cowboys at home back on January 30th.
As for the highly-touted Lobos, they are under the direction of Steve Alford who earned himself MWC Coach of the Year honors for the second year in a row as he guided the program to a spectacular 28-3 record and a 14-2 mark in league play after opening the MWC schedule with back-to-back losses. UNM is currently riding a 14-game win streak and a win today would not only set a new school record for wins in a single season, it would give the program its second-longest run in school history behind a 17-game streak set in 1967-68.
With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, the Lobos have won six straight over Air Force and now own a commanding 47-18 mark overall. However, the academy gave UNM a scare this season when it allowed the Lobos just a 59-56 win at home in The Pit, after Air Force rolled over at home a month earlier in a 73-50 decision.
The winner of this matchup heads to the semifinals on Friday to clash with the winner of the Colorado State/San Diego State battle.
The defense by the Falcons stunned Wyoming yesterday, holding the Pokes to a mere 21 points in the first half and an even weaker 19 points after the break. Wyoming finished the meeting shooting just 2-of-16 behind the three-point line, got off a total of only 33 field goal chances and sank a meager 8-of-19 at the charity stripe. Leading the way for Air Force were Grant Parker and Michael Lyons with 15 and 11 points, respectively, as the squad actually beat the Cowboys on the glass, 25-21. Parker continues to be the leading scorer for the Falcons with his 13.1 ppg, hitting 47.9 percent of his field goal attempts, while Evan Washington checks in with 10.2 ppg and combines with Parker to account for more than nine rebounds per game. Unfortunately for the academy, that still leaves the group with a rebounding deficit of nearly four boards per outing.
The Lobos, winners of this tournament back in 2005, have in their lineup the top player in the league in Darington Hobson. Not only was Hobson named the MWC Newcomer of the Year, the junior also picked up the award for MWC Player of the Year after leading the conference in rebounding with 10.1 per game and placing third in scoring (14.9 ppg) and third in assists (4.8 apg). One of the most well-rounded players to hit the MWC landscape in several years, Hobson was a beast in the final month and a half of the regular season with his 18.2 ppg, 11.0 rpg and 5.8 apg over the last nine outings. But the Lobos are so much more than just Hobson as they also get significant contributions from Roman Martinez (14.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg) who is a 42.9 percent shooter behind the three-point line, followed by Dairese Gary and Phillip McDonald with 12.4 and 10.9 ppg, respectively. Gary, also accounted for 123 assists to take some of the pressure off Hobson. Perhaps the most impressive part of the Lobos is that they had the same starting lineup for every single game this season.
<< Cowboys tangle with Wildcats in Big 12 quarterfinals
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Quarterfinal action of the Big 12
Conference Tournament pits the ninth-ranked and second-seeded Kansas State
Wildcats against the seventh-seeded Oklahoma State Cowboys.
Awaiting the winner of this tilt is a
<< Redskins add TE Ryan
Ashburn, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Redskins agreed to terms with
tight end Sean Ryan on Thursday. Details of the contract were not disclosed.
Ryan appeared in 10 games, making eight starts, for Kansas City last season
and ha
<< Redskins sign free-agent tight end Sean Ryan
ASHBURN, Va. (AP) -Free-agent tight end Sean Ryan has signed with the Washington Redskins.Ryan caught 14 passes for 135 yards and two touchdowns for the Kansas City Chiefs last season.He has 26 catches for 240 yards and those two TDs in six NFL seas
<< Noh among four British Open qualifiers
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Less than a week after winning his
first European Tour event, Seung-yul Noh was one of four qualifiers at the
International Final Qualifying for the British Open, which will be contested
at St.
Miners open C-USA Tournament play against Knights >>
Tulsa, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Winners of 14th straight games, the top-seeded
and 25th-ranked Texas El Paso Miners set their sites on a C-USA Tournament
championship, starting with tonight's quarterfinal-round matchup against the
ninth-seeded UCF
Longhorns and Bears meet in Big 12 Tournament >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 21st-ranked Baylor Bears are seeded
third in the Big 12 Conference Tournament, and they will begin action in the
event tonight with a quarterfinal-round matchup against the sixth-seeded Texas
Longhorns.
Vols open SEC Tournament against hapless Tigers >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 15th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers are set
to take on the LSU Tigers in the first round of the 2010 SEC Tournament.
The winner of this contest will move on to face Ole Miss, the West Division's
second seed,
Cornhuskers battle Red Raiders in Big 12 Tournament action >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 23rd-ranked Texas A&M Aggies are the
fourth-seeded team in the Big 12 Conference Tournament, and they will play a
quarterfinal-round game against the surprising 12th-seeded Nebraska
Cornhuskers today.
NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting