Southeastern Conference Tournament Recaps

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/11/2010 - Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mikhail Torrance scored 17 points to help Alabama rally for a 68-63 win over South Carolina in the first round of the SEC Tournament.

Justin Knox had 16 points and seven boards while JaMychal Green added 10 points and seven boards for the Crimson Tide (17-14), who advanced to play top-seed Kentucky on Friday.

Devan Downey had a game-high 21 points and eight rebounds and Ramon Galloway added 14 points for the Gamecocks (15-16), who ended the season with seven losses in eight games.

The Tide trailed by as many as 18 points early in the second half, but cut their deficit to four points when pair of free throws from Knox made it 57-53 with a bit over 5 1/2 minutes to play.

Two free throws from Downey was countered by one from Knox. Galloway then stole the ball off of Tony Mitchell, but Downey's jumper missed and Torrance hit two from the line with just over three minutes to play.

Following a Brandis Raley-Ross turnover, Knox put in a layup and another Ross turnover resulted in a Mitchell layup to give Alabama a 60-59 lead with 2:03 to play.

A missed jumper from Downey was converted into two points at the other end for Alabama on a Torrance layup, but Galloway tied the game with a three-ball from the left side with 1:14 to play.

Torrance gave his team the lead back with a jumper with 55.3 to play and Downey missed at the other end.

Downey ripped the ball away from Senario Hillman and went to the line with a chance to tie the game with 18.3 seconds to play, but he only hit the second shot to make it a one-point contest.

After the timeout, the Crimson Tide got the ball in bounds and a long pass down the other end saw Green get the ball and put in with 9.5 seconds to play.

A lazy in-bounds pass from Sam Muldrow was then intercepted and Mitchell's two free throws sealed the win.

The game was tight through the first several minutes and Alabama led near the midway mark of the first half as Knox's layup made it a 14-12 game.

Muldrow, though, put in a layup and followed that with a slam to spark an 8-0 run as Downey's layup gave the team a six-point lead.

The Tide got the game back to one point a few minutes later, but South Carolina closed the frame on a 13-3 run and took a 38-27 lead into the locker room.

South Carolina built its lead to 18 on a Lakeem Jackson layup which made it a 54-36 game with under 12 minutes to play.

Casinobaccarat NCAA Basketball Betting News

<< Colts bring in G Alleman
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Indianapolis Colts signed guard Andy Alleman on Thursday. Alleman played in nine games with Kansas City in 2009, with three starts. He appeared in 15 games two years ago with the Miami Dolphins.

<< Onuaku injures knee in Syracuse loss
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Syracuse forward Arinze Onuaku injured his right knee in Thursday's loss to Georgetown in the Big East Tournament. Onuaku was hurt with just over five minutes to play in the 91-84 loss when he tried to

<< Report: MLS players set to strike if CBA isn't reached
Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Major League Soccer players overwhelmingly voted to strike if a new collective bargaining agreement isn't reached with the league by the season opener on March 25, according to a report in The Washing

<< New York officially adds midfielder Robinson
Secaucus, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Bull New York acquired midfielder Carl Robinson from Toronto FC in exchange for a fourth-round selection in the 2011 draft, the Major League Soccer club announced on Thursday. "Carl is a very consis

<< Despite scoring slump, Tavares building foundation
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie forwards usually take at least a season to develop into consistent performers at the NHL level. Even in the case of No. 1 overall picks, who are expected to be stars, it usually takes a year of adjustment t

LeBron likely to return on Friday >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James will likely return to the court when the Cleveland Cavaliers visit the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday. James missed a loss to the Bucks last Saturday and a win over the Spurs on Monday in an

Cardinals re-sign OL Bridges >>
Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Cardinals re-signed guard/tackle Jeremy Bridges to a three-year contract on Thursday. Bridges signed a one-year deal with Arizona prior to last season and played in all 16 games with the club, in

Marquette trumps 'Nova to reach Big East semis >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Darius Johnson-Odom struck for 24 points, thanks to 5-of-7 makes from beyond the arc, as Marquette upended 10th-ranked Villanova, 80-76, in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. Lazar Hayward p

Liverpool drops first leg at Lille >>
Lille, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eden Hazard scored off a free kick with just five minutes remaining and Lille edged Liverpool 1-0 on Thursday in the first leg of their Europa League Round of 16 series at Lille Metropole. Hazard curled a 2

Big Ten Conference Tournament Recaps >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manny Harris scored a team-high 22 points and pulled down nine rebounds as he led the Michigan Wolverines to a 59-52 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes in the opening game of the 2010 Big Ten Conference Tournam

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.

NFL Football Office Pool Printable Schedules
MySportsbook.com , leading online sportsbook, offers free NFL football office pool printable sheets! Run your own NFL Football Office Pool. Create your own pool, invite your friends to join. Compete with your with co-workers, friends or family for bragging rights every week. Exchange some hard hits without risk of injury -- Trash Talk with your fellow co-workers.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football sportsbook needs.