Around College Basketball: It's tournament time

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/03/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first college basketball tournament I covered was so long ago that many basketball fans wouldn't even remember the name of the conference.

I spent the first weekend of March, 1979 covering the Pacific Coast Athletic Association tournament in the shadow of Disneyland at the Anaheim Convention Center. I wasn't quite prepared for 12 hours of basketball, watching four quarterfinal-round matchups from 12 noon to 12 midnight, but over the years the concept has grown on me.

Eventually, the University of the Pacific, led by a 6-10 center named Ron Cornelius, held off Utah State to earn an automatic bid in the NCAA tournament - an event that had just expanded to 48 teams that year. UOP's tournament experience would last just one game, as the Tigers were waxed in the opening round.

Years later, the PCAA changed their name to the Big West Conference, so that ESPN could promote something called "Big Monday," with games from the Big East, the Big 10 and the Big West. The PCAA moniker slipped into the dark recesses of history.

Thirty years after my first tourney experience, the concept of the postseason basketball tournament - first started by the Southern Conference in 1922 - is still going strong.

The next two weeks of the college basketball season are among my favorites in the entire sports calendar. Like most college basketball fans, I love having the chance to see teams you seldom see on national television battle their way into the NCAA field.

If it were up to me, I'd make the conference tournaments a do-or-die proposition for every league, with only regular-season conference champions immune from the sudden death of the tournament format.

Three conference tournaments tip off on Tuesday night at campus sites with first round action - the Big South, the Horizon and the Ohio Valley, as March Madness commences.

The Big South will have seven teams trying to end Winthrop's four-year stranglehold on the league's automatic bid, though it might be asking too much for the Eagles to repeat in 2009.

Winthrop, which has offered up some memorable March moments in recent NCAA tournaments, has been rebuilding this year with an 11-18 record and will be on the road at UNC Asheville, and in every subsequent game, if it hopes to unleash some postseason magic.

A year ago, that matchup had an NCAA bid attached to it in the Big South championship game, with Winthrop winning 66-48 at UNCA. This year, the Eagles and the Bulldogs will just be trying to extend their seasons until Thursday.

Radford (18-11) comes in as the top seed in the Big South and will host beleaguered High Point (9-20) in the quarterfinals. The Highlanders could get pushed by two other stalwart teams from No. 2 seed VMI (22-7) and No. 3 Liberty (21-10). VMI entertains Coastal Carolina and Liberty meets Gardner- Webb in the first round.

Few people probably remember VMI making back-to-back trips to the Elite Eight and the Sweet 16 in 1976-77, with future-NBA performer Ron Carter leading the way. The Keydets haven't been back to the NCAA tournament since.

The Big South's semifinals and final will be televised on Thursday night and Saturday by ESPNU and ESPN2, respectively.

The Horizon League, another loop that has pulled off some inspiring NCAA upsets in recent years, also gets started on Tuesday night with its 10-team event. Former giant killer Cleveland State, the third seed at 21-10, is the highest-seeded team in action in the first round.

Many people probably still remember Cleveland State marching to the Sweet 16 in 1986 with wins over Indiana and St. Joseph's before David Robinson and Navy knocked them off, 71-70.

The top two seeds, Butler (25-4) and Wisconsin-Green Bay (22-9) will wait until Saturday to get started in the semifinals, which are on ESPNU. The championship game will be played at Butler's historic Hinkle Fieldhouse on March 10 and televised by ESPN.

The OVC gets into the swing of things on Tuesday with quarterfinal action at campus sites before moving to Nashville's Sommet Center for the semifinals and final. Top-seeded Tennessee-Martin has put together a sparkling 21-8 campaign, but the Skyhawks will need three more wins to get their first NCAA bid.

UTM opens play by hosting Tennessee Tech (12-17), but will likely receive bigger challenges from defending champion and No. 2 seed Austin Peay (17-12), or No. 3 Murray State (18-11) - a 13-time OVC tournament champion.

One of my earliest memories of watching the NCAA tournament was seeing a colorful player named Fly Williams leading Austin Peay in the early 1970s. And I nearly witnessed a No. 16 seed beat a No. 1 in the 1990 Southeast Regional in Knoxville, TN, when Popeye Jones and Murray State pushed Michigan State to overtime before losing 75-71.

The OVC will have its semifinals and final televised on Friday and Saturday by ESPNU and ESPN2 as the first conference to conclude its tournament.

Tournament play will kick off on Wednesday in the Atlantic Sun and the Patriot League, on Thursday in the Northeast Conference and the Missouri Valley, on Friday in the American East, the Colonial Athletic Association, the Southern and the West Coast and on Saturday in the Big Sky.

For a college basketball fan, whether at the arena or watching on television, it's hoop nirvana.

Onlinevasino NCAA Basketball Betting News

<< City's Bellamy could miss three weeks
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wales international Craig Bellamy could be sidelined for up to three weeks with the knee injury he picked up in Sunday's 1-0 defeat at West Ham United. The Manchester City star has already

<< Juve's Ranieri taking cup seriously
Turin, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri has promised to take the Coppa Italia seriously, despite Wednesday's meeting with Lazio adding to his club's current fixture congestion. The Turin club are in semifinal firs

<< Hull's Geovanni apologizes to Brown
Hull, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hull City midfielder Geovanni has apologized to Tigers boss Phil Brown for his petulant reaction to being substituted during Sunday's 2-1 home defeat to Blackburn Rovers. The Brazilian was furious with Bro

<< John returns to Cottagers
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Striker Collins John has returned to Fulham after enduring an unhappy loan spell with NEC Nijmegen. The Cottagers had hoped that the 23-year-old would make a permanent move to the Netherlands in the summe

<< Wright's late goal helps Dons draw Mirren
Paisley, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tommy Wright scored in the 90th minute and Aberdeen tied St. Mirren 1-1 on Tuesday. Craig Dargo scored in the 78th minute at St. Mirren park, but his side lost the lead in the closing seconds. Wright plac

Preds G Rinne named top rookie for February >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nashville rookie goaltender Pekka Rinne has been selected as the NHL's top rookie of the month for February. Rinne was 9-2-1 for the month with a 1.72 goals-against average and a pair of shutout wins a

Jets ink free agent S Leonhard, re-sign FB Richardson >>
Florham Park, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Jets agreed to terms with unrestricted free agent safety Jim Leonhard and re-signed fullback Tony Richardson to a one-year deal on Tuesday. Terms of Leonhard's contract were not

Jags re-sign DE Wyche >>
Jacksonville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Jacksonville Jaguars re-signed oft- injured defensive end James Wyche to a new contract on Tuesday. Per club policy, length and terms of the deal were not disclosed. The 26-year-old Wyche has

Ottawa stadium agreement deadline extended >>
Hamilton, Ontario (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Canadian Football League has extended a deadline imposed to reach a stadium agreement with the city of Ottawa in the continued effort to bring a CFL franchise back to the country's capital

This Week in Auto Racing March 6 - 8 >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After two weeks on the West Coast, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns east to one of the fastest tracks on the circuit, Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Camping World Truck Series kicks off the Atlanta

Since the late 1990's, MySportsbook.com has been an online sportsbook / poker room / casino that focuses on quality.. MySportsbook caters to the experienced sports fan who values reliability and accuracy, with great attention to detail. MySportsbook's success over the past 3 years has made them the envy of the sports gambling industry. There are hundreds of sites appearing all over the Internet claiming to be the next best sportsbook online, each one is trying to use the same marketing techniques as MySportsbook originated.

If you want to try the most stylish and reliable type of online sportsbook, go with MySportsbook. Most online sportsbooks give you live odds and plenty of games and events to bet on, at MySportsbook they'll give you that and more. While perfection may be a lofty goal, MySportsbook attempts to achieve that goal. All sorts of ways to bet on football, football betting, Super Bowl betting lines.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football sportsbook needs.

Football Betting Lines

The 2009 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year odds have been released and Denver Broncos' running back Knowshon Moreno has been made the opening favorite.

Bet NFL Sports Lines

Moreno was selected in the first round of April's NFL draft and is expected to carry the rushing load for the Broncos this season. And with Jay Cutler now in Chicago, Moreno might be expected to be Denver's entire offense.

Betting Lines from sports betting lines have made Moreno a 5/2 favorite to win this year's Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. Fellow running back Chris “Beanie” Wells (Arizona Cardinals) is right behind Moreno at 7/2, while Donald Brown (Indianapolis Colts) and receiver Michael Crabtree (San Francisco 49ers) are 5/1 to win. Quarterbacks Mark Sanchez (New York Jets) and Matthew Stafford (Detroit Lions) are 7/1 and 8/1, respectively.

A couple of players who present some value are Josh Freeman, Shonn Green and Darrius Heyward-Bey.

Freeman needs to beat out Byron Leftwich to become the starting quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but if he does, he has a lot or raw talent and could use the weapons around him (i.e. Kellen Winslow Jr. and Antonio Bryant) to be very successful in his first season.

Green enters a crowded backfield in New York, but considering both Thomas Jones and Leon Washington are unhappy about their contract situations and might holdout, the former Iowa product could become the Jets' primary back.

Everyone was shocked when Al Davis took Heyward-Bey with the eighth overall pick in April's draft, but the kid has a tremendous amount of talent and if quarterback JaMarcus Russell takes the next step this year, the former Maryland product could blossom. Plus, Heyward-Bey will be looking to prove the people wrong who said Oakland should have taken Michael Crabtree with the No. 8 pick.

And if you're looking for a deep sleeper, check out Pat White at 30/1. He enters the Miami Dolphins vaunted “Wild Cat” offense and could be a big time playmaker.

For complete odds on the 2009 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year odds, see below.

2009 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Odds to Win

Ramses Barden (NYG) 40/1

Andre Brown (NYG) 20/1

Donald Brown (IND) 5/1

Kenny Britt (TEN) 20/1

Glenn Coffee (SFO) 30/1

Chase Coffman (CIN) 50/1

Michael Crabtree (SFO) 5/1

Josh Freeman (TB) 14/1

Shonn Green (NYJ) 14/1

Percy Harvin (MIN) 10/1

Darrius Heyward-Bay (OAK) 18/1

Juaquan Iglesias (CHI) 30/1

Cornelius Ingram (PHI) 50/1

Rashad Jennings (JAC) 30/1

Johnny Knox (CHI) 40/1

Jeremy Maclin (PHI) 18/1

Mohamed Massaquoi (CLE) 30/1

LeSean McCoy (PHI) 12/1

Knowshon Moreno (DEN) 5/2

Hakeem Nicks (NYG) 18/1

Brandon Pettigrew (DET) 30/1

Brian Robiskie (CLE) 20/1

Mark Sanchez (NYJ) 7/1

Matthew Stafford (DET) 8/1

Jason Smith (STL) 40/1

Mike Thomas (JAC) 25/1

Patrick Turner (MIA) 50/1

Mike Wallace (PIT) 50/1

Chris Wells (ARI) 7/2

Pat White (MIA) 30/1

Field (Any Other Player) 9/1

Betting Line

To visit this sports betting site go to BettingExpress.com for all your football betting lines needs.

For sports betting with credit cards site go to BettingExpress.com as well.