Cardinals hope to soar past Mountaineers in quest for Big East title

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/07/2009 - Morgantown, WV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The sixth-ranked Louisville Cardinals can clinch at least a share of the Big East Conference's regular season title tonight, as they square off against the West Virginia Mountaineers in Morgantown.

The Cardinals enter the day locked in a first-place tie with top-ranked UConn, both teams sporting 15-2 league records. Louisville, though, lost to UConn during the season and would need a win and loss by the Huskies to claim the top seed in the upcoming league tournament. UConn battles Pittsburgh, which is still in the title mix at 14-3, earlier today so Louisville will know what is at stake prior to start of this game. The Cardinals soar into the contest on the wings of a six-game win streak that includes a 95-78 besting of Seton Hall on Wednesday. Now at 24-5 overall, UofL hits the road where it has gone a stellar 7-1 thus far.

West Virginia is a dangerous club that is trying to leave no doubt about a possible at-large NCAA Tournament bid. The Mountaineers have claimed victory in five of their last six outings, most recently routing DePaul on Wednesday, 82-63. At 10-7 in conference, WVU is currently tied with Syracuse and Providence for sixth place.

With regard to the all-time series between these two teams, Louisville holds a 6-2 advantage and it captured a 69-63 win in the first meeting this season.

The Cardinals shot 53.7 percent from the floor and connected on 10-of-24 three-point chances, as they raced past Seton Hall on Wednesday. Louisville won the battle on the boards, 44-33, and also handed out 22 assists as a team. Earl Clark led the charge with a double-double that consisted of a career-high 27 points and 14 rebounds. Terrence Williams also had a big night and nearly had a triple-double, finishing with 14 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. On the season, Clark tops the roster in each scoring (13.7 ppg) and rebounding (9.0 rpg) and he is also distributing 3.2 apg. Williams is even more well rounded, and that is saying a lot, as he turns in 12.6 ppg 8.6 rpg, to go with team highs of 5.0 apg and 62 steals. Freshman Samardo Samuels rounds out the double-figure scorers, with 12.0 ppg.

The Mountaineers controlled the paint, outscoring DePaul by a 34-14 margin, and dominating the boards, 48-30, in an 82-63 rout on Wednesday. WVU also knocked down 45.7 percent of its attempts from the field and 10-of-22 from three-point distance. Alex Ruoff went 6-of-9 from behind the arc for 20 points, while Da'Sean Butler recorded a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Butler heads the Mountaineers in scoring this season with his 17.4 ppg and he is also pulling down 6.0 rpg. Ruoff has provided a nice complement to him and he checks in with 16.3 ppg on the strength of 37.9 percent shooting from three-point distance.

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.