Golden Eagles visit Cardinals in pivotal Big East battle

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/01/2009 - Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams still in the thick of the Big East title race clash at Freedom Hall today, as the eighth-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles tussle with the sixth-ranked Louisville Cardinals.

The Eagles' title hopes took a hit on Wednesday, as they were defeated for the first time at home by No.2 and league leading UConn, 93-82. The loss put an end to a three-game win streak and dropped Marquette a game back in the loss column for the conference lead at 12-3. To make matters worse, the Eagles are now set to face two more of the elite teams in the Big East, as they will wrap up their current road trip at top-ranked Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

As for Louisville, it is a game ahead of Marquette in the standings and one back of UConn for the top spot at 13-2. The Cardinals also have one of the easier schedules, if there is such a thing in the Big East, as they finish the regular season with dates against Seton Hall and West Virginia. If Louisville was to win out, it would at least earn a share of the conference title because at the moment, the team has the same amount of league losses as UConn, but it has played two fewer games. The Cardinals continued their push for the title on Monday, posting a convincing 76-58 win at Georgetown. The victory was the fourth straight for the Cardinals, as they improved to 22-5 overall.

Louisville leads the head-to-head series with Marquette, 37-24, and the Cardinals have won six of the last seven meetings.

The Eagles simply could not match the size of UConn on Wednesday and were outscored in the paint, 36-20, and dominated on the boards, 46-26, in a 93-82 setback. The loss proved costly in more ways than one, as senior leader Dominic James suffered a foot injury that will cost him the remainder of the season. James, the program's all-time leader in games played, was averaging 11.4 ppg and a team-high 5.1 apg and his production and leadership will be sorely missed. Jerel McNeal, though, continued his outstanding play and he paced Marquette in defeat with 26 points and five assists. One of the top players in the conference, McNeal is averaging a healthy 20.2 ppg on the season, to go along with 4.7 rpg and 4.2 apg. Wesley Matthews has helped to take some of the pressure off McNeal and he checks in with 18.8 ppg and 5.3 rpg. Lazar Hayward puts forth 15.9 ppg and a team-best 8.5 rpg for the Eagles, who are tallying 80.0 ppg as a team.

The Cardinals shot an efficient 54.5 percent from the floor and limited Georgetown to just a 39.2 percent effort from the field, as they cruised to victory earlier in the week. Louisville also dropped in 8-of-12 attempts from downtown, as well as scoring 21 points off 15 Georgetown turnovers. Earl Clark led the charge, notching 22 points, eight boards and four steals. Terrence Williams also turned in an all-around performance, as he finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. On the season, Clark tops the club with 13.3 ppg and 8.7 rpg and he is also dishing out 3.3 apg. Williams is just as versatile and he adds 12.5 ppg and 8.5 rpg, to go with team highs of 4.8 apg and 57 steals. Freshman Samardo Samuels contributes 12.1 ppg and 4.8 rpg for a Louisville club that is holding opponents to just 61.6 ppg.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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