Big East heavyweights collide in Hartford

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

02/16/2009 - Hartford, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The eyes of the college basketball world will be fixed on Hartford tonight, as Big East powerhouses Connecticut and Pittsburgh vie for conference supremacy from the XL Center.

Pittsburgh carries a five-game win streak into this tilt, and the team owns a 23-2 overall record, including a 10-2 mark against conference opponents. The Panthers knocked off a pesky Cincinnati squad on Saturday in an 85-69 final, and all five wins during the current streak have come by double digits. Pitt has now won at least 20 games overall and 10 league contests in each of the last eight seasons.

As for UConn, it has won its last 13 games, as the lone loss for the club occurred against Georgetown back in December. Like the Panthers, the Huskies were in action just two days ago, and they held off Seton Hall in a 62-54 final. A win tonight would give the program its best start in history.

Connecticut owns a 30-23 series lead over Pittsburgh, which includes wins in three of the last four meetings.

Pittsburgh tied a school record by shooting 67.4 percent from the floor in the victory over Cincinnati on Saturday. Five Panthers reached double figures in scoring, and the individual who posted the lowest output out of that group, Levance Fields, was arguably the most impressive. In addition to his 11 points, Fields dished out 13 assists with zero turnovers, proving once again to be one of the nation's truly elite floor generals. Sam Young and DeJuan Blair both shot 7-of-9 from the field, scoring 18 and 17 points, respectively. Jermaine Dixon added 14 points, and Gilbert Brown posted 12. Through 25 games, Young is scoring 17.9 ppg, while Blair adds 15.4 ppg and 12.3 rpg. Fields is netting 11.1 ppg, and the fact that he has racked up 191 assists against only 46 turnovers is staggering. The Panthers are generating 78.3 ppg while yielding a mere 62.1 ppg to the opposition.

UConn center Hasheem Thabeet is the most physically imposing player in all of college basketball. The 7-3 center played the best game of his career against Seton Hall on Saturday, as he finished with 25 points, 20 rebounds and nine blocks, narrowly missing what would have been a remarkable triple-double. The fact that Thabeet only committed one personal foul is proof of his tremendous discipline. While the big man shot 10-of-13 from the floor, the rest of the team combined to connect on only 12-of-44 field goal attempts. Jeff Adrien had 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Huskies, who played their first full game without Jerome Dyson, who may miss the rest of the season with a knee injury. Adrien leads UConn in scoring with 14.0 ppg, and he is second with 10.1 rpg. Thabeet checks in with 13.5 ppg, 10.8 rpg and 110 blocked shots, and those two players will have to help make up for the absence of Dyson's 13.2 ppg. A.J. Price, who has dished out 106 assists, is generating 12.1 ppg.

Supercazino NCAA Basketball Betting News

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.