Racers and Redhawks duke it out in OVC action
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
02/15/2012 - Cape Giradeau, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 16th-ranked Murray State Racers head to the Show Me Center for a rematch with the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks in what could be another Ohio Valley Conference thriller.
The Racers and Redhawks already met once this season, as their first contest resulted in a Murray State 81-73 victory after a hard-fought battle. SEMO had an 11-point lead in the first encounter on Feb. 2nd before the Racers rallied to pick up the victory. Murray State has a 49-17 lead in the all-time series.
Head coach Steve Prohm's squad accomplished one of its goals over the weekend as it secured a share of the OVC regular season title with a decisive 82-63 win over the Austin Peay Governors. A win tonight would give it the outright crown. Murray State is in its 10th week of being ranked in the national polls in what has been a remarkable season. Murray State had the distinction of being the last undefeated team among the 338 Division I programs. Prohm's 23-0 start to his career was the third best in NCAA history for a first-year coach. The Racers have dominated their opposition along the way, as it has outscored rivals by 13.4 points per game so far.
Canaan has been the leader for Murray State all season. The junior guard is ranked second in the league and 20th in the nation in scoring with 19.6 ppg and is also third in the OVC in assists with 3.8 per game. Donte Poole and Ivan Aska have been steadily contributing to Murray State's success. Poole has been slumping as of late, as he has shot 30 percent or worse from the field in his last four games. Aska is grabbing a team-best 5.8 boards per game. Jewuan Long stretches the defense with his 48.8 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
Head coach Dickey Nutt would love nothing more than to knock off the Racers in SEMO's regular season home finale. The Redhawks won their second game in a row on Saturday as they downed SIU Edwardsville 85-72 to improve to 9-4 in league action. SEMO proved in its first matchup with Murray State it is going to be no cakewalk. The Redhawks are even more dangerous as of late, as they have shot above 53 percent from the field and better than 40 percent from beyond the arc in each of their last two games. SEMO is averaging 72.0 ppg on the offensive end this season, which is the third highest average in the OVC.
SEMO is led by the trio of Tyler Stone, Marland Smith, and Leon Powell. Stone is pacing the squad with averages of 15.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. The sophomore forward was excellent his last time out as he finished with 20 points and nine rebounds. Smith is second on the squad in scoring with 12.8 ppg and Leon Powell contributes 11.2 points and 7.0 boards per contest. Marcus Brister does a great job distributing for the Redhawks, as he ranks second in the conference with 4.1 apg.
South Bend, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Notre Dame looks to continue its surge up the conference standings Wednesday when the 23rd-ranked Fighting Irish welcome Rutgers to the Joyce Center for a Big East Conference clash. Notre Dame made it six st
<< Missouri State comes calling on No. 24 Wichita State
Wichita, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 24th-ranked Wichita State Shockers put
their new-found status as Missouri Valley Conference front-runner on the line
Wednesday as Missouri State comes to town for a league showdown at Charles
Koch Arena.
W
<< ACC showdown pits Heels against 'Canes
Coral Gables, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The eighth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels
take to the road in search of their fourth straight ACC win away from Chapel
Hill, as they invade the BankUnited Center to take on the dangerous Miami-
Florida Hurri
<< Oklahoma State and Missouri battle in Big 12 brawl
Columbia, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The third-ranked Missouri Tigers continue
their quest for a Big 12 regular season crown, as they welcome the Oklahoma
State Cowboys to Columbia this evening, for a conference showdown at Mizzou
Arena.
Frank H
<< Lobos head to San Diego to take on 13th-ranked Aztecs
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Entering the week there were three teams tied
atop the Mountain West Conference standings and two of those programs go up
against each other tonight, as the 13th-ranked San Diego State Aztecs
entertain the New M
Zurich, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the first time since February 2001 Zambia finds itself in the top 50 in the latest edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men's World Rankings. The African Cup of Nations had a big impact on the ranking
Cavs' Irving cleared to return >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Cavaliers rookie point guard Kyrie
Irving was cleared to return to action.
Cavs team physician Dr. A.J. Cianflocco gave the first-overall pick the go-
ahead on Wednesday, hours before Cleveland
Rays give Maddon three-year extension >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Rays rewarded manager Joe
Maddon with a three-year contract extension on Wednesday.
Maddon took over the team prior to the 2006 season and suffered through two
losing campaigns before
Huddlestone undergoes second ankle operation >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tottenham announced Wednesday that
midfielder Tom Huddlestone will undergo a second operation in a bid to repair
an ankle injury sustained at the end of last season.
The North London club releas
Students arrested in TCU drug bust >>
Fort Worth, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Police made a drug bust at Texas Christian
University on Wednesday morning, a sting which reportedly included the
arrest of four football players.
According to the Star-Telegram, the six-month inv
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.
American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout
An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.
Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off. Randy was not impressed though. Paula thought he started off fantastic. "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either.
Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed. Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact. He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition.
Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula. Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.
Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next. Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential. Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell. He sang "Careless Whisper".
22 year old Chris Richardson was up next. He was listed with +1100 odds coming in. He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great.
Nick was boring and pitchy. Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week. Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition.
Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds . These of course were the early odds. He was considered original for picking an "odd song". He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night.
Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good.
Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds. Great voice and a great sense of humor. He's a real standout. Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit. Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig".
Jared Cotter followed. He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition. The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good.
22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next. "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon. Though the judges felt he performed okay. Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.
Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition. He was the last to perform. He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start.
Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys. Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.
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