Sports Betting Tips and Game Handicapping Picks » March Madness

UNC, 2009 National Champions!

Jeffdstuff — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:36:02 +0000

Tyler Hansbrough got the hero's sendoff he wanted.

After becoming the only team outside the Big East to earn one of four no.1 seeds for the tournament, after limping towards the 2009 NCAA Final Four with a hurting point guard and after simply dominating the tournament hosts, the North Carolina Tar Heels are the 2009 NCAA college basketball champions.

How about that huh? In Tyler Hansbrough’s senior year, the North Carolina Tar Heels became the 2009 national champions, sending off the face of their franchise like a hero.

Of course, Tyler Hansbrough could not be denied. And with the help of Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson, who was playing hurt, the Tar Heels simply destroyed Michigan State, 89-72, in a blowout win that was already over as early as the first half.

‘’I felt like it was fitting for us to do what this group just accomplished,'’ UNC coach Roy Williams said.

Hansbrough, playing his last game with the Tar Heels, scored 18 points. Wayne Ellington had 19 while Ty Lawson managed to score a game-high 21 points despite playing hurt.

But the story here is Tyler Hansbrough, a guy who came back for his senior year in North Carolina for one thing, win the championship. Of course, he didn’t want their embarrassing loss to Kansas last year in the Final Four to be the last game he would be remembered for.

‘’Sounds like I made a pretty good decision,'’ Tyler Hansbrough said, referring to him returning for his senior year. ‘’Nothing beats this feeling right here.'’

For the Michigan State Spartans, I guess playing for ...

The 2009 NCAA Final Four is ON

Jeffdstuff — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:08:00 +0000

The final four teams in college basketball will collide this weekend.

The cliché ‘’time flies when you’re having fun'’ is an old and dusty one, but it really holds true when it comes to the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament.

It seems like it was only yesterday when it was just Selection Sunday and with a blink of an eye, the opening round, the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight are all in the rearview mirror and now, the 2009 NCAA Final Four is here.

Last year, there weren’t really any surprises as each of top four seeds; the Memphis Tigers, the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Kansas Jayhawks and the UCLA Bruins all made the Final Four.

While there are two no.1 seeds this year with the North Carolina Tar Heels (again) and the Connecticut Huskies making it, the Michigan State Spartans and the Villanova Wildcats decided to crash the party as well, shocking some college hoops fans in the process.

Of the four, SPORTSBETTING.COM has UNC as the odds-on favorite to win the NCAA championship at -125 followed by the Connecticut Huskies at +250. Michigan State is listed at +500 and Villanova at +600.

Listed as a -7.5 point favorite, North Carolina will try to prevent the Villanova Wildcats from reliving its magical 1985 run (shocked Georgetown), while UConn, favored by 4.5-points, will try to punch a ticket to the final by defeating Michigan State.

With the big match-ups come a full menu of...

Michigan State is in the Final Four

Jeffdstuff — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:58:49 +0000

Detroit needed the Spartans to be this good.

The Big East may have two teams in the 2009 NCAA Final Four, but it’s Michigan State who will be hosting the party.

The Michigan State Spartans rode by its trademark, defense and rebounding, and threw in some balanced scoring to get to play in a Final Four just 90 miles from campus.

The Spartans capped the four-game run by beating overall no.1 seed Louisville, which was looking to join fellow Big East teams Connecticut and Villanova in the national semifinals.

Eight Spartans scored in double figures over the four games, but it was the steady play inside and sudden offense from Goran Suton allowed the Spartans to reach the Final Four for the fifth time since 1999. They will play the Connecticut Huskies next.

The regional semifinal win over defending national champion Kansas will become the signature win in what is turning out to be Michigan State’s Cinderella run, as the Spartans overcame a 13-point first-half deficit and went 16-of-17 from the free throw line to rally for the win.

Tom Izzo has taken Michigan State to the Final Four four times, winning it all in 2000, with his last appearance in 2005. Every player who has stayed for years under Izzo has reached the Final Four.

Kalin Lucas, the Big Ten’s player of the year...

Sweet 16 heat up March Madness

Jeffdstuff — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 08:20:16 +0000

We’re down to the final 16 teams.

And when we only have 16 teams remaining in the biggest tourney of college hoops, that only means one thing, the regional semifinals of the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament is on with only two more rounds to go before we determine which two teams will be advancing to play for the national title.

There’s no more room for error. And as far as the Louisville Cardinals are concerned, they shouldn’t allow themselves to make the same mistakes they made against Siena if they still have plans of advancing to the 2009 NCAA Final Four.

Sure, all four no.1 seeds in the tournament advanced but it wasn’t smooth sailing for the top-seeded Louisville Cardinals when these Sienna Saints refused to cooperative. You see, the Cardinals had a comfortable double-digit lead over Sienna and it did look like Louisville was on its way to advancing comfortably. But when the Saints, all of a sudden, erased that huge lead, the Cardinals started to panic.

For a team that has the overall no.1 seed in the tournament, Louisville struggling this early into the bracket was surprising. And while their fellow no.1 seeds like the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Connecticut Huskies and the Pittsburgh Panthers all took care of business as expected, Louisville struggling against Sienna in round two was surprising, and a reason to be concerned about if you’re a Cardinals fan.

If it wasn’t for Louisville Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino challenging his team, they wouldn’t be able to hold on to a 79-72 win. Pitino called a timeout after the Saints made a late rally. He told his team, ‘’you’ve got to prove to yourselves now you’re a great basketball team.'’ Luckily for him, his senior Terrence Williams got the message.

Terrence Williams led the Cardinals to counter...

UNC kicks off 2009 March Madness

Jeffdstuff — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 08:41:24 +0000

And they have the Radford Highlanders first.

Aside from the fact that North Carolina is the ONLY no.1 seeded team not coming out of the Big East, the Tar Heels are coming in the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament looking to win the national title in Tyler Hansbrough’s last hurrah. Hansbrough has been the face of UNC the last four years and it is only fitting for them to go and win the big one in Hansbrough’s senior year.

But will North Carolina be a good bandwagon to ride on to win a lot of dough until the end of the tournament? Sure, they have Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson but can these guys be enough for UNC to end up with the national title?

No.1 has been a tenuous position atop the polls all year and the North Carolina Tar Heels demonstrated this again last week, when they were dumped by the Florida State Seminoles in the ACC semi-finals. They were beat 73-70, failing to cover as 8.5-point favorites.

While the Tar Heels were hot down the stretch going 16-4 straight up in their last 20 games, they were far from profitable for their backers, as they limped to a 7-13 mark against the spread.

Bettors actually made out okay in the tilt between UNC and Florida State, as the No.1 team in the nation was only getting 54 percent of the betting action at the online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.COM (you just know I had to mention those guys right?) by tip-off. It appears many had this one handicapped right, feeling that was too many points to lay.

SPORTSBETTING.COM reported steady early action flowing in on UNC to win the South Region of the bracket this year, but bettors have been less enthusiastic so far on the Tar Heels to win it all. Perhaps the visions of them dropping that game to the Seminoles is still fresh.

They are still the favorites to cut the...

Your 2009 March Madness Bracket!

Jeffdstuff — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:02:04 +0000

Championship Week is finally over, setting us up for the biggest tournament in college hoops.

In case you didn’t get that, the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament will start things off on March 19, when round one of the 64-team tournament begins. The road for the college basketball national title officially begins and in case you haven’t felt it yet, March Madness is finally here.

The Louisville Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Panthers and the Connecticut Huskies have the Big East on the verge of putting up a huge impact in the tournament as all three teams from the conference are seeded no.1 this March.

The only no.1 seeded team not coming out of the Big East is the North Carolina Tar Heels of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The Tar Heels, despite losing in the ACC conference tournament, is seeded no.1 in the South division after securing the ACC regular season title.

The Louisville Cardinals are the top overall seed in the tournament and will play in the Midwest. Although they have fellow Big East rivals like the Connecticut Huskies and the Pittsburgh Panthers seeded at no.1 in the West and East divisions respectively, Louisville still is the Big East team to beat.

Unlike the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Connecticut Huskies and the Pittsburgh Panthers, the Louisville Cardinals are the only no.1 seeded team to win their conference tournament. And with a basketball genius like Rick Pitino running the team from the sidelines, Louisville will be a tough out in the tournament indeed.

The Duke Blue Devils wound up with the second seed with Pittsburgh in the East division despite winning the ACC tournament, beating the Florida State team the Tar Heels had lost to the day before. But since North Carolina swept Duke in the regular season, no.2 was the best they can do.

The Memphis Tigers got snubbed for...

Praying for March Madness seeding

Jeffdstuff — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:58:00 +0000

Selection Sunday is coming.

‘’The calm before the storm'’ is on as conference tournaments are now underway coming to the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament. It’s all about seedings to those teams hopeful to win the national title by season’s end with their seeds for March secured.

But in leagues such as the Atlantic Sun, Patriot and Sun Belt, it’s winner-take-all. There are no at-large bids, and the teams know that if they want to be in the March spotlight, they must win their league tournament first.

In the Big 12 Conference, the Kansas Jayhawks won the regular-season title by a game over Oklahoma, which lost twice while star big man Blake Griffin was sidelined by a concussion. One of those losses was at home to the Jayhawks. Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma are NCAA locks, while Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State look good for bids.

For the Big East, the Louisville Cardinals won the regular-season title by a game over Connecticut and Pittsburgh. If the Cardinals can also win the league tournament, they’re a good bet for a No.1 seed.

Seven Big East teams; Louisville, second-seeded Pittsburgh, third-seeded Connecticut Huskies, fourth-seeded Villanova, fifth-seeded Marquette, sixth-seeded Syracuse and seventh-seeded West Virginia, are NCAA locks.

The eighth-seeded Providence Friars could play itself into the field, but at a minimum, that would require getting to the semifinals, which would mean a victory over Louisville in the quarterfinals.

Cincinnati, Georgetown and Notre Dame could get firmly onto the...

Butler v Cleveland State on Tuesday

Jeffdstuff — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:25:51 +0000

The Butler Bulldogs, you may not hear much about them but as of press time, they are ranked no.17 in the nation.

Of course, like other bracket-bound teams, the Bulldogs can use all sorts of momentum heading to the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament. Thankfully, they have Gordon Howard to make things easier for them.

Gordon Hayward is a top candidate for Horizon League player of the year. All seven of the 6-foot-8 freshman swingman’s best games had him scoring 19 or more points, ironically, all of them have come on the road, including a career-best 27 points in the Bulldogs’ 75-63 victory at Davidson.

He is shooting 52.5 percent from 3-point distance and 85.9 percent at the free-throw line in 14 road games. Hayward said he enjoys playing in hostile environments like Davidson’s sold-out Belk Arena, which holds 5,223. The Butler Bulldogs improved to 11-3 on the road with their 75-63 victory at Davidson. No team in Division I has more road wins.

The last time the Bulldogs met up with the Cleveland State Vikings, Butler edged Cleveland State 50-48 on Dec. 4 on a 3-pointer by Zach Hahn with one second remaining, capping a wild finish that featured three lead changes in the last 19 seconds. The Bulldogs shot 31.5 percent from the field, but that was better than the Vikings at 25.9 percent. Cleveland State made just one of 11 3-pointers.

After the Vikings’ seven-game winning streak was finally snapped, expect them to bounce back against the Bulldogs. The Vikings entered the week in third place in the Horizon League with two games left. They were two games behind Butler and one behind...

Gonzaga – St. Mary’s Betting Tips

Jeffdstuff — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 08:57:16 +0000

It's Gonzaga going up against St. Mary's on Monday night.

And while we inch closer to the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament, teams on the bubble continue to jockey for position, all hoping that they’ll get the invite once Selection Sunday gets here.

You don’t need to tell the no.14 Gonzaga Bulldogs that. They have the St. Mary’s Gaels at the Orleans Arena on Monday night and will need all the momentum they can get heading for the bracket wars.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs are headed into this weekend’s West Coast Conference tournament as the favorites, nearly certain to make their 11th straight NCAA tournament. The Zags have won 16 of their 17 games in 2009, many by ridiculous margins.

The latest example was last week’s 90-40 demolition of South Carolina-Upstate. While no one expected the Spartans to win, the domination they’ll suffer from Gonzaga was unexpected. The Zags held them to 29 percent shooting and forced 26 turnovers, while committing only four themselves. They outscored the Spartans 37-2 off turnovers, 36-18 in the paint and 16-2 in transition.

With a returning core of all-WCC players like Jeremy Pargo, Josh Heytvelt and Matt Bouldin, plus emerging stars Austin Daye and Steven Gray, and sharpshooter Micah Downs, expectations were high that this might be the first Zags team since the 1999 squad to get past the Round of 16.

Heytvelt is certainly doing his part, averaging 15 points and nearly seven rebounds per game. Bouldin is averaging 13 points, Daye 12, and...

Who’ll get Invite to March Madness 09?

Jeffdstuff — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 03:16:23 +0000

Selection Sunday is on March 15, in case you didn’t know.

That means, you should now be getting ready for the March Madness bracket tournament with Selection Sunday just around the corner. The opening round of the tournament begins on March 17 as the rest of the field gets narrowed down to four for the 2009 NCAA Final Four on April 4 and 6 at Ford Field in Detroit Michigan.

The predictions for which college teams will be picked for the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament have been coming out since the last tournament finished. The phrase ‘’March Madness'’ was coined by Henry V. Porter in 1939, to describe an Illinois high school basketball tourney. Brent Musburger first used it during his NCAA coverage in 1982 causing a legal battle almost as insane as the playoffs. But everyone finally worked things out and the madness was official. There isn’t a good record of who first called the playoffs ‘The Big Dance,’ but it does describe the action.

The five schools who have the winningnest history in NCAA Division I Men’s basketball include UCLA with 11 championships; Kentucky who won the March Madness tourney seven times; Indiana with 5 Big Dance victories; the North Carolina Tar Heels having outlasted all the other teams 4 times, including their championship win in 2005, and Duke with 3 titles.

There are 8 teams that won twice and others who are trying to reach that goal this year.

Leading the division in the America East are the Vermont Catamounts and Binghamton Bearcats. The Catamounts have a 23-7 record with a 13-3 card in conference play while the Bearcats have a 20-8 mark.Mike Trimboli, a candidate for America East Player of the Year honors, was doubtful with an undisclosed illness that forced him to miss the regular-season finale at Maine. That ended a streak of 123 straight starts for the senior. How valuable is he? He finished second in the conference in assists, steals and assist/turnover ratio, third in free-throw percentage, fifth in scoring and 3-point percentage, tied for seventh in minutes played and ninth in...