No. 1 Kentucky visits SEC rival South Carolina

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/26/2010 - Columbia, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kentucky Wildcats have earned the top spot in the latest AP poll, and they are slated to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks tonight in SEC action.

Kentucky has won all 19 games it has played this season under the guidance of first-year head coach John Calipari. The Wildcats improved to 4-0 in conference on Saturday with a 101-70 victory over Arkansas. Tonight's game marks just the fourth true road affair for Kentucky.

As for South Carolina, it has suffered three consecutive defeats to fall to 11-8 overall and 2-3 in the SEC. The Gamecocks have been held below 60 points in back-to-back outings, including Saturday's 58-56 loss to Florida. The team has reason for optimism tonight, however, as eight of its 10 home games thus far have resulted in victory.

Kentucky owns a commanding 41-9 series advantage over South Carolina, but the Gamecocks crushed the Wildcats, 77-59, in the most recent meeting last season.

Kentucky freshman guard John Wall is widely regarded as the best player in all of college basketball. Wall is averaging 17.0 ppg to go with 124 assists and 38 steals, and he is surrounded by tremendous talent. Patrick Patterson is a star forward/center who brings 15.9 ppg and 7.8 rpg to the mix while shooting 61.2 percent from the field. DeMarcus Cousins, a freshman power forward, provides 15.4 ppg and 9.5 rpg, and Eric Bledsoe checks in with 11.3 ppg. The Wildcats are racking up 83.2 ppg on nearly 50 percent shooting from the floor, including 38.1 percent from three-point range. Defensively, the squad is holding foes to 65.6 ppg, and a rebounding advantage of more than 10 boards per contest has certainly helped matters. Darius Miller led Kentucky with 18 points in the easy win over Arkansas on Saturday, while Cousins and Wall added 16 points apiece. The Wildcats earned a 59-39 rebounding advantage and limited the Razorbacks to 30.6 percent field goal efficiency.

South Carolina guard Devan Downey has been sensational in recent weeks, as he has led his team in scoring in eight consecutive outings, netting 25 or more points on six of those occasions. Downey is netting 21.9 ppg overall to go along with 3.6 apg, but injuries have depleted his supporting cast. Brandis Raley-Ross checks in with 10.1 ppg, and while the club is generating 74.8 ppg, the offensive play has been shaky recently. The fact that Downey scored 36 of his team's 56 points in Saturday's loss to Florida suggests that South Carolina has become a one-man team. Downey shot 12-of-25 against the Gators, but the rest of the team hit just 9-of-30 shots.

Wwjazzsports NCAA Basketball Betting News

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Super Bowl 2009 Betting

Super Bowl 2009 Betting propositions

Underdog bettors love the Super Bowl and, history suggests, the underdogs love them back. And the big dogs bite harder.

Even so, there is a warning in store for Super Bowl gamblers who must love dogs: The Arizona Cardinals Super Bowl betting lines might not be enough of a Cinderella to make it worth your while.

Although the Cardinals were widely panned as one of the worst division winners and least playoff-worthy teams in recent memory, their trip to Super Bowl XLIII Jan. 31 in Tampa against the Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl betting lines comes with a little more respect from the oddsmakers than you might imagine. They are a 7-point underdog at most sports books.

If you count yourself among those who covet the big dog in the big game, this isn’t exactly great news. You should have been hoping for more points. This is because the facts show that the bigger the dog, the better the bet in the Super Bowl.

Case in point: Over the past 13 seasons, double-figure underdogs in the Super Bowl are 4-0-1 ATS and have won the past three outright. In fact, the last double-digit chalk to do the deed for bettors was the 1995 San Francisco 49ers, who managed to beat the astounding 19-point spot afforded backers of the San Diego Chargers in the 49-26 romp in Super Bowl XXIX.

By contrast, 7-point favorites are 2-1-1 ATS in the same span, the last such contest resulting a cover grinded out by the Colts in their 29-17 win over the Bears two seasons ago in Super Bowl XLI.

In 2004, the Patriots failed to cover the number in their 32-29 triumph over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl props while the Rams and Titans gave everyone a refund in 2000 after the Rams posted a 23-16 win as a seven-point favorite.

So while Arizona’s run has included impressive upsets as a 10-point road underdog to the Carolina Panthers and Sunday’s 32-25 win in the NFC championship game to the 4-point favored Philadelphia Eagles, their long-shot story lacks a bit of the David vs. Goliath storyline of past Super Bowl underdogs.

While the seven-point spread represents a significant gap in the perception of strength between the two teams, it is far from monumental. For example, last season the Giants were the wild-card afterthought turned road-warrior buzzsaw, with stunning wins over the Buccaneers, Cowboys and Packers to earn their place in the Super Bowl.

There, they played spoiler to New England’s bid to become the first 19-0 team in NFL history and cemented their place in sports betting lore with a 17-14 win as a 12.5-point underdog.

In other words, the Cardinals appear to have their work cut out for them as a mid-range underdog. But in homage to the spread beaters who have come before them, here is a brief look back at recent colossal upsets in the Super Bowl:

SB XLII -- 2008 -- New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14 (Giants +12.5) – Eli Manning’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress in the final minute clinched the historic upset for the Giants, who used a masterful defensive plan to slow down Tom Brady and the previously undefeated New England Patriots.

XXXVI -- 2002 -- Patriots 20, Rams 17 (Patriots +14) – This was the coming out party for the aforementioned Brady, who went from obscure sixth-round draft pick to Super Bowl hero in one fell swoop. He led the game-winning drive in the final minute – eschewing analyst John Madden’s advice to take a knee and play for overtime – leading to Adam Vinatieri’s memorable 48-yard field goal that split the uprights as time expired.

XXXII 1998 Broncos 31, Packers 24 (Denver +12) – The first of John Elway’s two consecutive Super Bowl titles to put an end to his Hall of Fame career was an upset for the ages. The Broncos used the determination of Elway and a 157-yard, three-touchdown performance from Terrell Davis to turn back Brett Favre and the heavily favored Packers.

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