Jerebko, Collison named NBA rookies of the month

Basketball Betting Lines

03/01/2010 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Pistons forward Jonas Jerebko and New Orleans Hornets guard Darren Collison were selected as the NBA's top rookies for the month of February.

Jerebko captured the Eastern Conference award -- snapping Milwaukee Bucks guard Brandon Jennings' streak of three consecutive monthly awards -- after averaging 10.2 points and 6.0 rebounds in 13 contests, as the Pistons went 6-7.

Collison got Western Conference honors after posting per-game averages of 21.6 points, 8.3 assists and 1.8 steals in 13 games while filling in for the injured Chris Paul. On February 19 in a win against Indiana, the UCLA product recorded his first career triple-double with 18 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists.

Other nominees for the awards included Jennings and Golden State's Stephen Curry -- last month's winners -- in addition to Minnesota's Jonny Flynn, New Orleans' Marcus Thornton and Sacramento's Tyreke Evans.

Footballchancesports Basketball Betting News

<< Second straight win gets Miyazato to third
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ai Miyazato's second consecutive win on the LPGA Tour moved her up to third in this week's Women's World Golf Rankings. Miyazato got to fourth with her win at the Honda PTT LPGA Thailand two

<< Opening poll starts where previous left off
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first NTRA Thoroughbred Poll of 2010 has a very similar look to the last of 2009. The final poll of last year came out after the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita Park. Finishing in first-place was

<< Bucks' Redd to undergo surgery Tuesday to repair torn ACL
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Redd will undergo surgery Tuesday to repair the torn ACL in his left knee. Redd, who suffered the injury for the second time in two years in January, will begin rehabi

<< On College Basketball: Moving week for NCAA bids
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - During what is the final week of regular season play for most of the 2010 NCAA Tournament at-large candidates, this week's matchups are going to keep the lines moving for dance cards. Some teams are going no

<< Flyers put Emery on IR, waive Cote
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Flyers placed goaltender Ray Emery on long-term injured reserve and waived forward Riley Cote on Monday. Emery had been on injured reserve since February 3 after suffering a left-

Skiles and Brooks named top coaches for February >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scott Skiles of the Milwaukee Bucks and Scott Brooks from the Oklahoma City Thunder were selected as the NBA's top coaches for the month of February. Skiles led Milwaukee to a 10-4 record in the ye

Richmond adds Trott and Coleman to coaching staff >>
Richmond, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - University of Richmond football coach Latrell Scott announced the additions of Bob Trott and Roy Coleman to the coaching staff. Trott will serve as the defensive coordinator, while Coleman w

Patrick has much more to learn in NASCAR before her return >>
Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Danica-mania in NASCAR is over...for the time being, anyway. The Nationwide Series received more attention than ever during the month of February due to the hype surrounding Danica Patrick's foray into stock

Timberwolves waive C Blount >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Timberwolves waived center Mark Blount on Monday. The T'wolves received Blount in a trade with the Miami Heat for Quentin Richardson last August, but he has not appeared in a game

Wozniak reaches second round in Mexico >>
Monterrey, Mexico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seventh-seeded Aleksandra Wozniak was a first-round winner Monday at the $220,000 Monterrey Open tennis event. The Canadian Wozniak was tied with Laura Granville at 3-3 in the first set on Day 1 when the

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com