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12/09/2006 - Reno, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bragging rights in the Silver State are on the line tonight as the 20th-ranked Nevada Wolf Pack welcome the UNLV Runnin' Rebels to the Lawlor Events Center in Reno.
The Pack have run out to a perfect 7-0 mark in the first month of the 2006-07 campaign and recently took out California by a score of 77-71 during the Pete Newell Challenge in San Jose on Sunday night.
As for the Rebels, they too have gotten off to a strong start as far as wins and losses are concerned, going six up and two down to this point. On Tuesday night, the team captured its second win of the season against the Hawaii Warriors, this time posting a narrow 61-58 victory out in Honolulu.
With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, the Rebels may hold a commanding 48-19 advantage over Nevada, but the last three meetings have been claimed by the Wolf Pack. The most recent of those conquests took place last season in Las Vegas with a 68-61 triumph.
Single free throws by Wink Adams and Curtis Terry in the waning moments proved to be the difference at the Stan Sheriff Center on Tuesday as the Rebels captured the three-point victory over Hawaii. Wendell White recorded a double- double for UNLV with his 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Adams and Gaston Essengue accounted for 15 and 12 points, respectively, to make up for a lackluster effort by Kevin Kruger who made just 1-of-7 shots from the floor to eventually finish with eight points and four of the team's seven assists. White, the scoring leader in half the team's games thus far, is currently pouring in 15.5 ppg thanks to 53.0 percent shooting from the field. Unfortunately, his woeful 51.5 percent effort at the free-throw line prevents him from being recognized as one of the top scorers in the Mountain West Conference at the moment. Kruger was supposed to be the top addition to this squad, but even though he's putting up 11.2 ppg and is first with 27 assists through his six games, it's hard to overlook his 37 percent accuracy from the field and meager 27.5 percent effort out on the perimeter.
What makes Nevada such a dangerous team this season is the fact that Nick Fazekas doesn't always have to be the savior for the group. Against California he put up just 12 points, although he was the top guy with 16 rebounds, adding three assists and a pair of blocks to his stat line. Marcelus Kemp tallied a team-high 20 points, followed by Ramon Sessions who scored 19 points and handed out a team-best six assists as well. Kyle Shiloh chipped in 14 points in 23 minutes. Once determined to make himself into a legitimate inside-outside threat, someone got into the head of Fazekas and convinced him that his strength was in the paint, which is why he is currently leading the nation in rebounding with close to 14 caroms per contest. As a top-20 scorer with 22.6 ppg, there are few in college basketball who rival his talent, just as long as he doesn't stray too far, too often. He still has his touch on the outside where he's made 53.3 percent, but he would be doing himself and Nevada a great disservice if he didn't work to his strengths. Kemp (19.1 ppg) has been more than capable at taking over the perimeter shooting with his 20-of-41 effort behind the three-point line.
<< Wooden Classic features Top-10 matchup
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The John Wooden Classic in Anaheim will feature
a top-10 matchup, as the sixth-ranked Texas A&M Aggies take on the top-
ranked UCLA Bruins from the Honda Center.
The Bruins have won all seven of thei
<< Pitts seeks fifth straight 10-0 start
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The second-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers have
traveled to Buffalo for a non-conference clash with the Bulls.
Pittsburgh has won its first nine games and will attempt to move to 10-0 for
the fifth consecut
<< Memphis seeks redemption in todays' tilt with Ole Miss
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off a rather lopsided loss to an
intra-state rival, the 16th-ranked Memphis Tigers will attempt to get back
on track by knocking off the Ole Miss Rebels in a non-league clash.
Ole Miss
<< North Carolina overwhelming favorite versus High Point
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The third-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels
return to action for the first time in a week, as they host the High Point
Panthers in a non-conference showdown from the Smith Center in Chapel Hill.
The
Wisconsin battles Marquette in Badger State bash >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In what may prove to be the day's best
college basketball game, the 17th-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles welcome
the 11th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers to town for a non-conference clash.
Wisconsin
Yellow Jackets come calling on Commodores >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 25th-ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
of the ACC and the Vanderbilt Commodores of the SEC will meet in Nashville
today.
Georgia Tech got off to a great start this season with wins in each
Memphis seeks redemption in today's tilt with Ole Miss >>
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off a rather lopsided loss to an
intra-state rival, the 16th-ranked Memphis Tigers will attempt to get back
on track by knocking off the Ole Miss Rebels in a non-league clash.
Ole Miss
Smith, Quinn and McFadden up for Heisman Trophy >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Heisman Trophy will be awarded Saturday
night in New York and Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith is the favorite to
take home college football's most prestigious individual award.
Notre Dame quarter
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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