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Bears face tall task in NCAA Tournament clash with MountaineersNCAA Basketball Betting Lines03/19/2010 - Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The second-seeded West Virginia Mountaineers are obviously heavily favored in this afternoon's clash with the 15th-seeded Morgan State Bears in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Awaiting the winner of this tilt is a second-round meeting with either seventh-seeded Clemson or 10th-seeded Missouri, fellow East Region participants. Not only did Morgan State win the regular-season crown in the MEAC, the team went on to capture the league's tourney title as well. At 27-9 overall, the Bears are a confident club, led by head coach Todd Bozeman. MEAC teams have recorded two wins over second-seeded squads in former NCAA Tournaments, so there is reason for some hope. Last season, Morgan State made its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance as a Division I program, and the result was a 28- point loss to Oklahoma in the first round. West Virginia is making its 23rd appearance in the "Big Dance" and third straight under head coach Bob Huggins. The Mountaineers, who are 27-6 overall, won the Big East Tournament title and had a resume' that was certainly worthy of No. 1 seed consideration, so Huggins didn't attempt to conceal the fact that he was disappointing with the No. 2 seed. The club finished sixth in the final AP Poll, the best finish for the program since placing fifth in 1960. WVU is 20-22 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and is heavily favored in this opener. The Mountaineers beat the Bears by 28 points in the only previous meeting between the programs during the 1995-96 campaign. Morgan State garnered the top four individual awards given annually by the MEAC. Reggie Holmes is the MEAC Player of the Year, while Bozeman is the league's Coach of the Year. DeWayne Jackson is the MEAC Rookie of the Year, and Kevin Thompson is the conference's Defensive Player of the Year. Let's start with Holmes, an explosive senior guard who nets 21.8 ppg despite shooting just 39.3 percent from the floor. Thompson is ripping down 11.9 rpg to go along with 50 blocks, and he is scoring 12.8 ppg. As for Jackson, he provides 10.1 ppg on the strength of his 43.9 percent three-point efficiency. The Bears are generating 76.8 ppg while allowing 70.2 ppg to foes. Holmes is a streaky shooter who can completely dominate a game when he gets hot. He closed out the regular season with back-to-back games of 32 and 36 points, but then failed to reach 20 points in any of the three conference tournament games. West Virginia played a couple of tough non-conference games during the regular season, and while the club did fall to Purdue on the road, it managed to knock off Ohio State in Morgantown. The Mountaineers are averaging 73.0 ppg through 33 contests, and they are limiting opponents to 63.8 ppg on 42.4 percent shooting from the floor. Da'Sean Butler is generating 17.4 ppg to pace the team, and the versatile standout has also handed out 109 assists. Kevin Jones, who has started all 33 games alongside Butler, checks in with 13.5 ppg on 51.9 percent shooting from the floor, and he is ripping down 7.1 rpg. The top rebounder on the squad is Devin Ebanks with his 8.2 rpg, and he rounds out the double-digit scorers with 11.8 ppg. WVU is outrebounding foes by 6.8 rpg, key to the team's overall success. Also, the Mountaineers have done a solid job of keeping turnovers to a minimum.
<< Cat Fight in Buffalo, as Missouri takes on Clemson in "Big Dance"
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The seventh-seeded Clemson Tigers and the 10th- seeded Missouri Tigers will do battle this afternoon in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament from HSBC Arena in Buffalo. The winner of this East Regional b
<< Big Red hoping to score upset of Owls in NCAA Tournament
<< Terps open tourney play against Cougars
<< Midwest Regional action pits Cowboys against Yellow Jackets
<< Cardinals and Golden Bears collide in South Region's first round
Oakland seeks upset of Pittsburgh in NCAA Tournament >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Riding an 11-game win streak, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies are in to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history as they confront the Pittsburgh Panthers in first-round action in the West Regional
Orange hope to avoid upset in NCAA Tournament clash with Catamounts >>
Top-seeded Duke opens tourney play against Arkansas-Pine Bluff >>
Upset-minded Saints set sights on Boilermakers >>
Utah State and Texas A&M meet in South Regional action >>
FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 millionIn the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree. And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so. Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal. So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them. Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.) The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money. As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached. The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs. In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season. Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done. And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting. So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year. There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve. So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal. And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million. There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.) Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft. Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey. Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year. So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation. To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs. |
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