Bulls to try and clip wings of 23rd-ranked Cardinals

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/07/2009 - Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 23rd-ranked Louisville Cardinals open the Big East portion of their schedule in Tampa tonight, as they take on the South Florida Bulls at the Sun Dome.

With disappointing losses to Western Kentucky, Minnesota and UNLV, the Cardinals find themselves on the verge of falling out of the Top 25 after entering the season with a loft No.3 ranking. The team though, showed its resiliency on Sunday, capturing a thrilling 74-71 victory over instate foe Kentucky. Now at 9-3 overall, Louisville turns its focus to the Big East, where it has opened play with a loss in each of the past four seasons. The Cardinals however, have rebounded to finish second in the league in each of the last two seasons.

As for USF, it kicked off its Big East slate on Friday, dropping a 59-54 decision to nationally-ranked Syracuse. It was a hard fought game, but an expected result, as the Bulls have now gone just 7-44 in conference play since joining the Big East. Losers of three of their last four games, USF now sits at just 5-8 on the campaign.

In regard to the all-time series, Louisville holds a 21-3 advantage over the Bulls and it has won seven straight and 10 of the last 11 meetings in the rivalry.

Edgar Sosa drained a three-pointer with 2.8 seconds remaining, lifting the Cardinals to a 74-71 victory over Kentucky on Sunday. It was a huge shot for Louisville and Sosa, who finished with a season-high 18 points. The Cardinals did a great job from long range all game long, hitting on 11-of-20 chances. Terrence Williams led the way with an all-around effort of 19 points, eight rebounds and five steals. Jerry Smith made all three of his long-range attempts for 11 points, while Earl Clark had 10 points and eight boards. Freshman Samardo Samuels, however, was limited to just four points due to foul trouble, but despite that performance, he still leads the team in scoring with 13.8 ppg on the season. Clark is second on the squad with 12.8 ppg, 8.6 rpg and 3.0 apg, while Williams adds 12.3 ppg and team highs of 8.8 rpg and 4.7 apg to the rotation. Louisville as a team, is scoring a solid 76.0 ppg and it has also fared well on defense, holding foes to just 38.1 percent shooting from the field.

The Bulls made only 36.7 percent of their attempts from the floor and just 4- of-23 from downtown, as they were unable to pull off the upset of Syracuse on Friday. The team also struggled a bit at the foul line, going 6-of-10, and was also dominated on the boards, 44-33. Dominique Jones guided USF in defeat with 17 points and three steals, while Mobolaji Ajayi had 15 points and seven rebounds. On the season, Jones has displayed his versatility by leading the Bulls in scoring (17.1 ppg), assists (4.0 apg) and steals (24). Jesus Verdejo has provided a solid second option at 15.5 ppg and he is shooting 37.6 percent from long range. He, however, was 0-of-10 from beyond the arc against Syracuse and is shooting a poor 59.0 percent at the foul line on the season. As a team, USF has struggled from both three-point range (.303) and at the charity stripe (.578) and that explains why it is only averaging 61.3 ppg.

Gamblingh NCAA Basketball Betting News

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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