College Basketball – Page 221

Tomlinson, Toronto, Tournament, and The Olympics

Posted on February 23, 2010February 23, 2010 by T.O. Whentam in College Basketball,NFL,Sports Handicapping

Olympic Bet of the Day – Alright, enough fooling around – it’s time to do some winning. Like my fellow Canadians I am underperforming so far during these Olympics, but like my Canadians I plan to close strong. We’re going to start this road back to redemption with a nice, hopefully winning, five event parlay. It will include: Russia (+138) to win women’s biathlon relay, Sven Kramer (-510) to win the men’s 10,000m speedskating, Didier Cuche (-165) to beat Bode Miller in the giant slalom, Canada (-4.5 -114) over Germany in hockey, and Switzerland (-1 +110) over Belarus in hockey. That will pay $1702 if and when it wins.

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Fast, Faster, and Twisty-Turny-High-ness

Posted on February 18, 2010February 18, 2010 by T.O. Whentam in College Basketball,NBA,Sports Handicapping

Olympic Bet of the Day – We got back to the winning ways thanks to the dominance of Lindsey Vonn. She paid off at even money (less by post time), so she netted me $100. That means I’m down just $125 and climbing. Happy days are ahead. To try to keep up the winning spirit I’m going to go right back to the well. Lindsey Vonn skis again today – this time in the Super Combined. That event involves one run of the downhill and one run of slalom. Vonn is far from the best slalom skier out there, but she is competent, and I think that her downhill competence and current form gives her a good chance of opening up as much of a lead as she’ll need. She pays +240 to win, so she’s worth a shot.

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Kansas, UConn, and Curling

Posted on February 16, 2010 by T.O. Whentam in College Basketball,Sports Handicapping

Olympic Bet of the Day – We came darned close yesterday – our Japanese skater finished second by a very small margin. That means that we are down $125 after three days of betting. We’re going to get it back today by betting on women’s curling. I may get my passport taken away here because Canada loves their curling, but I am going to bet against them. Canada is the favorite in the tournament, and I like their chances of hitting the podium, but they have no international experience and little experience dealing with the pressure of large-crowd tournaments. Their first game is against he Swiss. Mirjam Ott has the distinction of being the only curler to own two curling medals – both silver. She’s a wily veteran and will be more settled early than Bernard and Canada. The Swiss are at +175, and I see a lot of value there.

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Tuesday Notes

Posted on February 9, 2010February 10, 2010 by T.O. Whentam in College Basketball,NBA

I’m fairly confident that there is going to be a Big Ten team in the Final Four. There isn’t a lot of depth there this year, but they have three very good teams at the top. I’m not sure which one of the teams is going to be the finalists, but we got a pretty good hint of what could happen today when Purdue headed to Michigan State and emerged with a very convincing win. They won the game by 12 thanks to a monster performance from E’Twaun Moore. Kalin Lucas didn’t start for the Spartans, but he did play 29 minutes, so they can’t use that as an excuse. Purdue unquestionably staked a claim atop the conference with the win. They’ve faltered down the stretch the last couple of years as they have had key bodies wear down. They seem reasonably healthy this year, so they will be fun to watch. They have the advantage of playing the Final Four very close to home in Indianapolis if they make it, so that stands as an added incentive. It will also be a huge incentive that the team knows that if they don’t get there this year then they won’t for a while because next year will certainly be a rebuilding year.

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Wednesday Notes – Lots Going On

Posted on January 27, 2010January 27, 2010 by T.O. Whentam in College Basketball,NBA,Sports Handicapping

There is a whole lot going on out there today, so we’ll quickly touch on a bunch of them:

1. Roger Federer – Federer closed strong last night to make the semi-finals of the Australian Open. Win or lose, it is the 23rd consecutive Grand Slam he has made at least the semi’s in. Just think about how stunning that is for a second – there are only four Grand Slams a year, so for almost six years in a row Federer has finished at least in the top four of the hardest, deepest tournaments in the year. That’s on three different types of surfaces as well, and they are spread out over eight months. I dare you to name another current athlete that has been that consistently dominant for that long. There isn’t one.

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Basketball of All Types

Posted on January 21, 2010January 21, 2010 by T.O. Whentam in College Basketball,NBA

Chris Bosh scored 44 points and 12 rebounds in Milwaukee last night. No other starter had more than 13 points, and the Raptors lost to the Bucks by six. Note to the Raptors – hanging your best player out to dry like that is not a very good way to get said best player to stick around once he becomes a free agent.

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Ten Rapid-fire Sunday Notes

Posted on January 17, 2010January 17, 2010 by T.O. Whentam in College Basketball,NBA,NFL

1. My beloved Wolverines beat UConn today, and looked good doing it. The tournament dreams are still on life-support, but this certainly helps keep them alive. The next three games – all conference contests against good, ranked squads – will be crucial.

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Six Thoughts on a Wednesday

Posted on January 13, 2010 by T.O. Whentam in College Basketball,College Football,NFL

1. The more I think about it, the more I become convinced that Lane Kiffin is the worst hire a major contender has made in, well maybe ever. He’s proven nothing as a coach, he has absolutely no loyalty or staying power, and recruits won’t trust him as far as they can throw him after what he did to Tennessee. Remarkably terrible decision.

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Friday Notes

Posted on December 11, 2009 by T.O. Whentam in College Basketball,NFL

Something is very rotten in Pittsburgh. There is really no way to explain how the Steelers managed to lose to the Browns last night. The stats are just staggering. They lost to a team that has a quarterback who completed six of 19 passes for 90 yards. The Browns’ leading rusher was Josh Cribbs – a wide receiver. Cribbs only had 87 yards, but he outgained the entire Steelers team by 12 yards. Big Ben was sacked eight times. This was as bad as a legitimate team can possibly play. The offensive line was offensive, the defense didn’t care, receivers were quitting on routes – absolutely nothing went well. The defending Super Bowl champs have now dropped five in a row, and you really have to wonder what Mike Tomlin is going to do about this, and maybe even f he is going to survive it. Injuries – Troy Polamalu chief among them – are a big part of the story, but that’s not an excuse. It could be an excuse for not winning the division, but it’s not an excuse for a five game slide and a loss to the freaking Browns. Now they have nine days to sit and stew in their own misery before their next game. It will be very interesting to watch what goes on in Pittsburgh over the next few weeks.

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The Big Ten – ACC Challenge

Posted on December 1, 2009 by T.O. Whentam in College Basketball

I’m a big Big Ten fan. That’s been a rough thing to be over the last few years – especially since Michigan is my favored corner of the conference. Because of that I look at the Big Ten – ACC Challenge, which runs today and tomorrow, with more than a little fear. The concept of this series is brilliant – each team in the Big Ten plays a team in the ACC each year, and the team that wins more of the 11 games wins the Challenge for that year. Despite the fact that the Big Ten has had some really good teams over the last decade the event has happened the ACC has managed to win every edition of the Challenge. Even worse, Michigan State is the only team in the Big Ten that has a winning record in the Challenge. It has been total ACC domination. I’m hoping for different this year. Here’s a very brief look at the games and how they set up for each conference. The Challenge actually got an early start this year, when Penn State beat Virginia last night, so the Big Ten already has a head start. As you can see, I see it as anyone’s Challenge at this point:

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Tomlinson, Toronto, Tournament, and The Olympics

Fast, Faster, and Twisty-Turny-High-ness

Kansas, UConn, and Curling

Tuesday Notes

Wednesday Notes – Lots Going On

Basketball of All Types

Ten Rapid-fire Sunday Notes

Six Thoughts on a Wednesday

Friday Notes

The Big Ten – ACC Challenge

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