Trojans attempt to slay Golden Bears in Berkeley

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/27/2007 - Berkeley, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In an attempt to salvage something from their trip to the Bay Area, the 25th-ranked USC Trojans will take on the California Golden Bears in Pac-10 play from Haas Pavilion this evening.

The Trojans joined the top-25 this past week and in their first defense of that national ranking, got routed by Stanford on Thursday, 65-50. The loss dropped USC to 15-6 overall and 5-3 in league play, two games out of first place.

The Golden Bears have lost two games in a row, including a 62-46 setback to third-ranked UCLA on Thursday. The loss dropped the Bears to an even 4-4 in Pac-10 play and 12-8 overall.

California holds a 124-113 edge in the all-time series with USC and registered a three-game sweep of the Trojans a season ago.

USC got abused by Stanford on Thursday, as the team got 19 shots blocked by the Cardinal in a 15-point loss. Nick Young led the charge offensively for the Trojans, finishing with 13 points. He was joined in double figures by Taj Gibson and Gabe Pruitt, who added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Poor shooting was the culprit in the loss, as USC shot a miserable .284 from the floor (19-of-67), including a .235 clip from behind the arc (4-of-17). This is not an offensive juggernaut by any stretch of the imagination, so when the team is struggling to find its range, bad things will happen. On the year, USC is netting just 70.8 ppg, but makes up for it by allowing a mere 60.8. Young has been the top option at the offensive end, throwing down 17.0 ppg, Lodrick Stewart is next with 13.4 ppg, while the freshman Gibson has proved to be one of the Pac-10's most exciting youngsters, averaging a near double-double with 12.9 points and 9.0 rebounds per outing.

California has its own freshman phenom in the form of 6-10 Ryan Anderson. The talented forward/center leads the Golden Bears in scoring (17.1 ppg) and rebounding (8.8 rpg) and is converting nearly 50 percent of his shots on the year (.496). Ayinde Ubaka is a viable second option offensively at 14.0 ppg, but injuries have cost the team valuable scoring depth beyond that. To make matters worse, the team is without the services of Eric Vierneisel, who has stepped up of late with a key injury to DeVon Hardin (10.7 ppg, 8.4 rpg). Vierneisel injured his ankle in practice on Wednesday and won't return until next week. In the loss to UCLA, Cal shot just .367 from the floor and lost the battle on the boards, 36-25. Theo Robertson led the team on the scoreboard with 16 points. Anderson was on the only one to join him in double figures, finishing with 13 points, on 6-of-13 shooting.

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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

You can find these lines and all of the NFL betting lines , so be sure to login and get your wagers down before kickoff!

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