Shockers battle Panthers for MVC Tournament crown

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/07/2010 - St. Louis. MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gunning for their second straight Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship, top-seeded Northern Iowa takes on second-seeded Wichita State in the title game this afternoon at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

UNI, which defeated Illinois State in overtime last year to capture its second MVC Tournament title, first took care of Drake in the quarterfinals on Friday with a 55-40 triumph and then yesterday dismissed fifth-seeded Bradley by almost an identical score (57-40) to advance.

As for the Shockers, a program that has two MVC crowns but hasn't won it all since 1987, they too received a bye through the opening round and then took care of Missouri State (73-63) on Friday and Illinois State (65-61) yesterday.

With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, UNI owns a 22-18 advantage, but the programs split a pair of regular-season meetings with each winning on the road.

Toure' Murry tallied a team-best 17 points, shooting 6-og-9 from the field, as he helped lead Wichita State to the win against the Redbirds on Saturday afternoon. Also hitting for double figures were Garrett Stutz and Demetric Williams with 12 points apiece, the squad shooting just 4-of-14 behind the three-point line but still managing to get by. Clevin Hannah, who tallied eight points on a mere 3-of-10 effort from the field, is the leading scorer for the Shockers to this point with his 12.1 ppg, just fractions of a point ahead of Murry (12.0 ppg) who has not only handed out 105 assists and made 49 steals, but it also one of the leaders on the glass for the group with close to five boards per outing. Defensively, WSU has held opponents to just 61.2 ppg this season.

As for the Panthers, they held their second straight opponents to a mere 40 points and limited Bradley to just 33.3 percent shooting from the floor and 1- of-10 behind the three-point line yesterday afternoon. Jordan Eglseder and Marc Sonnen both delivered 10 points for the squad in an effort to offset a 2- of-11 shooting effort by Ali Farokhmanesh as he finished with just five points. UNI escaped the meeting with just 37.9 percent shooting from the floor. Adam Koch, who responded with seven points yesterday, is tied with Eglseder atop the overall scoring list this season with 12.1 ppg. Eglseder is good for almost seven and a half rebounds per game, yet it is still difficult to get beyond the fact that he has just 18 assists in his 28 starts. Not much of an offensive team this year with an average of only 63.2 ppg, the Panthers are getting the job done by holding foes to a mere 54.4 ppg, representing one of the top efforts in the nation.

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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