Lions visit Gaels in pivotal WCC clash

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

02/15/2012 - Moraga, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 21st-ranked Saint Mary's-CA Gaels put their perfect home record on the line for the final time this season, as they entertain the Lions of Loyola Marymount in a West Coast Conference clash tonight at McKeon Pavilion.

Loyola Marymount is enjoying a solid season, as the team is 16-10 overall and 9-4 in conference. The Lions, who are playing their fourth game in nine days, are coming off a 78-59 loss at Gonzaga, the setback putting an end to their recent four-game win streak. LMU is 8-3 in true road games this year, and the recent loss to the Bulldogs snapped a six-game road winning streak.

Saint Mary's is a stellar 23-3 on the year, 12-1 in WCC action, and the team's 16-0 home record is the best in school history. The only other undefeated home season was in 1958-59 (8-0). The Gaels, who are one of only eight teams nationally to have won at least 25 games in each of the previous four seasons, took out Santa Clara in their most recent outing, 82-67, rebounding from its first loss since before Christmas as it fell to league rival Gonzaga, 73-59, last Thursday.

SMC owns a 77-53 lead in the all-time series with LMU, and the Gaels have won the last 11 meetings, including a 71-64 decision in Los Angeles back on January 26.

Drew Viney scored 24 points and Anthony Ireland tallied 23, but those efforts went for naught as Loyola Marymount suffered a 19-point loss at Gonzaga last Saturday. No other Lion scored more than three points, as the team shot just 39.3 percent from the floor in scoring its fewest points since putting up a mere 58, also against Gonzaga, on January 14. LMU went just 6-of-23 from three-point range and grabbed only 24 rebounds, compared to 37 caroms for the Bulldogs, who finished the game at 51.9 percent field goal efficiency while laying claim to a 17-9 edge in points from the foul line. Viney and Ireland rank one-two on the team's scoring list for the year, netting 16.3 and 15.4 ppg, respectively. Jared DuBois and Ashley Hamilton round out the unit's double-digit scorers with 10.4 ppg apiece, with Ireland serving as the team's primary playmaker (4.7 apg) and Viney its leading rebounder (5.4 rpg). Collectively, the Lions are hitting their field goal attempts at a 42.9 percent clip, netting 70.8 ppg along the way, while permitting 67.8 ppg by holding the opposition to a mere 29.2 percent accuracy out on the perimeter.

Rob Jones logged a double-double consisting of 25 points and 12 rebounds to help push Saint Mary's past Santa Clara last Saturday. In addition to Jones' impressive effort, Matthew Dellavedova was credited with his own double-double as he tallied 16 points and 10 assists, while Stephen Holt chipped in 11 points for the Gaels, who drained 52.6 percent of their field goal attempts, hit 6-of-14 three-point tries and committed a mere eight turnovers. Dellavedova (15.7 ppg, 6.4 apg), Jones (15.0 ppg, 10.6 rpg) and Holt (10.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg) are SMC's trio of double-digit scorers on the season, and the team as a whole is generating 76.5 ppg on 47.9 percent shooting, which includes a 36.2 percent showing from beyond the arc. Defensively, the Gaels allow just 61.6 ppg on typical shooting outputs of 42.2 percent overall and 36.3 percent from three-point land. They dominate the glass to the tune of a +7.3 rebounding margin, and they are +1.0 in turnover differential as well.

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NFL Football Betting : Odds on NFL Division to Win the Super Bowl

NFL Super Bowl Betting

The AFC South and the NFC East are the favorite divisions to have the next Super Bowl champ among them in the NFL betting odds. But more down to the point, these football odds are in favor of the Indianapolis Colts, by far the strongest team in the AFC South, and the Dallas Cowboys of the NFC East.

Most sports fans would agree that these two teams top the list to win it all before the season even begins. In the BetUS Sportsbook football futures, the Colts are +800 in the odds to win the Super Bowl, while the Cowboys are sitting at +1000 and the Super Bowl XLIV champions New Orleans Saints at +900. In the AFC South, the Colts won the division for five straight years after the 2002 realignment, before the Tennessee Titans won it in 2008. But the Colts came back strong in 2009 to win the division again en route to the Super Bowl. The Cowboys are the favorite to win the NFC East, as well as to advance far into the post season. The Cowboys won the division last season before their horrendous loss in the NFC Divisional playoff to Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings. But the ‘Boys will take that loss humbly and be ready for the playoffs this time around.

The NFC South is also very strong, at +600 in the NFL futures, considering that it is home to the defending Super Bowl champions. However, some predictions have the Atlanta Falcons with possibilities of claiming the divisional title this season in place of the Saints, as no team has won back-to-back division championships since the division realignment took place. Let’s not overlook the AFC North at +500. As TO goes to Cincinnati to join Chad OchoCinco and Adam “Pac-Man” Jones, this team looks to claim the division title again. And it is likely they will do so. The Bengals lost in the AFC Wild Card spot in a hard-fought battle against the New York Jets last season. Lest not forget the Pittsburgh Steelers, the XLII Super Bowl Champions… All these teams present interesting odds and matchups for the upcoming season, but the safest and surest bet seems to be with the Colts in the AFC South and the Cowboys in the NFC East. Play this weekly NFL Football Contestto see if you can win.

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In 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.

NFL Betting Lines

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