Cardinals and Hoyas meet in nation's capital

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

02/23/2009 - Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The seventh-ranked Louisville Cardinals invade the nation's capital tonight, as they clash with the Georgetown Hoyas in a Big East matchup at the Verizon Center.

Since being blown out at Notre Dame on February 12th, the Cardinals have run off three straight wins to remain in the hunt for the Big East title at 12-2. Most recently, the team jump started a short two-game road trip by topping Cincinnati, 72-63, on Saturday. It was the sixth win in seven road outings, all in league play, as Louisville improved to a healthy 21-5 overall.

As for Georgetown, its free-fall continued over the weekend following a 78-72 setback against 10th-ranked Marquette. The loss was the third in four games and the eighth in the past 10, as the once highly ranked Hoyas dropped to 14-11 overall and 5-9 within the league. With just four games left in the regular season, the Hoyas most likely will need to win out and make some noise in the Big East Tournament to be considered for an at-large bid to the Big Dance.

The Hoyas and Cardinals are meeting for the ninth time in the series, with Georgetown clinging to a 5-3 lead after the teams split a pair of games last season.

The Cardinals knocked down 48.2 percent of their shots from the field, including 8-of-17 from three-point distance, as defeated Cincinnati over the weekend. Louisville also controlled the that boards, 38-27, and that takes into account a significant 17-10 advantage on the offensive glass. Terrence Williams led the way with an all-around effort of 20 points, eight boards and five assists. Earl Clark added 14 points and nine boards, while Preston Knowles had 11 points on a perfect 3-of-3 effort from downtown. On the season, Clark tops the roster in scoring (13.0 ppg) as well as rebounding (8.7 rpg) and he is also dishing off 3.3 apg. Williams is another versatile weapon for Louisville and he turns in 12.6 ppg and 8.4 rpg, to go with team highs of 4.7 apg 55 steals. Freshman Samardo Samuels puts forth 12.2 ppg and 4.8 rpg for the Cardinals, who have fared well on defense, limiting challengers to just 61.7 ppg and only 39.4 percent shooting from the field.

The Hoyas were guilty of 12 turnovers that resulted in 18 points for Marquette and that made the difference in their loss on Saturday. Georgetown shot an efficient 50.9 percent from the floor, including 8-of-18 from long range, but it wasn't enough to overcome the mishaps. Chris Wright paced the team in defeat with 17 points and four assists, while Austin Freeman tallied 16 points and five boards. Greg Monroe added 13 points and eight boards, and DaJuan Summers chipped in with 12 points. On the season, Summers leads the Hoyas in the scoring department at 14.0 ppg and he is also collecting 4.5 rpg. Monroe follows closely at 13.0 ppg and he is also turning in 6.8 rpg and 49 steals to pace the team in those categories. Wright adds 12.9 ppg and a team-best 3.8 apg to the mix, while Freeman contributes 12.5 ppg and 4.3 rpg. Overall Georgetown is netting 72.0 ppg and making good on 47.6 percent of its attempts from the floor.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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