11/20/2008 - San Juan, PR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 13th-ranked Memphis Tigers and the Chattanooga Mocs have traveled to San Juan for the opening round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
Chattanooga, which competes in the Southern Conference, has certainly challenged itself with a very difficult schedule to open this new season. The Mocs dropped a 114-75 decision at Tennessee on Saturday, and they followed that effort with a 103-75 setback at Missouri on Monday. Clearly, things won't get any easier today.
Memphis is fresh off Monday's 80-58 decision over UMass, and John Calipari is now the winningest coach in program history with 221 victories. The Tigers are 2-0 on the young season, as they also beat Fairfield on Saturday in convincing fashion. Last season, the Tigers reached the national title games, and while it can be argued that the three best players from that team are gone, there is still plenty of talent in place.
Memphis owns an 8-2 series lead over Chattanooga, and the last meeting took place in 1996.
Poor defense has been the biggest problem for Chattanooga through the first two games of the season. The Mocs permitted Tennessee and Missouri to shoot a combined 54.5 percent from the floor en route to 108.5 ppg. Chattanooga has also been outrebounded by seven boards per contest and has shot a lackluster 61.4 percent from the charity stripe. Ty Patterson leads the Mocs in scoring through two outings with his 17.0 ppg, and Nicchaeus Doaks is close behind with 16.0 ppg on the strength of his 58.8 percent shooting from the field. More than just a scorer, Doaks is pulling down 9.5 rpg. Stephen McDowell (14.0 ppg) and Jasper Williams (10.5 ppg) have been solid as well, and Khalil Hartwell has 9.0 rpg to his credit. In the most recent loss to Missouri, Patterson led the way with 18 points for Chattanooga, which turned the ball over 20 times and finished with just 10 assists.
Last season, Memphis freshman Derrick Rose took the college basketball world by storm and went on to become the top pick in the NBA draft. This season, there is another highly touted rookie in place for the Tigers in the person of Tyreke Evans. In the victory over UMass on Monday, Evans scored a team-high 19 points to go along with six rebounds, five steals and four assists. There is room for improvement, as he shot just 7-of-17 from the floor and turned the ball over six times, but Evans is clearly a special talent. Robert Dozier tallied 18 points against the Minutemen, and Antonio Anderson finished with 15 points and 12 boards. The Tigers made good on only 39 percent of their field goal attempts in the contest, including a dismal 2-of-19 showing from three- point range, but they forced 24 turnovers and held UMass to 30.3 percent overall shooting. Five players scored in double figures for Memphis in the season opener against Fairfield, with Evans logging 19 points in that game.
<< Suns welcome rival Lakers to the desert
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pacific Division rivals get together tonight at US Airways
Center, where the Phoenix Suns will host the Los Angeles Lakers.
Los Angeles won its first seven games of the season until suffering a 106-95
loss to the Detr
<< Iverson leads Pistons into Beantown
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Allen Iverson and the Detroit Pistons will try to knock off
another NBA giant when they visit the defending champion Boston Celtics
tonight in a battle of Eastern Conference powerhouses.
The Pistons have won four
<< Liang, Sterne share lead at Hong Kong Open
Hong Kong (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - China's Liang Wen-chong and Richard Sterne of
South Africa both shot six-under 64 to share the first-round lead Thursday at
the Hong Kong Open.
Chinese Taipei's Lin Wen-tang and Frankie Minoza of the Philip
<< Oden successful in home debut; Blazers blitz Bulls
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Roy scored 20 points and Greg Oden had
a successful regular season home debut, as the Portland Trail Blazers
dominated the Chicago Bulls to the tune of 116-74 at the Rose Garden.
The game mar
Gators and Thunderbirds get together in Gainesville >>
Gainesville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 18th-ranked Florida Gators seek their
seventh straight 3-0 start to a season, as they welcome the Southern Utah
Thunderbirds to Gainesville for a non-conference matchup at the Stephen C.
O'Connell Center.
Trojans take on Pirates in Puerto Rico >>
San Juan, PR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 19th-ranked USC Trojans and the Seton Hall
Pirates have arrived in San Juan to begin play at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
USC opened its season on Saturday with a 78-55 decision over UC Irvine and
followed tha
Blackhawks aim for rare road win in Big D >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Though their six-game road trip got off to a good start,
the Chicago Blackhawks face a stiffer challenge tonight, as they try to record
a rare road win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center.
The Blackhawks h
Red Wings begin road trip in Edmonton >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Red Wings aim for their fourth straight win
tonight, as they begin a three-game tour of western Canada with a stop in
Edmonton to take on the Oilers at Rexall Place.
The Red Wings were last in action on Monday,
The NFL preseason is approaching. Time for players, coaches and teams to turn over a new leaf. General managers have hired some new coaches, while coaches have added some offensive and defensive assistants to try and improve things. Here’s a look at some changes to look for in the preseason.
New York Jets: The Jets were one of the surprise teams in the NFL last season, making the playoffs under hard-driving first-year coach Eric Mangini. Mangini rebuilt the offensive line with rookies D'Brickashaw Ferguson (the No. 4 pick in the 2007 Draft) and Ohio State center (the 29th pick in the first round). This season he upgraded the defense with rookie linebacker David Harris (Michigan) while the secondary picked up a much needed top-notch corner in Pitt CB Darrelle Revis (No. 14 overall).
The Jets have added balance to the offense for QB Chad Pennington with RB Thomas Jones, essentially stolen from the Bears. He will upgrade a New York ground game that was 20th in rushing with a weak 3.5 yards per carry. They have their first true feature back since Curtis Martin. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer prefers ball control, like his father Marty. In preseason, behind Pennington you’ll see second-year QB Kellen Clemens and mobile newcomer QB Marques Tuiasosopo.
Jacksonville Jaguars: The heat is on Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville as the Jaguars flopped last season despite a ton of talent. Keep in mind that under Del Rio the Jaguars have been outstanding in preseason with a 12-4 SU, 11-5 ATS August mark. Their defense is loaded, it’s the offense that has been stuck in first gear the last few years.
Enter a new offensive coordinator in Dirk Koetter, the former Boise State and Arizona State pass-happy coach. He will try and upgrade a passing game that ranked 24th last season. Del Rio has criticized wide receivers and Matt Jones this summer, both of whom have battled injuries. It will be interesting to watch the “new” Jaguars passing game in preseason.
Arizona Cardinals: Word out of Arizona is that the players like new coach Ken Whisenhunt, who was the Steelers offensive coordinator last year. We think of Arizona as all-passing because their running game has been awful of late because of a poor offensive line. However, keep an eye on the running game in preseason as they’ve made a lot of changes.
The new coach brings in Russ Grimm to coach the offensive line (Grimm did a marvelous job building the Steelers line). They took Penn State OT Levi Jones in the first round and signed two offensive linemen, Mike Gandy and Al Johnson, to provide depth. Reggie Wells was moved from right tackle to left guard and they want more speed out of the offensive line for pulling and traps, a Pittsburgh staple under Bill Cowher.
Atlanta Falcons: While all the attention has been focused on QB Mike Vick’s off-field problems, new coach Bobby Petrino is revamping the Falcons from an all-running team to a more balanced one. Petrino likes the experience of backup QB Joey Harrington and he has veteran backup Chris Redman, who used to play for Petrino at Louisville and knows his offenses better than anyone. Petrino wants Vick to be more of a pocket passer.
The addition of FB Ovie Mughelli is a sign Petrino wants a power rushing attack behind a physical fullback and newcomer WR Joe Horn should upgrade what was a below average wideout corps. Petrino is changing their old zone-blocking scheme to a more traditional in-line blocking scheme and the offensive line is bigger. Rookie DE Jamaal Anderson was grabbed in the first round and the secondary got younger with former Auburn cornerback David Irons, who the Falcons think was a steal as a sixth-round pick.
Cleveland Browns: The 2007 Browns look like a double-edged sword. There was the excitement of the offseason, trading for RB Jamel Lewis, upgrading the offensive line with Wisconsin’s Joe Thomas (the No. 2 pick in the draft) and free agent LG Eric Steinbach, then trading for Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn when he fell to No. 22. GM Phil Savage and head coach Romeo Crennel feel they have a talented, balanced offense with these new pieces, plus TE >Kellen Winslow and WR Braylon Edwards.
However, were these moves made in desperation? And were they foolish ones? The Browns gave up their 2008 first-round pick for Quinn and we all know QBs take time to develop. And even first-round QBs can be busts (Joey Harrington, Akili Smith). We also don’t know if the offensive line is that much improved (31st in rushing in 2007) and they did nothing to improve a defense that was awful against the run (142 yds pg allowed).
The Browns have a new offensive coordinator in Rob Chudzinski. This is a young offense and Quinn looked tentative, indecisive and inaccurate early in camp. Crennel will play Charlie Frye, Quinn and Derek Anderson in preseason. And there is a mixed bag for rookie QBs receiving significant starts: Tim Couch (14), Kerry Collins (13), Ben Roethlisberger (13), Vince Young (13), Joey Harrington (12), Matt Leinart (11) and Kyle Boller (nine). While all the focus will be on the Browns new-look offense, I’m more concerned with the defense.
Carolina Panthers: Coach Jon Fox loves the ground game, but Carolina has made some interesting changes for 2007. Fox fired offensive coordinator Dan Henning and brings in Jeff Davidson to run the offense. Davidson has brought in zone-blocking schemes to the Panther offense, a dramatic change for a system that's been built around a power-running style.
In zone-blocking, offensive linemen are responsible for blocking any defender who appears in their zone, instead of focusing on one defender. The Broncos and Falcons have had success with the system, which features smaller, more athletic offensive linemen and can create running lanes on the inside and outside. Keep an eye in preseason on how Carolina adjusts as it will take time to learn the system. Fox has been one of the top coaches in preseason, with a 15-5 SU, 12-7-1 ATS August record.
Dallas Cowboys: WR Terrell Owens is still here, but QB Drew Bledsoe and Bill Parcells are gone. New head coach Wade Phillips takes over, replacing Parcells. He ran the Chargers defense last season. Phillips was chosen by teary-eyed owner Jerry Jones partly because he is one of the best 3-4 coaches in football and the Cowboys have loaded up on players for that scheme.
Remember that Phillips was blitz-happy with the Chargers last season and early reports out of the Dallas camp have mentioned how the Cowboys have been blitzing a lot, a departure from Parcells. The theme of the 2007 Dallas defense appears to be one of attack.
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