11/18/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Southeast Division rivals square off tonight, when the Washington Wizards welcome the Miami Heat to the Verizon Center.
Miami has alternated wins and losses over its last six games and suffered a 107-96 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Sunday at Air Canada Centre in the opener of a short two-game road swing.
Dwyane Wade had a game-high 29 points and added eight assists while rookie Michael Beasley had 13 points and six boards for the Heat, who are just 1-4 on the road this season. Wade is listed as questionable for Tuesday's game with a sprained right ankle.
Washington fell to 1-6 this season after Friday's 97-77 decision to the Heat down south at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Antawn Jamison had 15 points and 10 boards for the Wizards, who returned to their losing ways following the club's first win of the season Wednesday over the visiting Utah Jazz. Washington was the last team to record a victory on the young season after opening the year with five straight losses.
The Wizards are only 1-2 as the host in 2008-09. They could be without Antonio Daniels on Tuesday as the guard is doubtful with a sore right knee.
Miami ended a four-game losing streak to Washington with Friday's 20-point victory in South Beach.
The Heat have won 16 of the last 21 overall meetings with the Wizards, who have won two straight and three of four as the host in this series.
<< Garnett-less Celtics host Knicks in Beantown
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics will be without star forward Kevin
Garnett when they begin a short two-game homestand by welcoming division-rival
New York to TD Banknorth Garden.
Garnett will sit out after being suspended for
<< Kings hit the road to Memphis
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Sacramento Kings begin a quick two-game road swing
Tuesday when they head to Memphis to face the Grizzlies.
The Kings have dropped their last two encounters and are just 1-4 away from
Arco Arena this season.
<< Nuggets welcome Bucks to Pepsi Center
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Nuggets complete a short two-game homestand
Tuesday when they welcome Milwaukee to the Pepsi Center.
The Nuggets won their second straight contest Sunday when Chauncey Billups
scored a game-high 26 p
<< Warriors host Blazers in Oakland
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers conclude a five-game road trip
Tuesday by traveling to Oakland to face the Golden State Warriors.
The Blazers improved to 3-1 on the trek Saturday when Brandon Roy led the way
with 24 points
Florida Gulf Coast faces uphill climb in clash with No. 24 Kansas >>
Lawrence, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 24th-ranked Kansas Jayhawks are set to do
battle with the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles in a non-conference clash.
In their first season at the Division I level, the Eagles went 10-21 overall
and 6-10 in the A
Sun Devils battle Aztecs in San Diego >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 15th-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils will
play their earliest road game in school history, when they take the floor in
the Cox Arena this evening to battle the San Diego State Aztecs in non-
conference actio
No. 9 Gonzaga hosts Idaho in non-conference action >>
Spokane, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The ninth-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs of the West
Coast Conference are set to host the Idaho Vandals of the WAC in Spokane this
evening.
Idaho opened the season against Evergreen State on Friday and cruised to a
9
Two winningest programs meet in Chapel Hill >>
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The two winningest programs in college
basketball meet up in Chapel Hill this evening, as the top-ranked North
Carolina Tar Heels play host to the Kentucky Wildcats at the Dean Smith
Center.
Roy Williams'
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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