Montana and Weber State duke it out for Big Sky title

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/10/2010 - Ogden, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A trip to the NCAA Tournament is on the line tonight, as the Weber State Wildcats and the Montana Grizzlies do battle in the championship game of the 35th annual Big Sky Conference Tournament at the Dee Events Center in Ogden, Utah.

As the top seed in this year's event and an owner of eight Big Sky Tournament titles, Weber State had to play only one game in order to make it into the finals and that was a 69-60 win over sixth-seeded Portland State on Tuesday night. The victory was revenge for the regular-season finale in which the Vikings captured an 84-79 win to snap WSU's five-game win streak.

As for fourth-seeded Montana, it began the annual event with an 81-60 thumping of Northern Arizona in the quarterfinals on Saturday and then a 68-63 win versus second-seeded Northern Colorado last night in the semifinals. The Grizzlies, who won back-to-back crowns in 2005 and 2006, the former coming against this same Weber State club, has a total of six tourney championships to their credit.

The teams split their two regular-season meetings, with each winning on their home floor. As a result, Weber State remains ahead in the all-time series with a 58-47 mark.

Anthony Johnson came up with 19 points, hitting all but one of his eight free- throw attempts, as he guided the Grizzlies to the upset win over Northern Colorado on Tuesday. Also scoring in double figures for Montana were Ryan Staudacher and Will Cherry with 10 points apiece, although the former did his damage on 4-of-5 shooting from the field and the latter just 4-of-12 accuracy. Johnson, the leading scorer in each of the last three games and nine of the last 10 outings, is responsible for 18.9 ppg on the strength of not only 50 percent shooting from the field, but also 46.7 percent beyond the arc and 184- of-211 at the charity stripe. As someone who forces the action as well as anyone in the conference, Johnson made twice as many free-throws as all but one of his teammates even had a chance to attempt this season. Staudacher, a 45.8 percent three-point shooter himself, helped the program to make good on 40.2 percent of their threes altogether.

With Portland State's Dominic Waters in foul trouble, Damian Lillard took over for the Wildcats last night as he tallied a game-high 23 points, grabbed five rebounds and handed out four assists in the nine-point win at home. Franklin Session added 13 points and eight boards in order to shake off five turnovers, while Trevor Morris tallied 10 points in just 21 minutes off the bench for a Weber State squad that outscored the visitors at the free-throw line, 22-6. Lillard, the leading scorer in each of the last three games for the Wildcats, has generated a team-best 20.7 ppg against Big Sky foes this season, shooting an impressive 44.0 percent from three-point range in those decisions. As someone who gets involved in all facets of the game, Lillard also led the team in assists with 110 and has been credited with better than four rebounds per game as well. Steve Panos (11.0 ppg) and Session (10.6 ppg) also lend a hand at the offensive end of the floor.

7decks NCAA Basketball Betting News

<< Hoyas and Bulls collide in Big East Tourney
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Big East Tournament continues today, as the ninth-seeded South Florida Bulldogs tussle with the 22nd-ranked and eighth-seeded Georgetown Hoyas in second-round action at Madison Square Garden. The winner of th

<< Robert Morris battles Quinnipiac for NEC crown
Hamden, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top-seeded Quinnipiac Bobcats and the second-seeded Robert Morris Colonials are set to collide in the championship game of the 2010 Northeast Conference Tournament, and the winner will receive an automatic bid

<< Time is now to eliminate head shots in hockey
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A concussion is serious, and the NHL may finally be waking up to the fact. Anyone who has had a serious knock will tell you that the effects can be scary. While the league has spent years dancing around the s

<< Garciaparra calls it a career
Fort Myers, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox have called a morning news conference at which time infielder Nomar Garciaparra is expected to announce his retirement. According to Boston sports talk station WEEI, Garciaparra

<< Bryant's heroics lift Lakers past Raptors
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kobe Bryant played hero again, sinking the winning jumper from the right baseline with 1.9 seconds left, and the Los Angeles Lakers snapped a three-game skid with a 109-107 victory over the Toronto

Grizzlies take road winning streak to Boston >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Memphis Grizzlies will attempt to keep the longest road winning streak in franchise history intact when they visit a place they've historically struggled over the years, Boston's TD Garden, for tonight's matchup with the

Nuggets visit Wolves without Karl >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Without their head coach patrolling the sidelines, the Denver Nuggets will start up a four-game road trip tonight against a Minnesota Timberwolves team hoping to end a string of six straight losses when it takes the Target Ce

Thunder return home to face Hornets >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While the Oklahoma City Thunder seem to be well on their way towards ending a playoff drought, the New Orleans Hornets enter tonight's showdown between these teams in danger of missing out of the postseason fray. The injur

Raptors make a stop in Sacramento >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The reeling Toronto Raptors aim to right the ship tonight as they resume a four-game western road trip against the Sacramento Kings. The Raptors are now fighting for their playoff lives after dropping the opener of thei

Devils return home for battle with rival Rangers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Three straight road games out west following the Olympic break seemed to have caught up with the Devils in their most recent contest. New Jersey now returns home for the first time in nearly a month this evening when it pl

Sportsbook accepts U.S. credit cards

Sportsbooks That Take US Credit Cards for NFL football betting

Sportsbooks that take credit cards are not always easy to come by....Everything from credit card companies denying gambling transactions to the fear of chargebacks by customers has slowed down sportsbook credit card transactions by a high percentage.

There are however still sportsbooks that take credit cards.

When using your credit card it is highly recommended that you try either: MySportsbook.com or Sportsbooks.com. Both sportsbooks have a high rate of accepting credit cards and will save you the time and hassle of looking around the web to make a credit card transaction.

Furthermore, Sportsbooks.com is one of the oldest sportsbooks on the web and Sportsbook offers security in that they are the biggest online sportsbook in the world! Publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange, they are ROCK SOLID!

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com