Blair, Pitt snap Georgetown's 29-game home winning streak

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/03/2009 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - DeJuan Blair scored 20 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, as third-ranked Pittsburgh pulled away in the second half and remained unbeaten with a 70-54 victory over No. 11 Georgetown at the Verizon Center.

Blair was coming off his worst game of the season, a foul-plagued, two-point, two-rebound effort on Wednesday against Rutgers. He eclipsed his point total in the first minute with two baskets to give Pittsburgh a 4-0 lead and the Panthers never trailed on the way to ending Georgetown's 29-game home winning streak.

Tyrell Biggs and Sam Young each scored 14 for Pittsburgh (14-0, 2-0 Big East), which was coming off a 78-72 win at Rutgers to start the conference season. The Panthers shot 47.1 percent on Saturday and held a dominant 48-23 rebounding advantage.

DaJuan Summers scored 22 points and Greg Monroe added 15 with eight rebounds for Georgetown (10-2, 1-1), which was trying to hand a conference foe its first loss for the second time this week. The Hoyas were coming off a 74-63 victory at second-ranked Connecticut on Monday, and Saturday's result halted a seven-game winning streak.

Georgetown hadn't lost since a 90-78 setback against Tennessee in November and suffered its first home loss since January 8, 2007.

The Hoyas trailed throughout the first half and came out of the break down 33-30, but finally tied it at 37-37 on a bucket by Austin Freeman. A three by Summers tied it again at 40-40 with 14 1/2 minutes remaining, but Pitt again took control.

Young converted consecutive layups and Levance Fields followed with the next four points to give the Panthers a 48-40 lead, igniting a 28-9 run that put the Hoyas away.

Biggs scored eight during the spurt and his bucket with just over three minutes remaining gave Pittsburgh a commanding 68-49 advantage.

The Hoyas never got closer than the final margin.

Georgetown opened Monday's game against UConn with a 15-1 burst and never trailed, but on Saturday quickly fell behind as Pittsburgh scored the first six points of the game.

The Panthers were ahead 11-5 before Summers started heating up. He canned a pair of three-pointers to fuel an 8-3 Hoya burst that made it a one-point game with just under 12 minutes left in the first half.

Brad Wanamaker answered with a three for Pittsburgh and the Panthers soon regained a five-point margin before Summers drilled another shot from beyond the arc to keep Georgetown close.

Pittsburgh again opened some breathing room with a 27-21 lead, but the Hoyas pulled to within one with a 5-0 run. A layup by Summers with 1:10 left drew Georgetown within 31-30 before a dunk by Gilbert Brown capped the opening half and sent the Panthers into the locker room with a three-point edge.

Summers scored 16 of Georgetown's 30 first-half points.

Game Notes

Pittsburgh won despite making only 3-of-19 three-point tries...Georgetown hit 6-of-20 from beyond the arc...The Hoyas also had a 15-game home conference winning streak stopped...These teams met for the Big East Tournament title each of the past two years. Pittsburgh won last year and Georgetown captured the 2007 crown...The Panthers have won three straight against Georgetown, but the Hoyas still own a 39-33 mark all-time...Georgetown will visit Notre Dame on Monday...Pittsburgh has an eight-day break before hosting St. John's next Sunday.

Wwzdnet NCAA Basketball Betting News

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.

Kurt Warner to start, Matt Leinart to watch

Despite the debate that's swirling , Kurt Warner will remain the starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, coach Dennis Green said today. The Arizona Cardinals are the +7 point underdog at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com for this Sunday's game.

Green's comment came in a statement released by the team following an ESPN report that Green decided that rookie Matt Leinart would replace Warner as starter for Sunday's game at Atlanta.

"Generally talking about the starting lineup is not something we do," Green told the AP. "However, given the speculation that was out there we want to make it clear. We're disappointed after last week, but we still expect to be a playoff football team and we fully expect Kurt Warner to be the quarterback that leads us. That has not changed."

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs.