Surging Irish set sights on Panthers in tournament play

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/11/2010 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After a surprising regular-season showing, the 16th-ranked and second-seeded Pittsburgh Panthers now begin their run in the Big East Tournament tonight against the seventh-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden. The victor of this contest moves on to the semifinals versus Cincinnati or West Virginia on Friday.

Picked to finish ninth in the Big East preseason poll, Pitt defied all odds and overcame a lack of experience for a second place showing at 13-5. The Panthers, who lost a majority of their production from a season ago, also won 24 regular-season games and moved into the Top 25 for the second part of the campaign. Winners of three straight and eight of their last nine games, the Panthers are now ready for another successful run in the postseason. Since 2000-01, Pitt has won a conference-high 19 games in the Big East Tournament, marching its way to seven of the last nine titles games. The team took home two titles during the stretch, with the most recent coming in 2008.

As for the Irish, they continued their late charge last night with a 68-56 besting of 10th-seeded Seton Hall in second-round play. It was the fifth straight victory for ND, which may have just locked up a spot in the NCAA Tournament with last night's performance.

ND's current winning streak start with a 68-53 upset of Pittsburgh on February 24th and that victory tied the all-time series at 27-27 between the programs.

Luke Harangody looked like himself last night, recording a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds to lift ND past Seton Hall. Harangody, who missed five of the last six games of the regular season with a bruised right knee, made 9- of-15 field goals for the game. ND continued its defensive improvement, holding Seton Hall to 56 points and a dismal 34.5 percent shooting performance from the floor. The Irish have now held five straight opponents to 64 points or fewer and that is remarkable accomplishment for a team that allowed over 71.0 ppg in conference play this season. The newly found stingy defense, mixed with a healthy Harangody, who averages 23.2 ppg and 9.7 rpg, makes ND a real threat for the title. Of course the Irish have other players to rely on, as Tim Abromaitis and Ben Hansbrough averaged 17.2 and 12.0 ppg, respectively, during the regular season.

Pitt's success this season is due in large part to the emergence of Ashton Gibbs, who earned the Big East's Most Improved Player Award. After averaging just 4.3 ppg as a freshman last season, Gibbs paced the Panthers with an average of 16.2 ppg this campaign. A second-team All-Big East selection, Gibbs is extremely accurate at the foul line (.890 percent) and he also shoots 40.4 percent from three-point range. Brad Wanamaker, a jack of all trades, adds 12.0 ppg and 5.7 rpg, to go along with a team-high 4.7 apg for the Panthers. Jermaine Dixon and Gilbert Brown tack on 10.7 ppg apiece for Pitt, which has done a nice job holding foes to 61.7 ppg and 39.8 percent shooting from the field.

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Albert Pujols to be This Year's Home Run Champ Says Online Sportsbook

Barry Bonds is a 50-1 long shot to be this year's home run champ odds.  The favorite to be this year's home run champ is none other than Albert Pujols, however.

Now that Barry Bonds is signed and in Giants camp, it is on to his pursuit of all of sports most prestigious records: the all-time home run mark. Bonds sits just 21 homers shy of tying Hank Aaron for the career mark at 755. Word out of Giants’ camp is that Bonds is the healthiest he has been in a few years. Bonds is just two seasons removed from his injury riddled 2005 campaign where he played in only 14 games and hit only 5 home runs. He did come back last year and had a solid season hitting .270 with 26 bombs. All eyes will be on Bonds this spring and summer not only because of his home run chase but his highly publicized steroid abuse allegations. If and when Bonds breaks the record, he surely will not get the positive attention one should for breaking a record that was once thought of as “unbreakable”. Despite Bonds decent season last year, he is just 50-1 at MySportsbook.com to lead the MLB in long balls this season.

Not surprisingly, the favorites to go deep the most times this season are Albert Pujols 5-1, Ryan Howard 6-1, David Ortiz 8-1 and Alex Rodriguez 12-1. With 49 homers, Pujols finished second in the National League behind Howard (58). Pujols is considered the favorite due to the consistent power numbers that he has posted since breaking into the league in 2001. Also one must consider the fact that he played in 16 fewer games then Howard did due to an injury. Howard smashed 58 homers in his first complete season of big league play en route to the National League MVP odds award. He silenced his critics by successfully hitting left-handed pitching. Howard also displayed the ability to use his power to the opposite field. Two attributes which should keep Howard amongst the league leaders in long balls for years to come. From the American League representatives, David Ortiz leads the field. Ortiz was second in the majors last year with 54 home runs. Except for 1999 when he only played in 10 games, Ortiz has improved on his home run numbers each year he has been in the majors (1997).

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Adam Dunn 15-1

Albert Pujols 5-1

Alex Rodriguez 12-1

Alfonso Soriano 15-1

Andruw Jones 25-1

Barry Bonds 50-1

Carlos Delgado 40-1

David Ortiz 8-1

Jermaine Dye 40-1

Ken Griffey Jr. 100-1

Lance Berkman 40-1

Manny Ramirez 20-1

Richie Sexson 40-1

Ryan Howard 6-1

Travis Hafner 20-1

Vladimir Guerrero 40-1

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