Illinois challenges No. 22 Michigan
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
02/12/2012 - Ann Arbor, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 22nd-ranked Michigan Wolverines will try to make it 15 in a row at home, as they host the Illinois Fighting Illini in a Big Ten Conference battle at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor.
This is the first of two scheduled meetings this season between these two teams, and the 158th matchup between Illinois and Michigan in history. The Fighting Illini hold an 85-72 lead in the rivalry, after they split the season series in 2010-2011.
Illinois comes into this bout on a two-game losing streak after suffering an 84-71 setback to Indiana on Thursday night. The loss dropped the Fighting Illini's overall record to 16-8, and made its Big Ten record 5-6, which has them tied for sixth place in the standings. Head coach Bruce Weber could not have been too disappointed with his team's offensive performance against the Hoosiers though, as it shot 52 percent from the field. Illinois is being outscored slightly by its Big Ten brethren this season, as it averages 64.2 ppg while permitting 66.2 ppg.
The Illini are one of a select group of teams that has three quality players who can be relied upon to put up big numbers. Brandon Paul is the team's leading scorer with an average of 15.0 ppg, and he also averages a team-best 3.2 apg. Paul had an unbelievable performance in Illinois' upset of Ohio State last month as he scored 43 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the floor. Paul has scored in double figures in 13 straight games. Meyers Leonard (13.5 ppg, 7.8 rpg) adds frontcourt depth as he is one of the top centers in the Big Ten, while D.J. Richardson (12.5 ppg) joins Paul in the backcourt to give Illinois one of the best guard duos in the league.
Michigan head coach John Beilein led his team to a 62-46 home victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Wednesday to stay just 1 1/2 games back of first place in the conference. The Wolverines own an impressive 18-7 overall record, which includes an 8-4 mark in league play. The Wolverines put forth a stellar shooting performance against Nebraska, knocking down 52.2 percent of their field goal attempts, which included an 11-of-24 effort from long range. The Wolverines provide a challenge for their opponents as they allow a mere 60.4 ppg, which is fourth-best in the league coming into the weekend.
Michigan has one of the best backcourts in the nation as Tim Hardaway, Jr. and Trey Burke both have the ability to take over a game. Hardaway is the team's leading scorer with an average of 14.3 ppg, but the sophomore guard has been struggling lately, as he has gone a mere 4-of-21 from the field to score a total of 10 points in the last two games. Hardaway has a big impact every time he steps on the floor, whether he is scoring or not, due to his athleticism, which he utilizes at both ends. Despite being a freshman, Burke is third in the conference in assists (4.9 apg) and second on the team in scoring (14.0 ppg). Jordan Morgan leads Michigan on the boards with 5.5 rpg, and Zack Novak is a third-scoring option as he is netting just under 10 ppg.
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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.
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