Ness Notes (Mar 9)
Monmouth and Montana can make tournament reservations as the Hawks and Grizzlies gained automatic berths to the Big Dance last night. Monmouth captured its second NEC title in three years with a 49-48 win over Farleigh Dickinson and Montana won at Northern Arizona (ending the regular season champs' 11-game home winning streak) 73-60, for its second straight Big Sky title (seventh all-time NCAA bid). No NEC school has won an NCAA tournament game in 23 tries, although Robert Morris did win a play-in game back in 1983 to earn a 12th seed, in what was then a 48-team field. My free play is on Buffalo over Kent State at 4:00 ET in college hoops. Early risers caught my 15* play on Clemson/Mia-Fla and my first Triple 10* Tourney Report of the postseason (1st game went at noon ET) . Still available are my evening 15* play (9-3 entering Thursday''s action since Mar 1), my 20* ACC Tourney GOY (won ACC GOY on 3/1 when FSU upset Duke!) and another exclusive Ls Vegas Insider Play (1-0 in tourneys!). Conference tourney action on Wednesday saw the Big East's four-game schedule open with a game-winning three-pointer by Syracuse's Gerry McNamara with a half-second remaining in the contest. McNamara's game-winner came after a length-of-the-court drive and gave the Orange a 74-73 win over the Bearcats. The night ended with No. 15 Pittsburgh almost blowing a 25-point against Louisville. The Panthers led 47-22 with 13:40 left but failed to score a FG over the game's final 13 1/2 minutes, yet held on to win (and cover!), 61-56. In between, No. 23 Georgetown edged Notre Dame (67-63) and Rutgers beat Seton Hall 61-48, likely ending any hopes the Pirates had of an at-large selection. Temple opened A-10 tourney play with an easy win over Rhode Island (74-45) but all that gets the Owls is a date with No. 6 George Washington today at 12:00 ET. Another highlight (or should we say lowlight) of the tourney was Fordham's 45-37 win over Richmond. It marks the lowest-scoring (82 points) A-10 Tourney game in history. There is little worthy of reporting from C-USA's four games. Dick Bennett of Washington State coached his last game on Wednesday night in the Pac-10 tourney, a 66-55 loss to Oregon. While Bennett was just 36-49 in three years at Pullman, he won 490 career games in 27-plus seasons, leading Wisconsin to a Final Four appearance in 2000. The ACC, Big-10, Big-12, SEC, SWAC and WAC become the final six conferences to get their respective postseason tournaments underway on Thursday. It's a busy 45-game college 'board' tonight and the cameras of ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU are out in force, televising 13 games. Coverage includes all four games in the Big East, all three in the Big-10 and all four in the Big-12. Also covered are Va Tech versus Virginia in the ACC (7:00 ET) and Utah versus BYU in the MWC (12:00 midnight ET). FSN airs all four games in the Pac-10 tourney. Conference notes The ACC has four 'locks' for the tourney with 19-8 Florida State and 18-11 Maryland (current streak of 12 straight bids) likely to go. Since the advent of the 64-team field in 1985, the ACC owns the most tournament wins of any conference (215), has had the most teams advance to the Sweet 16 (56), had the most Final 4 representatives (20) and the most national champs (5). The Big-10 has sent the most teams to the tournament since its inception in 1939 (172) and has placed two teams in the Final 4 four times in the last 14 years, after Illinois and Michigan State made it last season. The Big-12 is in its 10th year and has only three locks for this year's Big Dance (Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma). The conference sent six teams last year (tied with the Big East for the most) and has sent six teams to the tournament in five of the last six years. Looking to get in this year are Texas A&M (20-7) and Colorado (19-8). Kansas' streak of 16 straight NCAA appearances is second to only Arizona's 21. The total of five teams sent to the last four Final Fours by the Big-12 is the best of any conference. The SEC sent six teams to the tournament from 1999 through 2004 and five teams last year. Florida, LSU and Tennessee are locks this year but neither 17-11 Alabama, 21-8 Arkansas nor 19-11 Kentucky are absolute certainties this year. Southern of the SWAC won its first regular season title in 16 years and will attempt to earn its first NCAA trip since 1993. The WAC has sent two teams to the tournament in four of the last five years but may only send Nevada (24-5) this year. However, Utah State (21-7) and La Tech (19-11) are in the running. LeBron James' three-pointer at the buzzer gave the Cavs their second straight win over the Raptors (98-97) and their fourth straight win overall. The Pistons and Bulls played a 65-point fourth quarter last night (Det 38-37), as Detroit held on to win 106-101. Detroit is now 27-2 at home and a league-best 49-11 overall. The Heat have quietly won 10 straight, after Wade' 40 points (had missed last two games) led them to a 118-112 win over the Wizards last night. Kobe had another 40-point night in New Orleans, as the Lakers beat the Hornets 113-107. Of even more significance was the fact that this was the first professional sporting event played in the city (at the New Orleans Arena), since Katrina hit on August 29. The Hornets have played home games in four different sites this year, making the team's 31-29 record quite impressive (Hornets were just 18-64 last season!). It's just a three-game schedule tonight but both Dallas and San Antonio are in action. TNT has a doubleheader, starting with the Nuggets in Philadelphia to take on the 76ers (8:05 ET). Dallas and San Antonio must shake their collective heads (both are 47-13) when they realize Denver leads the Northwest Division by three games with a record of just 33-28, while Philly's 30-30 mark has them just two games behind the first-place Nets in the Atlantic Division. Denver is favored by 1 1/2 points (209 1/2). The Mavs are in Portland to meet the Blazers, a team they just beat in Dallas on Tuesday, 93-87. This begins a stretch in which Dallas will play 10 of its final 13 games of the month on the road. Portland has lost eight of nine since the break and 14 of its last 17. Dallas is favored by eight points (186 1/2). The nightcap on TNT (10:35 ET) has the potential to be a great game, but injuries and illness have clouded the picture. The Spurs are in Phoenix to host the Suns but Nash is questionable with a sprained ankle plus both Marion and Tim Thomas have had bouts with the flu. Phoenix has won 11 straight games (14 of 15) and has topped 100 points in 22 straight games (the longest stretch in the NBA since San Antonio went 22 games with at least 100 points back in 1994-95). The Spurs are the NBA's best defensive team, allowing 88.1 PPG and have gone 20-4 since losing to the Pistons back on January 12. The game is listed at 'pick' with a total of 200. Ness Notes is available by 1:00 ET Monday through Friday. A feature story runs on Saturday and Sunday.
Other Football System Articles
Online Poker Household Distractions No matter which poker book you read or which top pro advises you, there is a resounding communal opinion that when you are playing poker, actually watching the play and concentrating on the action at hand is a key part of winning.While card rooms have a number of elements that could take away from the focus of the players, such as sportin ...Free Keno Casinos Keno is a game of chance with a rich and illustrious history. The game that we are currently familiar with has undergone remarkable changes since its original inception. Gambling historians have traced its roots as far back as 200 B.C. to a Chinese form of diversion called ‘The Game of the White Dove.’ It is a well-documented fact that a form of ...Rhode Island Casinos Rhode Island is a coastal state that is home to two major casinos. Rhode Island casinos are known for their video lottery terminal or VLT's that are very popular with casino guests. The two casinos, Lincoln Park and Newport Grand are both open to gamblers over the age of 18. Rhode Island casinos offer a great get away for vacation or a weekend o ...Sports Betting 101- How to Bet on NFL Football The NFL has long since supplanted baseball as “America’s sport” and for good reason when considering NFL and College football teams play once weekly which in the end lends credence to the saying of “absence makes the heart grow fonder”, however, in the big picture one of the predominate reasons for the popularity of football centers around how e ...The Standard Of Football Referees In The Premiership What do you think of the current standard of the football referees in the English Premiership? Do you think a system of video replays should be introduced to help these referees and to stop what are some important mistakes being made? These two questions are things which myself and my friends debate on a regular basis, especially after a few bee ...Online Casino Bonuses at Their Best Microgaming is one of the most admired online casino systems today, enjoying tremendous popularity among gamblers. The innovative and highly popular games add to the overall excitement the online gambling marketplace has to offer.Microgaming offers more than 250 interesting games to gambling enthusiasts across the world, everything from s ...New Technologies for Communication and Dispatching Many companies have self-reading and replying email systems and computers, which screen a Resume, by way of “character recognition” using SQL and XML databases. Do you really think your Congressman reads that garbage you send? No way. They have even figured a way to delete those messages from certain servers which allow you to go to a website ...Poker Tournament Field Sizes With the advance of online poker, players are no longer relegated to choosing the only tournament available to them at their local card room. The excitement of tournament poker has been a driving force behind the new found interest in the game, as can be seen by the growth in tournament options and availability at all the top online poker rooms. ...Poker - Classic Poker Movies There’s something about poker that’s hard to resist. As a pure contest of will and skill, the game has woven itself into our culture. From rough and tumble Old West saloons to the glitz and glamour of a Las Vegas casino, poker has captured our imaginations like no other game. The raw drama inherent in the game has provided a wealth of material f ...Gambling Industry Expanding And Players Who Use Gambling Strategies What does the word “Gamble” mean to you?For the average player the word “gambling” means much more than a risky bet. It can stand for just about anything from vacationing, Las Vegas, and even fun. Devised earlier than 3000 years ago, gambling was well documented to have existed in many civilizations. The games we know today are the inc ...Learn About The Bingo Poker Game Bingo games are fun games that can be enjoyed by anyone, even kids. This is because the object to win a bingo game is pretty easy; all you’d have to do is buy a bingo card. Then you wait for the numbers on the card you have to be called in the formation required and you win.Because bingo games are so popular and easy, there have been some ...Playing Blackjack To Win Part 2 – The Easy Way To Card Count Here we will look at playing blackjack to win by using 2 simple card counting strategies that can be used by anyone and are quick to learn. In fact the second one here can be learned in under 5 minutes and is the perfect novice’s introduction to card counting!The basics of how and why card counting works are covered in part 1, so lets loo ...Poker Chips If you watch poker tournaments on television or have visited casinos you’ll see that poker chips come in many different colors. It can sometimes be confusing because it’s hard to keep up with how much a particular chip may be worth. This is due to the fact that each casino has its poker chips specifically designed and manufactured. A casino will ...Online Slots Tips - To Win Big While online slots are a game of chance, there are certain steps you can take to put the odds in favor and win big jackpots.Slots are simple, exciting and fun and if you learn the enclosed online slot tips you will have as much chance as winning the big jackpots as anyone else.The 8 online slot tips below to put the odds in your fa ...2006 NCAA Football Win Totals There can certainly be value in betting the Over/Under Win Totals on NCAA Football as the season approaches. Below we have picked out three situations that we strongly feel offer up some great value as the 2006 NCAA Football Season approaches. Take a look at these three win totals below and consider a long term investment as we point out some fa ...Poker: The Choice of Best Casinos Poker has become one the most popular televised spectator casino games in the last few years. The television audience has more than doubled and high stakes competitive poker has generated an excitement that the gaming industry has not seen for quite some time. What makes it exciting for spectators is that the television networks have cameras foc ...Tips & Strategies for Slot Players 1. Always play with money you can afford to lose.Let's face it. No matter what tips and strategies I give you on this page, the house still has the edge on any slot game you play. So the best way to play smart is to play with entertainment money, fun money. DON'T play with the rent money. Scared money always loses; whether or not you're s ...Arizona/LSU College Football Saturday LSU is a 15-point favorite in its matchup with the Arizona Wildcats this weekend, but the Tigers defense, which hasn’t allowed a touchdown in 10 quarters, will be tested by Arizona’s passing attack. Despite losing five defensive starters, the LSU Tigers will once again be one of the best defensive football teams in the SEC and they should even r ...Poker Bonus Playing poker online has become more popular in recent years, especially after Celebrity Poker became so popular on TV. There are many sites where you can pay to play poker and you can win your money back if you play well. There is another way to get money back when playing online poker as well and that is a poker bonus. Many online sites offer ...Sports – World Soccer Cup 2006 – From a UFO Log Book Our UFO has landed quietly last night in a densely populated coordinate at a region humans refer to as “Germany.” This particular congregation was generating so much noise we were compelled to study the anomaly.As we approached the boiling source of haphazard frequencies, our superb training took over. We were well-trained to investigate ...Sports Book: A Popular Obsession For centuries sports have always played a large role in people’s lives. They have provided entertainment and an escape; a fun and competitive way to connect with fellow fans. With the birth of the internet, sports have also played a large role in the industry. Recently sports books, a place for all sports addicts to place bets on games, have bee ...Multiplayer Poker Site If you are interested in playing poker at a multiplayer poker site you should be aware that there are literally thousands of these sites available for you to play at. Since there are so many of these sites available you need to be sure that you find the best one to play on. Finding the best multiplayer poker site may take a little work, but it w ...How To Play Let It Ride Poker I know about Let It Ride Poker from a relative of mine. Actually my cousin seems to be addicted to it and this is why I'm quite worried about him. Despite the fact that he has made quite some money on his Let It Ride, I still have a bad feeling about it. Every gambler should know that luck is only a matter of time. You cannot be lucky all the ti ...Play Craps Like a Pro To the beginner, a game like Craps can be rather daunting. Once you have learned the basics and know the rules, however, you will find the game rather simple to grasp. As always, strategy plays an important role and following a calculated and intelligent strategy will assure any player of good, if not always winning, results.A crucial pa ...College Football Betting - Totals Betting totals in college football is very different than betting totals in the NFL. I’ll give you one example. In college football, the home team usually dictates the pace of the game.This happens in the pros as well but more so in the college ranks. If the home team is a run and gun team, they will make the other team run and gun as w ...
| 