Basketball Betting - The Original Online Betting Site

U.S.A, 3/19/10 – Second in basketball-betting.com’s series is Midwest Regional number one seed, the University of Kansas Jayhawks.

President Teddy Roosevelt - something of an expert on athletic competition – called it the greatest college chant he’d ever heard. Starting with 1899’s Phillipine-American War, it’s seen combat, via U.S. soldiers hailing from Kansas. It’s slower beginning section is deployed by KU fans when the team has victory in their claws. It’s “Rock Chalk, Jayhawk” (hear it here) and it’s going to be heard a whole lot as the Madness reaches maxi-level insanity. Why is this? Simple answer:tournament experienced big-game players.

Regular season games give you regular season experience. Things get rough, a little loud at a visitor’s gym, but the season’s other half, you’re at home – eating your favorite foods, sleeping in your own bed, having your own crazies cheering you on. Then you make it to the Big Dance – national media spotlight, TV sportscasters talking you up – and your team chemistry gets to boiling.

Been there before though, you know what that kind of heat’s like, you thrive on it maybe. Better, you were there one year earlier and lost. Now you’re hungry – now you’re the Jayhawks. Or I’ll see that & raise you an ‘07-’08 season – where KU took national championship honors. Throw in head ‘Hawk Coach Bill Self’s ability to assemble & coach winners – and how to keep them cool when the pressure is on – and now you’re cookin’ with gas.

KU’s winning DNA runs deep. From their ‘07-’08 championship team, Kansas has retained both Sherron Collins & Cole Aldrich, both linchpins of this year’s run. Last year’s tournament trip ended in the Sweet Sixteen, and saw even more holdovers. As the players grew up together, so did their talent level - Collins & Aldrich especially. A junior, Aldrich has blossomed into one of the premier post men in college basketball, an imposing presence averaging 11 points, 10 boards, & 3.5 blocks per game. While some centers jump from college to the NBA too quickly & spend years (if ever) realizing their potential, he’s paid his dues at Kansas, gradually refining a skill-set that includes hook shots, fancy footwork, & nearly 80% free throw shooting. If you’re a Jayhawks fan, you’re happy for all this growth – but with NBA draft projections predicting Aldrich would get a pick somewhere within the top 15, you’re also afraid this will be the last season he suits up in KU crimson & blue.

For senior point guard Sherron Collins, this tournament run is the end of a college journey that started with an ‘06-’07 Elite Eight trip. Since that freshman year, Collins has nearly doubled both his scoring & assists averages, to 15.7 & 4.5 per game, respectively. Slightly undersized at 5′11”, Collins isn’t a lock for the draft, but a strong performance – or a championship - would definitely up his credentials. Regardless of his future aspirations, he’s proven himself a team leader, an intense competitor, & a clutch shooter in countless games.

On the heels of a disappointing loss last year to Michigan State, perhaps KU feels they have something to prove. Though last night’s 90-74 victory Lehigh showed they sometimes play in an up & down fashion, it also showed that Collins & Aldrich aren’t all there is to this team. Sophomore forward Marcus Morris put a hurt on the Mountain Hawks – ringing in 26 big points & 10 rebounds to complement Collins’ 18 & Alrdrich’s 11 points, eight boards, & five blocks.

Prediction? Jayhawks face challenges on their way out of the Midwest Regional – either Ohio or Michigan State could test them – but that ultimately prepares them for a national title game, where they win it all.

U.S.A, 3/17/10 – It is an annual ritual that quickly became a yearly tradition.  It’s a time of year when a billion-plus dollars in office productivity are lost, when alma mater colors become tribal ID.

As regular an event as bracketing your picks & guzzling lousy beer at the local sports-bar, debating the NCAA selection committee’s top seeds always brings out a host of opinions.  With March Madness descending upon an already crazyfied nation, basketball-betting.com takes a closer look at the tourney’s heavyweight contenders.  First in our series is East Regional number one seed, the University of Kentucky Wildcats.

“Always a bridesmaid, never the bride” has to wear on anyone.  Despite fielding strong squads the last eleven years, UK has come up short each time.  This year though, could be different.  Why, enquiring minds want to know?  Commit these two names to memory – John Wall & DeMarcus Cousins – and when the ‘Cats eviscerate their first-round opponent, 16^th seeded East Tennessee State, you’ll know why.

By now a near-consensus number one NBA draft pick, prodigiously talented John Wall makes it look easy.  A freshman, Wall handles point guard duties with maturity beyond his years, showing a court vision approaching 20/20.  Opposing defenses are picked apart to the tune of 6.4 assists per game, the fourth highest rate in men’s college basketball.  When Wall can’t find the open man, he does the damage himself.  Accessing at will a speed unavailable to mere mortals, he invites more comparisons to this than fellow collegians.  Factor in his 6’4” 200 lb. frame, that speed allows Wall to blast past larger players into the paint, while physically dominating smaller guards on the perimeter – probably why he’s averaging nearly 17 points a game.

Having a player like Wall in his backcourt, UK’s John Calipari is already blessed above other college coaches.  However, to also have frontcourt beast DeMarcus Cousins, one wonders whether Coach Cal traded his soul for tournament victory.  Cousins, whose game can best be described thusly controls the paint for the Wildcats, using a 7’3” wingspan & 9’ standing reach to block nearly two shots & haul in ten boards per game.  On the strength of that rebounding & a set of soft hands - the frequent target of Wall’s passes - Cousins scores fifteen+ points on an average night.  From a personal story littered by hardships overcome & defiance of other’s low expectations, the man who makes UK fans say proudly that “We love our Cousins!” plays with a definite chip on his shoulder.  That intensity – plus NBA ready size (6’11” & 280 lbs.) has the freshman Cousins in contention for a top five pick in the upcoming draft.

Therefore, this year could be the ‘Cats best shot, albeit a one-time, all-in shot.  With the draft stock of Wall & Cousins so high, their departure from UK is nearly certain.  Wildcat junior Patrick Patterson (averaging seven boards & nearly fifteen points himself) may also jump ship, especially if he puts in a strong tournament performance.  Whispers say too that Calipari is thinking about trading up, taking big money from Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, in the market for a sharp basketball mind to turn around his recently purchased New Jersey Nets.  With all this buzz, some feel UK won’t focus and will choke against squads more talented than they faced in the regular season, especially West Virginia’s Mountaineers.

Prediction?  ‘Cats over Mountaineers to make it out of the East Regional.  Hoopster in Chief Pres. Obama agrees with me, saying it may be the best game of the tournament.  How Kentucky fares in the Final 4 though, I will not predict.