Big East brawl pits Orange against Golden Eagles

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/07/2009 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of strong Big East Conference teams are set to close out the regular season in Milwaukee this afternoon, as the 13th-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles play host to the 25th-ranked Syracuse Orange.

Syracuse has won its last three games to move to 22-8 overall and 10-7 in league play, seemingly eliminating any doubt about the team's prospects for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. The Orange crushed Rutgers on Tuesday in a 70-40 final and won 16 of their 19 home games during the regular season. Today, they will attempt to even their road record at 5-5.

Marquette has fallen on hard times in recent games, as the club has lost its last two outings to fall out of the race for the conference title. The Golden Eagles are 23-7 overall and 12-5 in league play, but they haven't been the same since losing standout guard Dominic James for the season with an injury. To be fair, however, it is important to point out that the three losses during the current slide have come against UConn, Louisville and Pittsburgh, the three best teams in the Big East.

Today's game marks the only scheduled meeting of the season between the Orange and the Golden Eagles, and Syracuse owns a 5-2 advantage in the all-time series.

There is no shortage of talent in the Syracuse lineup, as the team is capable of beating anyone, anywhere. Point guard Jonny Flynn is a sensational performer who averages 17.0 ppg and has dished out 191 assists. He has started all 30 games thus far, the only member of the team who can make that claim. Eric Devendorf scores 15.4 ppg for the Orange, who are getting 13.0 ppg and 7.9 rpg from Paul Harris. Arinze Onuaku (10.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg) and Andy Rautins (10.0 ppg) bring further balance to the lineup for Syracuse, which is posting 79.9 ppg while allowing 70.5 ppg. Harris scored 18 points to lead the onslaught against Rutgers on Tuesday. The Orange played stellar defense, forcing 20 turnovers while limiting the Scarlet Knights to 25.4 percent shooting from the field.

On Wednesday, Marquette suffered a 90-75 loss to an outstanding Pittsburgh squad on the road. The Golden Eagles struggled mightily at the defensive end of the floor, as they permitted the Panthers to shoot 63 percent overall. Jerel McNeal scored a team-high 23 points in the setback, but he made good on only 8-of-24 field goal attempts. Lazar Hayward contributed 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Wesley Matthews added 16 points. Those three players are sure to be the keys to the team's success in the postseason. McNeal is scoring 19.9 ppg, and he has dished out 120 assists to go with 64 steals. Matthews checks in with 18.7 ppg, and he is shooting 51.5 percent from the floor. Hayward, the team's leading rebounder with 8.6 rpg, is netting 16.1 ppg for Marquette, which is posting 79.1 ppg while allowing 69.5 ppg.

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Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards

Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds

The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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