Ranked foes meet in Big Ten battle

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

02/09/2010 - East Lansing, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 10th-ranked Michigan State Spartans will try to keep their slim hold on the top spot in the Big Ten tonight, as they host the sixth-ranked Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena.

After opening their Big Ten slate with nine consecutive wins, MSU was in complete control and on its ways to a second straight Big Ten regular-season crown. However, the Spartans were defeated in both of their outings last week, including a 78-73 setback at Illinois on Saturday, and are now only one game up in the standings. MSU is still a healthy 19-5 overall, including a perfect 13-0 at home, but there is no longer any margin for error.

One of the teams nipping at the heels of MSU is Purdue, which is 7-3 in conference play. Since losing three straight, the Boilermakers have run off five wins in a row, including a 78-75 besting of Indiana on Thursday. Purdue is now a hardy 19-3 overall and is on its way to a fourth straight 20-win campaign.

Purdue leads the all-time series with MSU, 62-44, and has taken three of the past five meetings, although the Boilermakers haven't won in East Lansing since 1998.

The Boilermakers knocked down 46.4 percent of their attempts from the floor and 20-of-28 at the foul line, as they slipped past Indiana last week. Robbie Hummel and JaJuan Johnson each scored 21 points in the win and they combined for 16 rebounds and a 16-of-21 showing at the foul line. E'Twaun Moore tacked on 14 points, as he remains the team's leading scorer on the season, averaging 17.2 ppg. Hummel adds 16.5 ppg and a team-best 7.2 rpg to the mix, while Johnson contributes 14.4 ppg and 6.9 rpg.

The Spartans shot a sound 54.7 percent from the floor, but that still wasn't enough to overcome 18 turnovers in an 78-73 loss at Illinois on Saturday. Draymond Green paced the team in defeat with a double-double of 17 points and 16 rebounds, while Chris Allen had 15 points. The Spartans played their second straight game without Kalin Lucas, as he continues to nurse a sprained right ankle. Lucas, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, leads the team in both scoring (15.6 ppg) and assists (4.0 apg), but is listed as questionable for tonight. Durrell Summers and Raymar Morgan are both tied for second in scoring at 10.8 ppg and they are also combining for 10.6 rpg. Green, a jack-of-all- trades, adds 10.5 ppg to go along with 3.0 apg and a team-high 8.3 rpg.

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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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El Duque expected to throw Tuesday

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- New York Mets pitcher Orlando Hernandez, sidelined at spring training because of arthritis in his neck, is expected to resume throwing on Tuesday.

Hernandez received a cortisone shot Thursday after leaving camp and returning to New York to have his neck examined. The 41-year-old right-hander is penciled in as the team's No. 2 starter behind Tom Glavine.

El Duque's health is a major issue for the Mets, who won the NL East in 2007 and came within one victory of the World Series. Their aging and unsettled rotation is a big question mark this year.

MySportsbook.com has the Mets as -110 favorites to repeat as NL East champions odds. 

Hernandez went 11-11 with a 4.66 ERA last season, including 9-7 with a 4.09 ERA in 20 starts after the Mets acquired him from Arizona in late May. But he missed the playoffs because of a torn calf muscle.

New York already is without Pedro Martinez, out until at least midseason following rotator cuff surgery. Among those competing for starting jobs are prospects Mike Pelfrey, Philip Humber and Jason Vargas, plus veterans Chan Ho Park, Jorge Sosa and Aaron Sele.

Notes: Mets manager Willie Randolph is excited about two new utility players he could have on his bench: Damion Easley and David Newhan. ''Their value is really all over the place,'' Randolph said. Easley can play anywhere in the infield and could be used as an emergency outfielder, though Randolph said he would prefer to keep the veteran in the infield. Newhan, meanwhile, can play second base, third or any outfield position for the Mets. ''I love versatility,'' Randolph said. ''I love guys that can give me options when I need them to step in.''

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