Irish put win streak on the line against dangerous Wildcats

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/27/2007 - South Bend, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Undefeated at home this season, the 22nd-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish attempt to remain that way, as they host the Villanova Wildcats in Big East action from the Joyce Center this afternoon.

This is the second time in the last 10 days that these teams have faced off, with Villanova capturing the first meeting, 102-87. Since then, Jay Wright's squad has strung together two more victories, with impressive performances against Texas (76-69) and most recently, at Providence (82-73). The win over the Friars moved Villanova to 14-5 overall and 3-3 in league play.

The Irish are a half game better at 4-3 in Big East tilts, but Mike Brey's team is coming off a 71-68 loss at St. John's, the team's second loss in the last three games. Still, the Irish return home where they have won all 14 games this season and are enjoying a 16-game homecourt winning streak overall.

The Wildcats hold a 16-12 edge in the series with Notre Dame and have won the last three meetings.

Villanova's top player, Curt Sumpter has been nursing a bone bruise the last two games, but that hasn't stopped the team from winning. In fact, Jay Wright has utilized several other players, who have stepped up when needed lately. In the victory over Providence, freshman Scottie Reynolds erupted for a team-high 20 points to lead the way. Backcourt mate Mike Nardi was right behind with 19 points, while Dante Cunningham and Shane Clark tallied 13 and 11 points, respectively. Sumpter did play sparingly, coming off the bench for 16 minutes of work, finishing with seven points and four rebounds. On the season, Sumpter leads the team in both scoring (18.3 ppg) and rebounding (6.6 rpg) and getting him healthy is a priority the rest of the way. Nardi (14.3 ppg) and Reynolds (12.2 ppg) are decent complements with their perimeter efforts. Nardi is shooting .381 from long range this year and paces the team with 51 three- pointers. The team as a whole is averaging a steady 77.5 ppg, on .456 shooting.

Notre Dame has plenty of scoring punch, as one of the top offensive teams in the nation at 83.3 ppg (seventh nationally). The team is shooting .479 from the floor and nearly 40 percent from behind the arc (.397). Russell Carter is one of the Big East's most exciting players, as he is draining 44.7 percent of his three-point shots (59-of-132), en route to a team-high 18.3 ppg. Several others are averaging double-digits in support, with Rob Kurz (14.2 ppg), Colin Falls (12.8 ppg) and Luke Harangody (11.1 ppg) all getting in the act as well. Carter erupted for a career-high 32 points, but it wasn't enough in a three- point setback to St. John's. Falls poured in 16 points in support, but Harangody was held to a season-low one point. The Irish shot .439 from the floor, but really struggled in the second half, converting a mere 9-of-30 attempts (.300).

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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

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