Huskies edge Cal to take Pac-10 crown

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Quincy Pondexter had 18 points to lead Washington to a 79-75 win over California, as the Huskies won their second Pac-10 Conference Tournament title.

Isaiah Thomas had 16 points and Venoy Overton added 10 points and five boards for the Huskies (24-9), who won their only other title in 2005 and received the automatic berth the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

Theo Robertson had 25 points and five boards while Jamal Boykin added 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Golden Bears (23-10), who have never won a Pac-10 Tournament title.

With the score tied at 66-all, Jerome Randle gave Cal the lead with two from the line, but Elston Turner put Washington on top. He sank a layup moments before knocking down a three for a 71-68 Huskies lead with 3 1/2 minutes to play.

A Robertson turnover was converted into two points by Justin Holiday, expanding Washington's lead to two possessions.

Patrick Christopher answered with a three, but two Tyreese Breshers foul shots followed by a Pondexter jumper gave Washington a 77-71 lead with a minute left.

On the next Cal possession, Randle pulled up for a long three-ball and made it a one-touch game with 50.1 seconds to play.

Following a timeout, the Huskies ate up as much time as they could, but a turnover by Pondexter resulted in California taking the ball downcourt and calling timeout with 15.2 seconds to play.

Turner was called for a foul and Randle hit one of his shots from the line with 4.4 seconds to play to make it a two-point game. But Overton hit both his attempts with 2.1 seconds left to seal the win.

Washington built a seven-point lead early in the second half, when the teams traded a number of runs. The Huskies were ahead 59-51, but moments later, a Boykin jumper kick-started a 12-0 burst that he completed with another basket for a 64-61 lead with just over eight minutes to play.

A few minutes later, Christopher made a jumper, but Matthew Bryan-Amaning followed with a basket, and a three-ball from Overton tied the game with just under five minutes to play.

The lead went back and forth through the first several minutes of the first half, but the Golden Bears were ahead 25-22 with 10 1/2 minutes to play thanks to a Robertson layup.

Pondexter scored eight straight Huskies points to help them go in front, and a Thomas jumper had Washington up 41-37 at the break.

Game Notes

It was only the Bears' second appearance in the final, as they lost to UCLA in 2006...California holds a 77-76 lead in the series...Randle had 12 points while Christopher had 11...Washington shot 52.7 percent while California hit 41.7 percent of its shots.

Wwbet365 NCAA Basketball Betting News

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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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Barry Bonds Watch: Giants Slugger Says He'll Be Back

With only 21 home runs standing between him and Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds is indeed planning on coming back for more in 2007. At least, that's what his agent told the Los Angeles Times.

"Barry's going to play in 2007," Jeff Borris of Beverly Hills Sports Council told the Times on Tuesday. "I've had many discussions with Barry and he's going to play. My intentions are to see to it he's in a big-league uniform next season. Those are my marching orders."

Contract negotiations could get started as early as next week. Let's see which team has the deeper pockets. Will MLB baseball betting lines despite allegations of steroid use? Bet On It at www.MySportsbook.com .

Get all your baseball betting lines, MLB lines and MLB team props at the My Sportbook.

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