2009 Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament Preview

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/10/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the second consecutive season, Alabama State grabbed the regular season title in the Southwestern Athletic Conference and will try to collect its first tournament championship since 2004 when the tournament opens this Wednesday at the Fair Park Arena in Birmingham.

The Hornets were the class of the SWAC this season, winning 19 games while finishing with an impressive 16-2 mark in conference play. Jackson State, which swiped the 2007 title in the SWAC, will play out of the second seed after finishing the season with a 15-3 mark in league play. The Panthers of Prairie View A&M closed out their season strong and captured the third seed with a 12-6 ledger. The fourth seed belongs to the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions, who finished with an 11-7 record in league play.

After the Golden Lions there is a major drop off, as the fifth seed will be controlled by Southern. The Jaguars have won the SWAC title seven times, but this season Southern suffered 22 losses and finished with just an 8-10 mark in SWAC action. The league's defending champion, the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils had a far fall from grace this season, posting just a 7-11 mark against conference foes. The final two spots went to Texas Southern and Alabama A&M, but it is unlikely either team will have much of a shot against the powerhouses of the conference.

Quarterfinal round action will begin Wednesday afternoon with cat fight, as the second-seeded Tigers of Jackson State will battle the seventh-seeded Tigers of Texas Southern. Texas Southern only grabbed seven victories on the season, but the Tigers from the Lone Star State close out the regular season with four wins in their last five games. As for Jackson State, the Tigers from Mississippi are primed to grab their fifth league title and their second in three years. Jackson State closed out its regular season with 11 wins in its last 12 games, finishing the year with a very strong 15-3 record in league action.

The second quarterfinal game on Wednesday will pit the top-seeded Alabama State Hornets against the eighth-seeded Alabama A&M Bulldogs. The Bulldogs lacked consistency throughout most of the season, as the team racked up just eight victories, while finishing the year 6-12 in conference action. Alabama A&M's play down the stretch was also terrible, as the team dropped seven of its last eight games. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum are the two- time defending SWAC regular season champion Hornets. Alabama State, which closed out the regular season with nine wins in its last 10 games, was the top defensive team in the conference, limiting opponents to just 64.1 ppg.

Quarterfinal action will resume on Thursday when the third-seeded Prairie View A&M Panthers take on the defending SWAC Tournament champion Delta Devils of Mississippi Valley State. MVSU will be playing out of the sixth seed this season after struggling to finish with a mere 7-11 league ledger. The Delta Devils, who dropped three of their last five games, were one of the worst defensive teams in the league, allowing 74.9 ppg, which ranked the squad ninth in the conference. As for the Panthers, they enter this tournament as the top scoring team in the league (71.0 ppg) and the second best defensive squad in the conference (68.0 ppg). Prairie View A&M closed out the regular season with five wins in its last six games, and will be playing for its first league title since 1998.

The final quarterfinal matchup will have the fifth-seeded Southern Jaguars take on the fourth-seeded Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions. The Jags have been one of the top teams in the SWAC Tournament, winning seven different times, while posting an impressive 37-22 all-time mark in the event. This season Southern was mediocre at best, posting an 8-10 conference mark, while closing out the year with four losses in its last six contests. As for the Golden Lions, they posted just a 12-17 overall mark on the year, but was much better in conference play, racking up an 11-7 record. The team won four of its last six games, and if a few things go right the Golden Lions could have a shot at their first SWAC title.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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