Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: Kobe Bryant and the Lakers head north to Portland, and Eric Staal and the Hurricanes look for a victory versus the Rangers.
Odds posted on Big East, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Atlantic 10 Tournaments and more…
From BetUs Sportsbook to Sports Betting Sportsbook, more accurate than the Las Vegas odds, all of the major offshore sportsbooks have betting lines on the conference tournaments.
Probably the most anticipated betting odds were to win the 2009 Big East Tournament betting lines. Pittsburgh is +175, regular season champions Louisville at +200, and Connecticut at +225.
More conference odds to win their tournaments include Michigan State a prohibitive +120 to win the Big 19 followed by Purdue at +250; at +220 LSU tops Tennessee at +250 to win the SEC Championship; North Carolina is +120 in the Atlantic Coast Conference followed by hated rival Duke at +300.
Tom Murray of ScoresOddsPicks.com says Wake Forest at +600 is an outstanding dark horse to beat the ACC odds.
The Big 12 sees Kansas and Oklahoma as co-favorites at +150. Xavier is the runaway A-10 odds on favorite at +110. At +150 UCLA is followed in the Pac 10 by Washington +225. For complete odds including the MAC and Mountain West.
Top bets from March Madness sports handicappers…
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Tipping off on the hardwood . . .
The Lakers will be on the road in Portland on Monday night for a west-coast matchup against the Trail Blazers. Los Angeles picked up their 50th win of the season last time out, getting past Minnesota 110-90 on Friday. That put the Lakers at 50-12 straight-up and 31-30-1 against-the-spread. The Blazers are also coming off a win over the Timberwolves, beating them 95-93 on Saturday night.
Atlanta will host New Orleans in one of five other games on the NBA’s schedule for Monday, with Chicago at Miami, Washington at Minnesota, Houston at Denver, and Orlando at Detroit. The Pistons fell 87-83 to the Hawks on Saturday, but they beat the Magic 93-85 when the two teams met back on February 27. Richard Hamilton had 31 points in that win, while Dwight Howard had 21 points.
The march toward Madness . . .
The Colonial Athletic, Metro Atlantic, Southern, Sun Belt, and Summit League conference tournaments all continue on Monday, but the most notable college hoops game on the docket is the championship game of the West Coast conference tourney. That game will feature the winners of Sunday’s semi-final matchups – St. Mary’s vs. Portland, and Gonzaga vs. Santa Clara. Both of those games ended late Sunday night, so check the books for Monday’s line and total.
Taking a trip around the rink . . .
The Hurricanes will continue their quest for an Eastern Conference playoff berth on Monday night when they play host to the Rangers. Carolina blasted the Lightning in their last game on Saturday, getting four goals from Eric Staal and another two from Tuomo Ruutu in a 9-3 victory. The Canes and Rangers last met on January 27, with New York picking up a slim 3-2 win as a -160 home favorite.
There are just two other games on the National Hockey League’s schedule for Monday night, with Vancouver at Los Angeles, and Toronto at Ottawa. The Leafs fell 4-1 to the Oilers on Saturday night, with former Sens starter Martin Gerber making just 17 saves in the loss. Gerber could be between the pipes against his old team on Monday; the Sens are coming off a 6-3 win over Buffalo on Saturday.
Rounding out the Roundup . . .
The World Baseball Classic continues on Monday on several fronts, with Korea vs. Japan in Tokyo, Italy vs. Canada in Toronto, and Netherlands vs. Puerto Rico in San Juan. The Netherlands pulled off a huge upset on Saturday, holding off the powerful Dominican Republic team for a 3-2 victory. Canada almost scored an upset on Saturday as well, but they fell just short in a 6-5 loss to the United States. The second round gets going in both San Diego and Miami this weekend.