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03/12/2010 -
NEW YORK (AP) -It was a bad day to be a favorite at the Big East tournament.
Three of the conference's top four teams were beaten in the quarterfinals Thursday at Madison Square Garden, jumbling the league's NCAA picture and setting up a pair of surprising matchups in the semifinals.
Third-seeded West Virginia was the only one to escape - and the Mountaineers needed a 3-point bank shot at the buzzer from Da'Sean Butler to beat 11th-seeded Cincinnati 54-51.
``I think that's what is great about tournaments,'' Villanova coach Jay Wright said after his 10th-ranked team lost 80-76 to Marquette. ``We've all played each other. We all know each other. I think that's what makes the games great.''
Lazar Hayward and the fifth-seeded Golden Eagles (22-10) will play in the first semifinal Friday night against No. 8 seed Georgetown. The 22nd-ranked Hoyas (22-9) were a 91-84 winner over top-seeded and third-ranked Syracuse, the league's outright regular-season champion.
West Virginia takes the court in the nightcap against seventh-seeded Notre Dame (23-10), which grinded out a 50-45 victory over 16th-ranked Pittsburgh, the No. 2 seed.
It's the fourth time in Big East tournament history that three of the top four seeds failed to reach the semifinals. Of the four teams remaining, Georgetown is the only one with a title.
All of a sudden, the Big Apple is upset city.
``So much for the double byes, huh? I do think there's some advantage to being able to play a little bit,'' Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said.
Indeed, the double-bye format has turned into a major topic at the Big East tournament.
Last year, the first time all 16 teams participated, the top four seeds were awarded double byes straight into the quarterfinals.
Those four teams went 2-2 in their openers, with No. 2 Pittsburgh losing to rival West Virginia and third-seeded Connecticut falling short in a six-overtime epic against Syracuse.
This season, the teams with double byes were 1-3.
``I'm not a fan of the double bye, but I don't know that that had that much to do with it,'' West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said.
Despite his team's early elimination, Wright remains a fan of this format.
``If we would have won, you only have two more games to win a championship,'' he said. ``We all know the NCAA tournament is important. Your top teams aren't beat down. ... There's still a great advantage to only playing three games in a tournament and having a chance to win it all.''
Despite the surprises, the top eight finishers in the Big East regular-season standings are still expected to make the NCAA tournament. Seeding, however, could change based on this wild week in New York.
``The league is so good. The teams are so good. I think usually when you get a double bye, you think in most situations you're going to get a team that's a big difference,'' Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. ``In this league, that's not the case.''
Georgetown and Marquette had each lost twice during the season to the teams they beat Thursday.
``It's just who you get and where they finish. It's such a long year, guys are going to be playing better in January than other teams,'' Dixon added. ``So a double bye had nothing to do with it. It's just a team that's playing well against another team that's playing very well. Probably the teams with the best records down the stretch are playing together in the quarterfinal game. And that's really what you had.
``I think we won eight of our last nine. They won their last four,'' Dixon said, referring to Notre Dame. ``Those two teams playing in the quarterfinals. It speaks to our league.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
<< Oudin knocked in first round at Indian Wells
Indian Wells, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American Melanie Oudin had a short stay at
the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open tennis event, dropping a three-set decision
to Roberta Vinci.
Oudin won the first set then was outplayed in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-
<< Sharks score six times in third to beat Nashville
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Pavelski registered two goals and two
assists in the third period, as the San Jose Sharks scored six times over the
final 20 minutes to rally past the Nashville Predators, 8-5, at HP Pavilion.
Dany
<< Roy leads Portland rally over Warriors
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Roy scored 41 points and had eight
rebounds, as Portland locked down Golden State in the fourth quarter and
rallied for a 110-105 victory.
Andre Miller contributed 15 points and seven assist
<< UTEP cruises past UCF into C-USA semifinals
Tulsa, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeremy Williams was a perfect 9-of-9 from the
free throw line in a 17-point effort, and 25th-ranked UTEP cruised to a 76-54
win over UCF in the quarterfinals in the Conference USA Tournament.
Randy Culpeppe
Arizona's NCAA run all but over at 25 >>
LOS ANGELES (AP) -Arizona's streak of 25 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances is all but over.The Wildcats lost to UCLA 75-69 in the Pac-10 tournament on Thursday night, dropping their record to 16-15, a number that almost certainly won't be good
Browns sign Ben Watson >>
Berea, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Browns have signed unrestricted
free agent tight end Ben Watson to a multi-year contract.
Financial terms of the deal for the former New England Patriots veteran were
not disclosed.
"We vi
Bonnies seek A-10 tourney upset of top-seeded Owls >>
Atlantic City, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The two-time defending Atlantic 10
Conference Tournament Champions, the 17th-ranked Temple Owls, hit the floor at
Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City this afternoon in the quarterfinals of the
34th annual event
Alabama challenges Kentucky in SEC Tournament quarterfinals >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The second-ranked Kentucky Wildcats begin
play in the 2010 SEC Tournament with a quarterfinal-round matchup against the
Alabama Crimson Tide.
The winner of this game will move on to Saturday's semifinals to
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
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