West Regional action features Bulldogs against Miners

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/18/2010 - San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive year, the Butler Bulldogs kick off first-round action of the 72nd annual event this afternoon against the Miners of Texas-El Paso at HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.

The good news for the Bulldogs is that they have all five starters back from last year's team which fell in the first round of the tourney against LSU, 75-71. Butler is playing in the event for the 10th time overall and is hoping to at least even its record in the tourney because as it stands now the squad is 8-9 since making its first appearance back in 1962.

The fifth-seeded Bulldogs ripped through the Horizon League yet again this season with a perfect record of 18-0 and are enjoying the longest win streak in the nation at a staggering 20 games. The most recent loss for the squad came back on December 22nd against UAB, another Conference USA program, by a score of 67-57 on the road.

As for the 12th-seeded Miners, the 1966 NCAA Champions back when they were known as Texas Western, they too are trying to even their record in the tourney (14-15) in this, their 17th appearance. UTEP won its first outright conference title in 23 years during 2009-10 as it finished an impressive 15-1 in Conference USA action and set a school record for the most wins in league play as a result.

The winner of this first-ever meeting will head to the second round of the tourney to face the winner of the Murray State/Vanderbilt contest on Saturday.

Under the direction of Tony Barbee, the 2010 C-USA Coach of the Year, the Miners not only put together one of the best offenses in the league, they also took care of opponents with a stingy defense that allowed foes to shoot just 39 percent from the field and tally 64.2 ppg. Randy Culpepper, the Conference USA Player of the Year who is now fourth on the school's all-time scoring list, knocked down a school-best 80 three-pointers on his way to posting 18.0 ppg. Derrick Caracter, an All-C-USA Second-Team selection, handled the action on the inside for the group with his 8.0 rpg and 13.8 ppg, shooting an impressive 55.6 percent from the floor when he wasn't sitting on the bench because of foul trouble. Jeremy Williams and Arnett Moultrie accounted for 10.1 ppg each, combining for better than 11 rebounds per contest, while Julyan Stone (6.1 ppg) sacrificed his own offense to set up teammates with his 173 assists in 32 starts.

Like the Miners, Butler is also big on defense, having limited opponents to just 60.0 ppg on 41.4 percent shooting from the floor and 30.9 percent beyond the arc this season. The squad is permitting just over 10 assists per contest, which means foes have had to create a lot of one-on-one play in order to get quality looks at the basket. Gordon Hayward is one of four players scoring in double figures with his 15.4 ppg, adding a team-best 8.5 rpg for a team that has managed to top the opposition on the glass by more than three rebounds per game this season. Shelvin Mack (13.9 ppg), Matt Howard (12.3 ppg) and Willie Veasley (10.3 ppg) have all been crucial pieces to a Butler puzzle that has generated 70.1 ppg. Hayward, a finalist for the Wooden Award this year, and Mack could have some inside information on one of the key players for the Miners, seeing as how they both played with Moultrie on the USA Men's Team at the FIBA U-19 World Championships last summer, but that also goes both ways because Moultrie can also use that relationship to his advantage as well.

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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

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