Archive for April 5th, 2010

April 5th, 2010 By Andrew "Mr. Multi-Task" Ryan - Cappersinfo Contributor

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It all comes down to this on Monday night! After taking two significantly vastly roads to reach the NCAA Tournament final, the Butler Bulldogs and Duke Blue Devils will face off in a college basketball betting affair for the right to be crowned champions of the NCAA basketball world.

What's At Stake: The Blue Devils are trying to become National Champions for the first time since 2001 when they toppled Arizona in the title game. Butler has already set all sorts of school and team records, becoming the first Horizon League school to advance past the Sweet 16 in this tournament, let alone all the way to the final. Should the Bulldogs win it, they'd become the first mid-major since 1990 (UNLV) to actually win the whole enchilada.

College Basketball Odds: Duke -7 at BetUS Sportsbook

Butler Notes: Aside from becoming the first Horizon League team to do this, that, and the other, Butler has also made a bit of history by becoming the first team in NCAA Tournament history to win five games in the dance and hold all five foes under 60 points. Its 55.4 points per game allowed is clearly the best in the tournament, and it's even more impressive than its 59.4 points per game conceded for the duration of the year. The Bulldogs are going to need to find some more consistent scoring though, as on Saturday night, aside from F Gordon Hayward and G Shelvin Mack, the rest of the team shot just 4/26 from the field. Both Mack and F Matt Howard are in question for Monday night's game after the two both suffered injuries in the national semifinal against Michigan State.

Duke Notes: NCAA basketball betting fans have tried to find a reason to dog the Dookies all year long. First, it was that their non-conference schedule was relatively weak. Then it was that the ACC was down. Then it was that they were gift-wrapped an undeserving #1 seed and that they had the easiest road to the Final Four. After slamming West Virginia by three touchdowns, no one is questioning Duke any longer. The Blue Devils proved that they could play a hardnosed game against one of the top teams in the entire country, and they rolled to 5-0 ATS with ease into the National Final.

Players to Watch

F Gordon Hayward, Butler Bulldogs: This is really the only chance that Butler may have of springing the upset. If that's the case, Hayward will almost certainly win Final Four MVP, as he scored 19 points to go with his nine boards against Sparty on Saturday, shooting 6/14 from the floor on a night that the rest of his team really let him down. He has been the main scoring and rebounding option for the Horizon League champs all season, long, putting up 15.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per night.

G Jon Scheyer, Duke Blue Devils: Two nights ago, we highlighted F Kyle Singler for Coach K, but the truth of the matter is that any one of these big three (along with G Nolan Smith) could be the man to watch for the Dookies. Scheyer seems to be the team's captain of the three, and he came up with 23 points against the Mountaineers and frequently shot right through the trees in his face. Scheyer led the team in scoring this season at 18.3 points per game, but he is also the top distributor on the club at 4.3 assists per game.

Trends of Note

-Butler is 6-0 ATS in its L/6 games as an underdog of 7.0-12.5 points
-Butler is 20-6 ATS in its L/26 games as an underdog
-Butler is 44-21-1 ATS in its L/66 non-conference games
-Duke is 5-0 ATS in its L/5 NCAA Tournament games
-Duke is 7-3-1 ATS in its L/11 games following an SU win of at least 20 points

Final Analysis: With as well as the Dookies are playing, it's hard to pick against them. However, in order to beat Butler by more than a touchdown, you're probably going to have to score at least 65-70 points. It's certainly possible, but it's not particularly likely. We'll accept that the Blue Devils are going to be cutting down the nets, but it won't come following a perfect ATS March Madness, as the Bulldogs will find a way to stick in front of the number.

Selection: Butler +7

 
April 5th, 2010 By Andrew "Mr. Multi-Task" Ryan - Cappersinfo Contributor

For QB Donovan McNabb, his NFL career has to be one of sheer frustration. After all, when then Commission Paul Tagliabue stepped up to the microphone and announced, "With the second pick in the 1999 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles select…" everyone clad in green and white was hoping to hear the name, "Ricky Williams."

Instead, that sentence out of the commish's mouth ended with, "quarterback Donovan McNabb, Syracuse."

Let the booing begin.

The press in Philadelphia, which is known to be just a tad bit on the harsh side, made a mockery out of the move from the get go, saying how much more the Eagles would've done with Williams in their backfield than McNabb under center.

All that McNabb did in his 11 years in Philadelphia was bring the team to five NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl. He only threw for 216 touchdown passes against 100 picks and only ran for another 28 scores with his own two legs. He has only thrown for at least 16 touchdown passes every year since his rookie campaign. He only threw for 32,873 yards and averaged 222.1 yards per game in his career. He only completed 59.0 percent of his passes.

Oh yeah, and he's only a Hall of Famer.

But apparently, McNabb wasn't good enough for the Eagles, and now, he's been shipped out of town.

It's not unusual to see a player at the end of his career ultimately end up playing somewhere outside of the city that made him famous. After all, Emmitt Smith played in Arizona. Jerry Rice ended up in Oakland and Seattle for awhile. Joe Montana finished with the Chiefs, as did Warren Moon. Heck, even Vinny Testaverde left Tampa Bay after awhile.

But in the wee hours of Sunday night, McNabb was traded within his own division, as he is now going to be Mike Shanahan's starting quarterback as a member of the Washington Redskins.

In exchange, all that Philly got back was a second round draft pick this year, and either a third or a fourth in 2011.

You don't think that the Syracuse product has the game in Philadelphia circled on his calendar already, do you?

What this means for football bettors is that the face of the NFC East has turned over. Unless former Houston Cougars' QB Kevin Kolb or the beleaguered QB Michael Vick can prove that he is ready to step up and be a legitimate starting quarterback in the NFL, the Eagles are probably going to turn themselves into a team that is battling for draft position as opposed to one that is fighting for a championship.

For Washington, the need for a quarterback became apparently when QB Jason Campbell really failed to progress under the tutelage of HC Jim Zorn, who was known as a quarterback expert as a coordinator. Many thought that QB Sam Bradford out of Oklahoma was going to be the man that owner Dan Snyder looked to in the NFL Draft. But with speculation swirling that Bradford was heading to St. Louis, the Skins had to make a move.

They made a huge one.

This isn't the first time that a quarterback was traded from Philadelphia to Washington. The McNabb trade came just three days after the 46th anniversary of the Eagles trading Sonny Jurgensen to the Redskins for QB Norm Snead and DB Claude Crabb. All that Jurgensen did was become known as one of the greatest pure passers of his time and lead Washington from the depths of obscurity into a Super Bowl contender in the 1970s.

And just like Jurgensen, who was booted out of Philadelphia after simply not being good enough, McNabb faces the exact same challenge in Washington.

On yesterday's trade, Jurgensen simply said, "These guys never learn."

If the Eagles don't fly back to the playoffs in 2010 and Washington does instead, the press will still be swarming in Philadelphia, but the next people that are going to be asked to leave town for not being good enough are HC Andy Reid and GM Howie Roseman.

Maybe the Eagles organization needs to look itself in the mirror. It might not have been Donovan McNabb's fault that they never won a championship after all.