2010 Conference USA Tournament Preview

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/09/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the first time in five years, someone other than Memphis is the top seed in the Conference USA Tournament, as the Texas-El Paso Miners won the regular-season title with a 15-1 finish. Winners of 14 straight games, the Miners captured their first-ever C-USA regular- season title and a first-round bye.

Memphis meanwhile, was denied its fifth title in a row, but didn't fall far, finishing second in the league at 13-3. UAB and Marshall also earned first- round passes after identical 11-5 showings, with the Blazers taking the third seed and the Thundering Herd the fourth.

Tulsa, the host of this event, is the fifth seed and final team with a winning league record at 10-6. The sixth seed went to Southern Miss, which posted a level 8-8 mark within the conference. The final six teams also had losing marks in league play and were seeded based on their finishes.

The team that emerges with the title gets to represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament.

Getting the 15th annual C-USA Tournament started on Wednesday is the seventh- seeded Houston Cougars and 10th-seeded East Carolina Pirates. The Cougars are paced by the nation's leading scorer in Aubrey Coleman, who averages 26.0 ppg. Houston, which won the lone regular season meeting with East Carolina, went 7-9 in conference play this season. The Cougars are 8-12 all-time in this tourney, reaching the finals in 2007. On the flip side, East Carolina posted just a 4-12 league mark, and the Pirates are 0-6 all-time in the SBC Tournament.

First-round play will continue with the sixth-seeded Southern Miss Golden Eagles clashing with the 11th-seeded Tulane Green Wave. The Eagles won both regular-season meetings with Tulane and have won two straight games heading into the postseason. USM is 9-12 all-time in this tourney and still in search of its first finals appearance. For Tulane, it has won four straight first- round games in the C-USA Championship, helping the program to a 7-14 all-time mark. The Green Wave however, possess the conference's second worst regular- season record at 3-13.

The fifth-seeded Tulsa Golden Hurricane host the 12th-seeded Rice Owls in the third game on Wednesday. The host school has appeared in the last eight championship games, so that is certainly good news for Tulsa. The Hurricane have appeared in each of the past two championship games, coming up short both times against Memphis. Tulsa took the only meeting with Rice during the regular season after defeating the Owls in the quarterfinals of last year's event. Speaking of Rice, it won just one of 16 league games and brings a seven-game slide into the postseason.

The first round comes to a close with the ninth-seeded UCF Knights taking on the eighth-seeded SMU Mustangs. The Ponies went 7-9 during the regular season in conference action, while the Knights finished 6-10. SMU, which has improved its win total by five games this season, captured the lone meeting during the season with the Knights. Both clubs are just 1-4 all-time in this event, so this is a good chance for one program to make a little noise.

The quarterfinal round begins on Thursday, as second-seeded Memphis awaits the winner of the East Carolina/Houston matchup. After four straight regular- season titles, including three consecutive perfect campaigns, the Tigers settled for a second place finish under first-year head coach Josh Pastner. Memphis came on strong down the stretch and the team is now in search of its fifth straight title in this event. Memphis, which is the only active member to have captured the C-USA Tournament, has won 15 of its last 16 games in this tourney.

The third-seeded UAB Blazers will take the floor in the second quarterfinal round game against either Tulane or Southern Miss. For the sixth time in seven years, the Blazers finished in the top four of the C-USA standings, although they dropped their last two games. Still, UAB is 23-7 overall and even spent time in the Top 25 this season. The Blazers are 13-14 all-time in the C-USA Championship, reaching the finals on two occasions.

The quarterfinals continue when the fourth-seeded Marshall Thundering Herd square off against the victor of the Rice/Tulsa pairing. With a 23-8 mark, Marshall recorded its highest win total since the 1987-88 season. The Herd also earned its first tourney bye since joining the league in 2005. Marshall however, has won just once in four prior appearances in this event.

The top-seeded Texas-El Paso Miners will make their first appearance in the final game of the quarterfinals against the survivor of the UCF/SMU contest. The 21st-ranked Miners are just one of three teams in C-USA history to win 15 league games, as they earned their first outright conference title since 1986-87. This is the fifth C-USA Tournament appearance for UTEP, which reached the semifinals in 2006 and 2008.

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How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?

The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.

While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.

For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.

1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.

2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.

How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.

Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.

Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.

How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).

Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.

Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on college football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.

Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.