Kuric lifts Louisville over West Virginia
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
02/11/2012 - Morgantown, WV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Kuric hit the tying three-pointer as part of a late Louisville run, then made a critical steal in the closing seconds to help the 24th-ranked Cardinals notch their sixth straight win with a 77-74 triumph over West Virginia.
Kuric finished with 17 points and Russ Smith added 16 for Louisville (20-5, 8-4 Big East), which hasn't lost since a January 16 setback at Marquette and will try to continue its streak on Monday with a visit from Syracuse.
Kevin Jones scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for West Virginia (16-10, 6-7), which has lost two straight and five of its last six. The Mountaineers have also dropped three in a row at home.
Louisville trailed 71-64 with just under six minutes left, but scored the next 11 points. Kuric's three-pointer with 2 1/2 minutes remaining tied it for the Cardinals and Truck Bryant turned it over soon after, leading to a Smith layup for a 73-71 Louisville lead.
Chris Smith added two free throws for a four-point edge before Jones converted a three-point play with 50 seconds remaining to pull West Virginia within one.
The Cardinals worked the shot clock down on their next possession and Kuric's three-point try came up short with 14 seconds left. Gary Browne then tried to thread a pass inside, but Kuric stepped in front of the pass and was fouled.
He sank both from the stripe for a three-point advantage with 5.5 seconds to play and Bryant's tying attempt from the left wing failed to even draw iron.
Bryant finished with 13 points in defeat, while Deniz Kilicli chipped in 17 before fouling out late in the contest.
The Cardinals received 13-point efforts from Chris Smith and Wayne Blackshear, while Peyton Siva contributed 10 with five assists. Louisville made 10-of-22 from three-point range, led by Kuric's 4-for-8 performance. Chris Smith and Blackshear each hit three from beyond the arc.
Kuric hit a pair of early three-pointers to help Louisville to an 11-6 lead, but West Virginia came right back and grabbed a 16-14 edge on a triple by Bryant. Chris Smith answered with a shot from long range for the Cardinals, but West Virginia later stormed ahead with a 12-0 run.
Jones had a dunk and a three-pointer during the surge for the Mountaineers before a free throw from Kilicli gave West Virginia a 30-20 edge with eight minutes remaining in the half. The lead reached 13 on a three by Aaron Brown, but Louisville trimmed the margin to five before a layup by Dominique Rutledge sent West Virginia to the break with a 44-37 advantage.
The Mountaineers' lead hovered between eight and 10 points for most of the second half and it was a seven-point bulge with just under six minutes left after a layup by Rutledge.
Game Notes
Jones notched his 18th double-double of the season...Louisville improved to 9-4 all-time against West Virginia, including 3-3 in Morgantown...West Virginia's last five games have all been decided by six points or less.
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2007 NFL Football Betting Preview
“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
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