Piaad 3 Basketball

In terms of regular season excitement, you can’t get much better than the Ivy League. Why?  Well, unlike other conferences out there, the Ivy League does not have an end-of-season championship tournament to decide the conference title winner.  This makes every regular season game, every rivalry matchup in the “Elite Eight” that much more important.

Which teams have the best shot at securing the regular season championship?  Which teams could possibly earn an at-large bid?  Let’s take a look at some of the better teams in the Ivy League.  Make sure you get some NCAA basketball tickets from StubHub.com to see your favorite Ivy League team in action down the stretch. Then, once the tournament begins, get tickets to see the top Ivy team in March Madness basketball action.

Cornell – The Big Red of Cornell have the best record in the Ivy League, and thus the best shot at securing the regular season title and a trip to The Dance.  Cornell currently has a 7-2 record in the conference, but with four games left to play and a narrow margin of error over Princeton and Harvard, it’s important that Cornell stay focused through the last stretch of games.

What do they have coming up? Well, a date with Princeton on the 26th of February will probably present the biggest challenge for the Big Red, but after that it should (emphasis on that last word, should) be smooth sailing, with games against Penn, Brown and Yale to close things out. Cornell has some impressive wins over good teams this year, including victories over Alabama, U-Mass, Vermont, Drexel, St. John’s and Davidson. They lost to Kansas on the road by just five. This could be a Cinderella team.

Princeton – The Tigers have five games to make their case, and their game against Cornell on the 26th of February couldn’t be more critical. Not much of an offensive team, the Princeton defense seems to be the talk of New Jersey these days. Can they catch Cornell in the final leg of the race? Some people think so. Get your orange and black face paint ready, because Princeton could be headed back to the NCAA Tournament this year!

Harvard – The Crimson have a 7-3 conference record, which means they’re not out of the hunt just yet. With Princeton on the schedule for March 6th and three other Ivy League games down the stretch, Harvard will have to win out and hope that both Cornell and Princeton stumble in the last lap. A tough interior is the hallmark of Harvard’s game, so if they do make it to the NCAA Tournament, they’ll be a tough out for any of the big time schools in the first round.

The Ivy League definitely has a frontrunner this year, but other teams have done some good things as well, and the future of this conference looks bright.  Let’s hope the Ivy League can pull off an upset in the NCAA Tourney this year. Wouldn’t that be awesome?  Stay tuned, and enjoy the rest of the college basketball season, Ivy League athletics fans!

The end of college basketball season is almost here, so every hoops fan in the nation is taking a look at the conference standings to see if his or her favorite hoops team will make the NCAA Tournament.  For Summit League fans, there are a couple of front runners in the head of the pack, and a few teams with an outside chance of making the Tourney.  Let’s take a quick look at some of the best teams in the Summit League and consider their chances of making the NCAA Tournament. If you’re interested in seeing these awesome teams compete in the last few weeks of the regular season-or in the NCAA tournament-get some NCAA basketball tickets at StubHub.com.

Oakland – With only one conference loss as of Feb. 21, 2010, the Oakland Grizzlies are the front runner for the conference title of the Summit League and all that entails—mainly a free ticket to the NCAA Tournament. While the Summit League has not been the media darling of the college basketball world this season, Oakland presents the conference’s best hope of gaining national appeal this March.  The Grizzlies have been on fire lately, winning 16 of their last 17 games heading into their season finale, a matchup with IUPUI Fort Wayne, a home game they are largely expected to win.

The Grizz have faced some tough opponents this year including Wisconsin, Kansas, Memphis, Michigan State, Oregon and Syracuse, all teams from big conferences.  Although these games didn’t go well for Oakland, they at least have the experience to draw back upon, and they have a lot of confidence heading into the season-ender. Highly-seeded teams will have Keith Benson, a 6-foot-11, 225-pound center, to worry about when they see themselves matched up with Oakland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Trust us, nobody wants to have that assignment.

IUPUI – Currently the Jaguars have a 13-3 conference record and a 20-9 overall record, so they’ve done quite nicely this season. While they’ve not beaten any teams of note this year, the IUPUI Jags did take on big-conference teams like Notre Dame, Auburn, Kansas State, Memphis and Ohio. If the Jaguars do get into the NCAA Tournament they could be a dangerous team because of their sharp shooting from the three-point line, something that most underdog teams seem to value.

According to Kenpom.com, one of the most thorough stats analysis websites on the Internet for college basketball, IUPUI is in the top 20 in the nation in three-point shooting.  All it takes is one game of hot shooting to win in the tourney, and if they can get that accomplished IUPUI could be the NCAA Tournament darling this year. Can you say Cinderella? 

There’s really nothing like the finish to the college basketball season, and you can be there to see it all go down live if you get tickets fast enough.  The Summit League is going to send at least one team to the NCAA tournament, and you can see that team-or any others-in action by heading out on the road to catch a real March Madness game.  See you at the arena!

Basketball Betting – Basketball Odds – What’s the biggest betting event of the year in North America? If you guessed the Super Bowl you’re wrong. While the Super Bowl lays claim to being the largest wagered on single event of the year, March Madness surpasses the Super Bowl for the sports betting public, albeit the tourney stretches over three weeks.

There is still a full month and a bit of college basketball to be played before Selection Sunday, but the talk of “Bubble” teams and tournament seeds is starting to heat up as we are in the most exciting part of the NCAA hoops schedule.

The North Carolina Tar Heels took it on the chin last night from bitter rival Duke. Sportsbook Online had Duke as a -5.5-point favorite, a number they easily covered.

While the Tar Heels won the NCAA basketball gambling championship last season, they lost power forward Tyler Hansbrough to the NBA and have been a shadow of their former selves this season.

UNC is near the bottom of the ACC standings (10th) with a record of 13-11 straight up overall, 2-7 SU in the ACC and a record of 6-15 against the spread.

The Tar Heels got off to a respectable start going 12-4 SU in their first 16 games but have gone 1-7 in their last eight.

North Carolina is now preparing for a game against the intrastate rival North Carolina State Wolfpack on Saturday.

As mentioned, the ‘Heels have been of struggling as of late straight up, but they have also been an awful play for sports bettors, going 3-11 ATS in their last 14.

In their last 13 games, North Carolina has a record of 3 Overs and 10 Unders.

The Tar Heels are equally unimpressive in their last 11 road games, going 4-7 SU and 3-8 ATS.

However, UNC could be poised to win Saturday as they are 10-3 SU and ATS in their last 13 at North Carolina State.

Another traditional power, like North Carolina, the Connecticut Huskies have fallen on hard times, at least lately.

Ranked No. 12 and 14 respectively in the AP and USA Today preseason polls, UConn has pretty much fallen off the radar.

While the Huskies are 14-9 SU overall, they are only 8-13 ATS.

Connecticut has a Saturday home tilt against the Cincinnati Bearcats on deck.

UConn has been a force at home however, going 16-4 SU and are 8-2 SU in their last 10 games at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion.

In the last five tilts between the two, the Huskies are 4-1 SU and ATS.

While the UConn Huskies are near the bottom of the Big East standings, the same can’t be said of the No. 4 West Virginia Mountaineers and the No. 23 Pittsburgh Panthers and the two meet on Friday at the Petersen Events Center.

WVU and Pitt sit third and fifth in the conference respectively.

The Mountaineers have not fared well when visiting Pittsburgh, going 3-9 SU and 4-7-1 ATS.

The Panthers are 17-3 SU in their last 20 home games and are 14-1 SU in their last 15 at Petersen.

We’re a little over a month away from the start of March Madness 2010 so there’s plenty of time to warm up with your college hoops betting.

Good luck this week.

Check out SPORTSBETTING.com for all the NCAA Lines – Basketball Bet