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'Canes and 'Noles duke it out in ACC actionNCAA Basketball Betting Lines02/11/2012 - Tallahassee, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A battle of Sunshine State foes in the ACC takes place in Tallahassee this afternoon, as the Miami-Florida Hurricanes do battle with the 15th-ranked Florida State Seminoles. Miami comes in seeking its sixth straight win, as the team improved to 15-7 overall and 6-3 in conference after claiming a 65-49 triumph over visiting Virginia Tech on Thursday night. The Hurricanes have won their last three road bouts as well, the most recent of which being a 78-74 overtime triumph at Duke last Sunday. Florida State recently had a seven-game win streak stopped in a 64-60 loss at Boston College on Wednesday night, dropping the team to 16-7 overall and 7-2 in the ACC. The Seminoles are a near-perfect 12-1 at home this season, with their only setback at the Tucker Center coming in a triple-overtime affair against Princeton back on December 30. FSU owns a 38-28 lead in the all-time series with Miami, and the 'Noles have won 10 of the last 11 meetings. Reggie Johnson scored 15 points, Shane Larkin added 14 and Kenny Kadji chipped in 11 to lead Miami past Virginia Tech earlier this week in south Florida. The Hurricanes shot just 41.4 percent from the field, but held the Hokies to 35.2 percent, and the visitors were guilty of 17 turnovers as well. Miami claimed advantages in points in the paint (24-14) and bench points (19-13), and won the game despite being outrebounded (40-32). Through 22 games, the 'Canes are averaging a healthy 72.1 ppg on the strength of their 44.0 percent field goal efficiency, which includes a 35.9 percent showing from three-point range. Defensively, the team allows 66.9 ppg on typical shooting outputs of just 41.5 percent overall and 33.4 percent from beyond the arc. Miami is -0.6 in rebounding margin, but +1.0 in turnover differential. Durand Scott heads a balanced attack that has four players averaging between 12.0 and 12.6 ppg, with two of them (Johnson and Kadji) making good on better than 52 percent of their field goal attempts. Florida State is outscoring the opposition by nearly 10 ppg for the season (71.0 ppg to 61.4 ppg), and the team is shooting 45.6 percent from the floor while limiting the enemy to 37.4 percent. Foes have also struggled with their long-range launches, hitting them just 29.3 percent of the time. The Seminoles boast just two double-digit scorers in Michael Snaer (13.9 ppg, 3.7 rpg) and James Bernard (10.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg), although Ian Miller is close to joining the ranks as he nets 9.8 ppg despite coming off the bench and only appearing in 12 bouts thus far. Snaer was high man once again for FSU in its recent clash with Boston College, hitting for 16 points despite a disappointing shooting night (6-of-18), while James and Miller contributed 12 points apiece in the losing effort. As a team, the Seminoles shot just 39.6 percent from the floor, missing 15 of their 20 three-point attempts along the way. BC had the same overall shooting percentage, but 10 of its 19 total field goals were of the three-point variety.
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Online Sportsbook Football BettingColts give the ‘D’ its dueThe Indianapolis Colts know that winning the Super Bowl last season put a huge target on their backs, and they expect opponents to go all-out to knock them from the top of the mountain. They’ll get their first test from the New Orleans Saints this Thursday night. The defending champs had nothing but good things to say about the New Orleans defense this past week, praising their opponents’ pass rush and run-stopping abilities. "They play very aggressively," head coach Tony Dungy told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "They play a lot of man-to-man coverage, and they come after you. They have good pass rushers, and they're going to try to pressure us, I'm sure." Both center Jeff Saturday and quarterback Peyton Manning gave New Orleans’ front four props, admitting keeping guys like Will Smithand Charles Grant contained would be a tall task for the offensive line. New Orleans ranked second in total defense during the preseason at a sportsbook, allowing just under 233 yards per game. Last season, the defense finished 11th in the league after giving up 307.3 yards and 20.1 points per contest. Not so sound on the ground If Indianapolis' efficient offense has a weakness it has to be its running attack. The Colts one-two-punch of Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai is no longer, leaving the bulk of the carries to Addai, the second-year back out of LSU. Former Saskatchewan Roughrider Kenton Keith was named Addai’s backup this week after beating out DeDe Dorsey for the second-string position. Indy has only three backs on the roster right now, including fullback Luke Lawton, and coach Dungy is aware of the thinness of his ground game. Sports Betting lines on the game can be found at BettingExpress.com “We’ll continue to look. Luke Lawton’s done a good job for us too. So probably getting a third true tailback is something that we’d like to do,” Dungy told the Indiana Tribune-Star. Last season, Addai rushed for over 1,000 yards in his rookie campaign and scored seven touchdowns on the ground. Brees says bring it on Opening the season on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions is not the way most teams would like to kick off their year – unless you’re the New Orleans Saints or their quarterback Drew Brees. This internet Sportsbooks had the Saints as the favorites. Brees told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he is excited to get the regular season started and the Colts are a great challenge for him and his teammates. The 28-year-old QB, entering his second season with the Saints, is expecting a wild environment in the RCA Dome this Thursday when the franchise celebrates its 2007-2007 championship. Brees said he sees the opening game scheduling as an honor and a testament to how well New Orleans did last season. The Saints missed facing the Colts in the Super Bowl by one game, losing to the Chicago Bearsin the NFC Championship game. "I mean, people think we can hang with these guys," Brees told reporters. "Even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter what they thought because as a team we're very confident. We know what we can do. We're not satisfied where we finished the season last year. And we've been looking forward to this opportunity for a long time." SportsBooks ready for a shootout Oddsmakers are preparing for some fireworks this Thursday when the NFL season kicks off. online Sportsbooks have Thursday’s total set at a whopping 52 points, accounting for two of the league’s most explosive offenses. “This is like must-see TV,” Saints cornerback and former Colt Jason David told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “It’s two exciting offenses with great players. You’ve got a lot of star power on offense. At any given time a big play can happen. If I was a fan, I wouldn’t miss a snap.” New Orleans, who ranked No.1 in total offense last season, can go blow-for-blow with the Colts’ attack. Head coach Sean Payton’s offensive schemes will get even better production out of Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and receiver Marques Colston now that they’ve each had a season of playing together under their belts. The Saints and Colts were the top two passing teams in the NFL last year, but while Indianapolis managed to put up almost 27 points per game, New Orleans struggled to capitalize on their efforts. The Saints ranked fifth in points per game. “Yards are great,” running backDeuce McAllister told reporters, “but to be able to score more touchdowns would be important for us.” |
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