Aztecs and Lobos mix it up in Mountain West semis

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/12/2010 - Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Continuing to build on one of the best seasons in program history, the eighth-ranked New Mexico Lobos find themselves in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament tonight and will be facing the always tough San Diego State Aztecs at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

UNM, the regular-season champions in the conference and the top seed in the tourney, was pushed to the limit once again by an over-achieving Air Force squad on Thursday afternoon, just barely getting by in a 75-69 decision. The victory was the 15th in a row for New Mexico, a squad that began the MWC schedule this season with two straight setback to SDSU and UNLV.

As for the Aztecs, the fourth seed in the event, they too had their hands full in the quarterfinals and needed strong play down the stretch to come away with the narrow 72-71 victory over the Colorado State Rams. SDSU, which now has a record of 11-8 in this event over the years, played in the title game in 2009 and lost by a mere two points to Utah, 52-50.

SDSU nearly pulled off the season sweep of the Lobos as it posted a 74-64 win at home in the conference opener back on January 5th and then took New Mexico to overtime in The Pit a month later before bowing in an 88-86 final in Albuquerque. With the split it means UNM still leads the all-time series by a count of 38-28.

The winner of this meeting will be into the title game on Saturday and will face the survivor of the UNLV/BYU contest for the right to move on to the NCAA Tournament.

A pair of free throws by D.J. Gay with 23 seconds remaining proved to be the difference as the Aztecs held on for the one-point win against a pesky CSU squad that played most of the game without Andy Ogide who was ejected in the first half for throwing an elbow. Handling most of the scoring for the Aztecs were Malcolm Thomas, Chase Tapley and Billy White with 15 points apiece, followed by Kawhi Leonard who delivered 12 points and six rebounds before picking up his fifth personal foul. As one of the weakest free-throw shooting teams in the nation, SDSU nearly let the game slip away as it made only 17- of-28 at the charity stripe, not to mention a disappointing 1-of-10 beyond the arc. After 31 games Steve Fisher's group has managed to put up 23 victories in spite of an awkward 60.8 percent effort at the free-throw line. Leonard leads the group in scoring with 12.6 ppg and is also tops with 9.5 rpg, followed by Thomas with his 11.2 ppg and 7.9 rpg as the group holds a huge 6.8 rpg advantage over the competition.

With absolutely nothing to lose, ninth-seeded Air Force came out with guns blazing on Thursday and nearly turned the MWC Tournament upside down, but in the end the height of the Lobos was simply too much for the academy in the six-point decision. Darington Hobson, the first player to be name the MWC Player of the Year and the league's newcomer of the year in the same season, electrified the crowd with his 28 points and 15 rebounds, almost single- handedly beating Air Force (22 rebounds) on the glass by himself. Dairese Gary added 20 points as he made good on 14-of-15 shots at the charity stripe. Hobson, who at times allowed his emotions to get away from him versus the Falcons, has been an incredible performer for the Lobos this season with his 16.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, not to mention his 145 assists and 40 steals. Slowly developing his touch out on the perimeter, Hobson has also converted 37.8 percent of his three-point tries, but it is Roman Martinez (13.9 ppg, 6.2 rpg) who handles most of the perimeter shooting with his 91- of-216 accuracy thus far.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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