Looking at The Poll Errors Of Championship Week NCAAB

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College Basketball PicksWeek 17 of the college basketball betting season, means the end of the regular season the beginning of tournament season. In the final week of the regular season, the conferences have their tournaments, to determine the top teams, and consequently the top teams to qualify for the March Madness betting picks tournament. On paper, the inter-conference tournaments allow bettors the opportunity to determine which teams to lay their money on. Here is a look at where the final AP 25 standings went wrong as Championship Week gets underway.

Every year, two teams close out the AP 25 polls headed in opposite directions, as one team is considered overrated while another is underrated. This week, the UNLV Rebels of the Mountain West Conference and the Louisville Cardinals of the Big East share those titles. Essentially, UNLV is this season’s BYU, as they have come out of seemingly nowhere, to put together an impressive season. At 24 and six, the Rebels are supposed to be the best in the Mountain West. However, as we saw a few games ago against the New Mexico Lobos, when faced with decent opposition, UNLV tends to struggle mightily. Meaning to say, as bookie software enthusiasts, should we really be buying the hype surrounding UNLV?

Nevertheless, regardless of our concerns, this is a very good UNLV team, maybe the best in the schools history. At 24 wins and six losses, the Rebels have won games against big opponents. For example, the Rebels shocked the NBA world in the early part of the season, when they not only defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels, but they flat out destroyed them. In that game, which they won 90-80, the Rebels showed that their perimeter shooting can keep them in any game. Yet, the trouble, with UNLV, is that they play too much of a run and gun style, which in turns bites them on the defensive side of the ball. As we near closer to the March Madness Tournament, this may get to be a problem.

On the other hand, the Louisville Cardinals can’t buy any love from the AP 25 system rankers. Despite owning a 22 and seven record overall, and 10 and six record within the ever daunting Big East, the Cardinals find themselves ranked 19th in the nation. The Cardinals are a very underrated team, as they opened the year with a 12 game winning streak, before tailing off. Then, more recently, the Cardinals won six in a row, before losing by one to then top seed in the country and archrival, the Syracuse Orange. In fact, in games against top seed Kentucky and second seed Syracuse this season, the Cardinals have lost by a combined seven points. For bettors, this should indicate, that the Cardinals can play with anyone in the nation, and should be a threat as March Madness opens in less than two weeks.

NHL Game Preview for Saturday March 3, 2012: Anaheim Ducks @ Los Angeles Kings

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Gambling PicksSports Betting Overview

The Los Angeles Kings are starting to look a lot like the Philadelphia Flyers from a few years ago. The Kings even imported the Flyers’ top two scorers, Jeff Carter and Mike Richardson, to help the struggling Los Angeles offense. But hockey trades are a lot like betting March Madness in that you have to give something up to get something. When the Kings brought in Jeff Carter, they gave up young defenseman Jack Johnson to do so. One of the things the Flyers was able to do for those few years was keep key talent on the offensive and defensive side of the game. When the Kings gave up Johnson to get Carter, Los Angeles went heavy on the offense and light on the critical defense.

The Anaheim Ducks are starting to make believers out of a lot of teams in the Western Conference. After spending weeks near the very bottom of the Western Conference standings, the Ducks have started the slow climb towards a playoff spot. The pay per head sports experts are starting to hear how new head coach Bruce Boudreau has stuck to his game plan since the day he was hired and it is now starting to sink in with the players. The Ducks are 16-13-2 at home and have been improving its home record for the past couple of weeks. However, the Kings are 12-9-8 on the road, which sets up an interesting match up in this game.

Los Angeles Kings

It is hard for NHL fans to understand why the Los Angeles Kings continue to underachieve. A betonline.com review of the Los Angeles roster shows a team that has prolific scorers, tough defensemen and a strong goaltender. But the Kings made the Jeff Carter trade because the prolific scorers on the team are not coming through on the scoreboard. The Kings remain a tough defensive team with a very reliable goaltender. But the Kings are also the lowest scoring team in the NHL and that is not going to get Los Angeles any closer to a Western Conference playoff spot.

Anaheim Ducks

The Ducks came into the week with a record of 7-1-2 in the previous 10 games and riding a two-game winning streak. As the NHL trade deadline 2012 gets closer, it looks like the Ducks may be buyers rather than sellers. After having a rough start to the season, goaltender Jonas Hiller is finally giving Anaheim the kind of play it had been expecting from him. Hiller is 3-1-1 in his last five starts and that includes a win over the high-flying Chicago Blackhawks and a shutout of the Florida Panthers. As Hiller started to develop the hot hand, the rest of the team seemed to follow him. The Ducks are very close to bringing its road record to .500 and this trip to Los Angeles has two extremely important points on the line.

The Bottom Line

The Kings just cannot pump life into its offense no matter how hard it tries. The arrival of Jeff Carter has done little to spark a Los Angeles team that has been unable to score key goals at key moments. The Ducks are rolling and it does not appear that Anaheim cares if the games are at home or on the road.

Gambling Advisor blog Pick: Anaheim Ducks

 

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