Huskies edge Cal to take Pac-10 crown

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Quincy Pondexter had 18 points to lead Washington to a 79-75 win over California, as the Huskies won their second Pac-10 Conference Tournament title.

Isaiah Thomas had 16 points and Venoy Overton added 10 points and five boards for the Huskies (24-9), who won their only other title in 2005 and received the automatic berth the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

Theo Robertson had 25 points and five boards while Jamal Boykin added 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Golden Bears (23-10), who have never won a Pac-10 Tournament title.

With the score tied at 66-all, Jerome Randle gave Cal the lead with two from the line, but Elston Turner put Washington on top. He sank a layup moments before knocking down a three for a 71-68 Huskies lead with 3 1/2 minutes to play.

A Robertson turnover was converted into two points by Justin Holiday, expanding Washington's lead to two possessions.

Patrick Christopher answered with a three, but two Tyreese Breshers foul shots followed by a Pondexter jumper gave Washington a 77-71 lead with a minute left.

On the next Cal possession, Randle pulled up for a long three-ball and made it a one-touch game with 50.1 seconds to play.

Following a timeout, the Huskies ate up as much time as they could, but a turnover by Pondexter resulted in California taking the ball downcourt and calling timeout with 15.2 seconds to play.

Turner was called for a foul and Randle hit one of his shots from the line with 4.4 seconds to play to make it a two-point game. But Overton hit both his attempts with 2.1 seconds left to seal the win.

Washington built a seven-point lead early in the second half, when the teams traded a number of runs. The Huskies were ahead 59-51, but moments later, a Boykin jumper kick-started a 12-0 burst that he completed with another basket for a 64-61 lead with just over eight minutes to play.

A few minutes later, Christopher made a jumper, but Matthew Bryan-Amaning followed with a basket, and a three-ball from Overton tied the game with just under five minutes to play.

The lead went back and forth through the first several minutes of the first half, but the Golden Bears were ahead 25-22 with 10 1/2 minutes to play thanks to a Robertson layup.

Pondexter scored eight straight Huskies points to help them go in front, and a Thomas jumper had Washington up 41-37 at the break.

Game Notes

It was only the Bears' second appearance in the final, as they lost to UCLA in 2006...California holds a 77-76 lead in the series...Randle had 12 points while Christopher had 11...Washington shot 52.7 percent while California hit 41.7 percent of its shots.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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