Billikens battle Rams in first game of CBI finals

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/29/2010 - Richmond, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Virginia Commonwealth Rams host the Saint Louis Billikens tonight in the championship round of the 2010 College Basketball Invitational at the Siegel Center in Richmond. The CBI finals is a best-of-three series, and SLU will host VCU in game two on Wednesday night.

The Rams certainly have the edge heading into tonight's clash, as they are an impressive 17-1 home, including 10 straight wins. The latter two of those victories came in this event -- a 93-86 triumph of the College of Charleston and an 88-75 besting of Boston University in the semifinals last Wednesday. VCU has now defeated eight teams with 20-plus wins on the season and that certainly deserves recognition.

As for the Billikens, they have played all three games of this tournament at home, helping them to 18 wins at Chaifetz Arena. After outlasting Indiana State (63-54) and Green Bay (68-62, 2OT), Saint Louis topped Princeton, 69-59, in the semifinals last Wednesday. The Billikens have now won 23 games overall, their most since the 1994-95 campaign.

This bout marks the first-ever meeting between VCU and SLU on the hardwood.

The Billikens shot an efficient 54.5 percent from the field, their second-best performance of the campaign, and scored 21 points off 14 Princeton turnovers in a 69-59 win in the semifinals of this event last week. Kwamain Mitchell led the SLU charge with 21 points and five assists, while Willie Reed turned in his ninth double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. For the season, Mitchell paces Saint Louis in scoring at 16.3 ppg and he also has a team-high 47 steals. Reed, the team's top rebounder at 8.1 rpg, tacks on 12.4 ppg, while Cody Ellis adds 10.9 ppg and 5.1 rpg to the rotation. The Billikens are a team that relies on stingy defense to get the job done, as they are holding foes to 59.7 ppg and 39.8 percent shooting from the floor for the season.

The Rams drained 11 three-pointers and scored 21 points off 17 Boston University turnovers, as they captured an 88-75 victory in the semifinal round of this tournament last week. VCU suffered just nine giveaways itself, while shooting 48.5 percent from the field. Bradford Burgess led the way with 20 points, and Joey Rodriguez added 19 points and five assists. Larry Sanders also had a big night, finishing with 18 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. It was a typical effort for Sanders, who paces the team with 14.5 ppg, 9.2 rpg and 84 blocks for the season. Rodriguez adds 12.7 ppg, to go with a team-high 5.9 apg, and Burgess chips in 10.7 ppg. As a unit, the Rams are producing a solid 76.4 ppg.

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

NFL Betting Lines

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Online Sportsbook Football Betting

LaDainian Tomlinson Favorite to be 2007 NFL MVP

With the first NFL preseason game less than two weeks away, it is time to start thinking about football once again at MySportsbook.com. Reigning NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson is currently the 5-1 co-favorite to win the award again alongside Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning.

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There is no reason to think the Saints will come back to earth this season and playing in a weak NFC, they should have as good a shot as any to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. At 15-1, Donovan McNabb could also be worth a look. Remember, many felt he was the MVP of the first half of the season before going down with a season ending injury. Reportedly, he is in great shape and well ahead of schedule to return to form. Also, he could have some added motivation to put up big numbers this season with the Eagles using their first pick in the draft on McNabb’s future successor Kevin Kolb.

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