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This Week in Sports Betting A-Z


by - 3/7/2018

Dusan Ristic of the Arizona Wildcats

A. Arizona . Only a 16-seed beating a 1-seed would be a bigger upset in college basketball this season than Sean Miller coaching again for Arizona. But, against all odds, Miller did-and will continue to do so. ESPN's report of the FBI's alleged wiretaps that would convict Miller of discussing payments for star freshman DeAndre Ayton have so far proved to be erroneous. The Wildcats are +160 favorites at BookMaker to win the Pac-12 Tournament.

B. Big Ten . What hell? A week early? And in New York? The Big Ten Tournament has already come and gone, with less reputable conferences like the Big Sky, America East, and Southwestern Athletic still in progress. In any case, Michigan went back-to-back with a 75-66 victory over Purdue in this past Sunday's championship game.


C. Combine . Shaquem Griffin was a relatively little-known linebacker coming out of Central Florida. Then the NFL combine happened. Griffin is now a household name among football fans, and why not? He dominated last weekend in Indianapolis…and he did it all with a prosthetic hand. Saquon Barkley is a +180 favorite at BetOnline Sportsbook to be the No. 1 pick.

D. Davide Astori . Astori was a defenseman and captain for Fiorentina, which is currently 10 th on the table in Italy's top league. The 31-year-old died in his sleep last weekend of a suspected heart attack. R.I.P.

E. Eliminate all tension . That is Jon Lester's plan as he tries to solve his problems throwing to first base. "We've been working on the Jordan-to-Pippen bounce pass," the Cubs' left-hander explained. "Just eliminate all tension and bounce it over there.... I don't really care what it looks like. I don't care if it bounces 72 times over there. An out's an out."

F. Flyers vs. Panthers . Just a couple of weeks after the horrific school shooting, Marjory Stoneman Douglas' hockey team made a Cinderella run to an improbable Lightning High School Hockey League Tier 1 state title in late February. Flyers' defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, who attended Stoneman, invited the entire team to last Sunday's game at Florida. The Panthers won 4-1. Philadelphia is a -115 home favorite over Pittsburgh on Wednesday, per Bovada Sportsbook.

G. Gordon Hayward . Brad Stevens' team is on the floor (cue Gene Hackman's voice in Hoosiers). Hayward is progressing nicely from his nasty ankle and leg injuries, but the Celtics' head coach insisted last weekend that the star forward is not going to play this season.

H. Hotel room . How did last week's trip to Atlanta work out for Stephen Curry? Well, the Warriors' two-time MVP accidentally destroyed his hotel room while practicing his golf swing and then left his team's win over the Hawks with an ankle injury. Let's hope he did not cause as much damage at Augusta National when he played it a few days later….

I. Islanders . Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six…. No, the Islanders have lost a ridiculous seven games in a row. New York was in playoff position in the Eastern Conference before this swoon started on Feb. 19. The Islanders, who have at least managed to take points in their last two outings, are six points behind Columbus for the eighth and final seed in the East.

J. Jimmy Butler . All it took for Butler to post on Twitter for the first time since December of 2016 was a heated contest last Friday night between Butler's Wolves and the Jazz in which three players were ejected. Now, what will it take for Mark Schlabach to tweet again? Utah is even money at Indiana on Wednesday, according to MyBookie.ag.

K. Kawhi Leonard . Adding insult to literal injury (he has played in just nine games for San Antonio-none since Jan. 13-this season due to groin and quadriceps issues), Leonard's talks with the Jordan Brand on an extension for his shoe deal have stalled.

L. Lefty . Phil Mickelson vowed to win again, and that is exactly what he did at last week's World Golf Championship in Mexico. Justin Thomas holed out for eagle on the 18th hole to take a two-shot lead, but Mickelson birdied 15 and 16 to force a playoff. The 47-year-old just barely missed a birdie putt on the first extra hole before Thomas missed a par putt to end it.

M. Mike Jeffcoat . The Texas Wesleyan head baseball coach recently sent an e-mail to a Colorado-based high school senior saying that he does not recruit players from his state and that the senior "can thank your liberal politicians" for that. Like, was Jeffcoat asking to be fired? Well, he obviously was.

N. Neymar . The Paris Saint-Germain striker sustained injuries to his right ankle and foot during a win over Marseille in France's top league late last month. He underwent surgery this past week and could be sidelined for up to three months. The 26-year-old Brazilian should be ready to go for the World Cup. Brazil is +500 at GT Bets to win it.

O. Oscars . Kobe Bryant (winner for his animated short film Dear Basketball) now has more Oscars than Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Johnny Depp, Bill Murray, John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bradley Cooper, and Amy Adams combined. Welp.

P. Poile, David . The Predators' general manager became the winningest GM in NHL history when his team beat Edmonton 4-2 last Thursday. That was victory No. 1,320 for Poile, who spent 15 years in Washington before moving to Nashville when the Preds entered the league as an expansion team in 1997.

Q. Quarterback . Channeling his inner Tim Tebow, Lamar Jackson spent much of his time at the combine explaining to people that he is a quarterback and therefore will play…you know…quarterback in the NFL. This shouldn't be too hard of a concept to grasp.

R. Rafael Nadal . Novak Djokovic…. Andy Murray…. Stan Wawrinka…. Nadal…. The list of injured tennis players goes on and on. As for Nadal, he will recently withdrew from big tournaments this month in Indian Wells and Miami-having not yet recovered a hip injury that forced him to retire from an Australian Open quarterfinal match against Marin Cilic. That means Roger Federer will likely remain No. 1 in the world throughout the spring unless he loses early in both Indian Wells and Miami.

S. Smith, J.R. Smith was suspended one game last week for throwing a bowl of soup at an assistant coach. You can't make this stuff up, folks. 5Dimes Sportsbook has the Cavaliers as +2.5 underdogs at Denver on Wednesday.

T. Tiger Woods . He's playing again. And again. Tiger was always expected to sign up for the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill next week (he has), but in more unexpected fashion he also committed to this week's Valspar Championship in Tampa. Dilly dilly! Jordan Spieth is a +850 favorite at Bovada Sportsbook to win the Valspar; Tiger is +2500.

U. UCLA . So it looks like Shareef O'Neal jumped the gun just a bit by de-committing from Arizona. Whatever the case, Shaq's son is sticking with UCLA.

V. Virginia . The Cavaliers trailed Louisville by four points with less than a second remaining last Thursday. And won. That's right; the Cardinals inexplicably fouled UVA on a three-pointer with 0.9 seconds left, ran the baseline on the ensuing inbounds pass after Virginia had been called for a line violation on the third of three free-throws, and then watched De'Andre Hunter bank in a three as time expired for a 67-66 Wahoos' win. How appropriate can a March 1 game be?

W. Wilson, Russell . Wilson got an at-bat in a spring training game with the Yankees last Thursday. But when you get struck out by someone on the Braves' pitching staff, you know you should try a different sport. That being said, Wilson's swing was an impressive one-especially for a football player.

X. Xavier . Move over Villanova; the X-Men cometh. Xavier captured its first-ever Big East regular-season title with a 15-3 conference record, capped off by a three-game winning streak and a 12-1 record in its last 13 outings. Is the No. 1 overall NCAA Tournament seed in the cards?


Y. Yangervis Solarte . Solarte could be the Blue Jays' shortstop when they host the Yankees in the first series of the season. Manager John Gibbons says that Troy Tulowitzki is unlikely to be ready for Opening Day due to bone spurs in his right heel. "I don't expect he'll be ready," Gibbons admitted. "But he's moving in the right direction, so who knows?" Tulowitzki missed the end of last year after sustaining a sprained right ankle and ligament damage on July 28. MyBookie.ag has the Blue Jays at +550 to win the American League East.

Z. Zeke rules . The Cowboys say they will not have any "Ezekiel Elliott rules" specific to their running back's off-the-field extracurricular activities. In the past they have had various stipulations for malcontents such as Dez Bryant, but that won't be the case for Elliott-or for anyone else. "You can only do so much," owner Jerry Jones noted. "These are grown men."

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