Sports Betting

Sports Betting
Weekend Sports Preview: March 24It seems like just last week there were 64 teams competing in the NCAA Tournament; when the dust settles this weekend, four teams will remain in contention for the national title. College hoops takes the sporting spotlight again over the next few days, with pro basketball, hockey, Arena Football, and NASCAR also thrown into the athletic mix. Friday features the second round of Sweet 16 action at the Big Dance, with two games each in the Washington D.C. and Minneapolis regions. In the nation's capital, No. 11 George Mason (-2) plays No. 7 Wichita State at 7:27pm ET at the Verizon Center, while No. 5 Washington battles No. 1 Connecticut (-6) at 9:57pm ET. Out at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, No. 1 Villanova (-2.5) takes on No. 4 Boston College at 7:10pm ET, while No. 3 Florida (-3) looks to continue with the big tourney wins against No. 7 Georgetown at 9:40pm ET. The winners of Friday's four games advance to their respective Regional Finals on Sunday. Meanwhile, Saturday features Regional Finals games at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, and the Oakland Arena in Oakland. The regional winners then advance to the Final Four, which takes place at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis on Saturday, April 1. This year's Men's National Championship Game will be played on Monday, April 3 in Indy. Over in the NBA, the Detroit Pistons took care of business versus conference-rival Miami on Wednesday, and they'll be looking for similar results this weekend when they play Indiana on Friday night and New Jersey on Sunday afternoon. The Pistons have clinched the Central Division title, but are still battling for the top record in the league. Their challengers for that mark, the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks, take on lesser-lights over the next couple of days. The Spurs play in Portland against the Trail Blazers on Friday, and then in Seattle against the Sonics on Sunday. The Mavs have only one game on the weekend sched, in Atlanta versus the Hawks on Saturday. Other marquee games around the NBA this weekend include Boston at Cleveland and Milwaukee at the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night, Washington at the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver at Phoenix on Saturday, and Philadelphia at Indiana and Cleveland at Houston on Sunday afternoon. In the National Hockey League, the Ottawa Senators' quest to finish in first place in the Eastern Conference takes them on the road to Buffalo and Philadelphia this weekend. The Sens play the Sabres on Friday night, then battle the Flyers on Saturday night. Buffalo and Philadelphia are also looking to secure high seeds in the postseason. The Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs, meanwhile, are just trying to secure any seed in the postseason; they continue their mini-series on Saturday in Montreal, then go their separate ways for games on Sunday (Toronto at New Jersey, Montreal at Pittsburgh). Their competition for the eighth playoff spot in the East, the Atlanta Thrashers, play on Long Island on Saturday in their only game of the weekend. Over in the Western Conference, the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers will continue to jockey for playoff positioning when they meet in Vancouver on Saturday night. The Oilers then travel to Colorado for a game against the Avalanche on Sunday; the Avs have a game with the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night. New Los Angeles Kings coach John Torchetti sees his team hosting the Nashville Predators on Saturday; the Kings need Torchetti to turn around their fortunes if they hope to qualify for the playoffs this season. The San Jose Sharks, another team just below the current postseason cutoff line in the West, have games in Minnesota versus the Wild on Saturday and in Chicago against the Blackhawks on Sunday. Three Arena Football League games kick off the Week 9 schedule on Friday night, as Kansas City is in New York (-8), Las Vegas visits Utah (-2), and Los Angeles travels to Arizona (-3.5). On Saturday it's San Jose at Nashville (-4), Orlando at Austin (-4.5), Philadelphia at Dallas (-6.5), and Columbus at Colorado (-11). Sunday features Tampa Bay at Georgia (-6.5) and Grand Rapids at Chicago (-9). And finally, in auto racing, Kasey Kahne will be trying to pick up his second straight Nextel Cup Series win when he takes to the track in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday. Kahne won the delayed Golden Corral 500 in Atlanta on Monday afternoon, while Mark Martin finished in second place and Dale Earnhardt Jr. wound up in third place. Jimmie Johnson continues to lead the driver standings after four races this season, as the Lowe's driver holds a 50-point lead over second-place Kahne.
http://www.sport-betting-links.com

NHL Betting

NHL Hockey Handicapping
Sabres Proving To Be A Good BetIf you've wagered on the Buffalo Sabres consistently throughout the 2005/06 season you've probably earned yourself a nice chunk of change. In the last year before the NHL owners staged their lockout, the Sabres had a mediocre 37-34-7-4 record and finished out of the playoffs and in ninth place in the Eastern Conference. After losing both Miro Satan and Alexei Zhitnik from that 2003/04 team, the Sabres weren't expected to make a leap this season. That assumption has proven to be wrong, as Buffalo sits at 44-17-5 this season, just back of the Ottawa Senators in the Northeast Division and comfortably in fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings. So jumping on the Buffalo Sabres bandwagon and staying there since October has been profitable for bettors. The Sabres are 26-10 as the favored team this year, and a healthy 18-12 as the underdog. The UNDER bet has paid off in Buffalo games this year as well, as the defensively-sound Sabres have a 25-39-2 OU record through 66 games That sound defense, however, took a night off on Saturday, as the Sabres allowed goaltender Ryan Miller to get peppered with 48 shots in a 4-2 loss to division-leading Ottawa. Despite ending up on the wrong end of the score, Miller was named the game's first star, and Buffalo did come back from a 3-0 deficit to make the game interesting. The result against Ottawa, though, was an anomaly for Buffalo this month. The Sabres have played 10 games in March, and have picked up wins in eight of them. Their only two losses came against Ottawa on Saturday, and against the Atlanta Thrashers back on March 1. In that eight-game win streak, the Sabres outscored their opponents 41-23, potting an average of five goals per night and boosting their total OVER results. The Sabres play seven more games in the month of March, starting on Monday night against the Thrashers in Atlanta. Center Tim Connolly could return from his knee injury in time for that game, but center Jochen Hecht will be out of the Sabres' lineup for at least another week with his own knee woes. Also on tap around the National Hockey League on Monday night: Boston at the New York Rangers, Montreal at Washington, Tampa Bay at Florida, St. Louis at Nashville, Anaheim at Dallas, and Colorado at Los Angeles.
http://www.sport-betting-links.com