Top-25 foes meet in Big East clash

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

02/10/2009 - Villanova, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 13th-ranked Villanova Wildcats will try to continue their run tonight, as they host the 10th-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles in a Big East battle at the Pavilion.

The Wildcats have clawed their way back from a 2-3 start in league play by winning each of their past five outings. The conference winning streak is the team's longest since the 2005-06 season and includes a 102-85 besting of Syracuse on Saturday. Villanova now stands at 19-4 overall and its 7-3 conference record is good for the fifth position in the Big East.

One of the squads the Wildcats are chasing is Marquette, which held sole possession of first place for a few days before suffering a stunning 57-56 upset at South Florida on Friday. The Eagles had won their first nine conference contests prior to the setback that snapped the team's lengthy 12- game winning streak. Still, at 20-3 overall, Marquette has nothing to be ashamed about, and it has also fared well on the road, going 5-1 as the visitor.

The Eagles topped the Wildcats in the first meeting of the season, 79-72, and that win knotted the head-to-head series at 6-6.

The Eagles are a versatile and athletic club and they are generating a healthy 80.2 ppg, with four of their starters doing a majority of the damage. Jerel McNeal is one of the top players in the Big East and he enters the game just 21 points shy of breaking George Thompson's school record for career points at Marquette. The well-rounded McNeal is currently averaging a hardy 20.0 ppg to pace the Eagles and he also adds 4.6 rpg and 3.7 apg, in addition to shooting 47.2 percent from long range. Wesley Matthews checks in with 18.9 ppg and 5.6 rpg, and Lazar Hayward contributes 15.7 ppg and a team-high 8.7 rpg. Dominic James chips in with 11.7 ppg and he is handing out 5.1 apg to lead the team in that department. On Friday, McNeal poured in 22 points for the Eagles, but it wasn't enough in a shocking loss at USF. James and Matthews each had 11 points, and Hayward pulled down 14 caroms. Matthews, though, missed a six- footer with time winding down and Hayward's putback was also off the mark, as the Eagles were unable to overcome their shooting woes in the loss.

The Wildcats are another versatile team in the Big East and they head into this bout scoring 76.0 ppg and limiting foes to just 38.5 percent shooting from the floor. Dante Cunningham leads the team with both 17.1 ppg and 7.3 rpg and he is a big reason why Villanova has been able to outrebound opponent by a solid 5.1 rpg. Scottie Reynolds logs 14.9 ppg and a team-high 3.9 apg, while Corey Fisher chips in with 10.2 ppg. On Saturday, Cunningham went off for 31 points and nine boards to power the Wildcats in a win over Syracuse. Corey Stokes had 16 points and eight boards off the bench and Fisher added 14 points and six assists. The Wildcats shot an efficient 54.5 percent from the floor, while also winning the battle on the boards, 46-37.

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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.

FOOTBALL BETTING : Cassel Signs Contract

Kansas City, MO - Kansas City has not officially named Matt Cassel its starting quarterback, but there can be no doubt now.

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After praising his leadership and work ethic through spring workouts, the Chiefs announced Tuesday they had signed the 27-year-old Cassel to a multiyear contract. Terms were not disclosed, but he will almost certainly be one of the highest-paid members of the team.
"We are excited to be able to reach a long-term agreement for Matt Cassel to be a Kansas City Chief for many years to come," owner and board chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement. "His proven leadership on and off the field will be a tremendous asset to the organization."
Patriots made him their franchise player, meaning his salary for this season will be about $15 million.
New head coach Todd Haley, taking over for Herm Edwards after a 2-14 season, refused to name a starter at any position during offseason workouts. But it was obvious to everyone the team belonged to Cassel.
"I go out there each and every day with that focus that I'm the starter," Cassel said during a June minicamp. "Competition brings out the best in everybody."
The signing will come as welcome news to Cassel's new coaches and teammates. Amiable and hardworking, online football betting he appeared to win over everyone at minicamp.
"I think he's got some unique leadership qualities. I think his teammates like him and have respect for him. I think he's doing a pretty good job on the field, too," Haley said last month. "He's doing everything that I'm asking him, that our coaches are asking him to do. I don't have one single complaint how he's carrying himself."
After one workout, wide receiver Devard Darling declared Cassel "a breath of fresh air."
"He has a lot of swagger, a lot of confidence. It's good for us," said Darling. "We trust in him that he's going to go out there and lead us all the way."
nse to accommodate his specific abilities.
Trapped on the bench behind Heisman winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC and then unable to unseat Super Bowl MVP Brady at New England, Cassel seemed destined to be a backup all his life. As Brady was helped off the field last September, Cassel seized the opportunity he'd been waiting for since high school.
In his only sustained action since his teens, he hit 349 of 555 passes for 3,949 yards at New England. He had 23 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions as the Patriots, who had gone unbeaten through the regular season the year before, finished 11-5 and out of the playoffs.
Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, who had been Bill Belichick's assistant in New England, engineered the trade after the Patriots became convinced that Brady would recover fully from his knee operation.
"Since Matt arrived in Kansas City, he has embraced the team and the community," Pioli said. "His work ethic, his ability and competitive presence is what we expect from our players."

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