2009 West Coast Conference Tournament Preview

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/05/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The West Coast Conference Tournament will be held at a neutral site for the first time, as Orleans Arena in Las Vegas will serve host to the 23rd annual event.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs, the only ranked team in the league, earned the top seed once again with a perfect 14-0 ledger. The Bulldogs will begin play in the semifinals, as will the Saint Mary's-CA Gaels, who claimed the second seed with a 10-4 finish. At 9-5, the University of Portland Pilots captured the third seed and 7-7 Santa Clara earned the fourth spot. Both the Pilots and Broncos earned first round byes and will begin play in the quarterfinals. The San Diego Toreros will begin defense of their title as the fifth seed after going 6-8, and they will meet 2-12 and eighth-seeded Loyola Marymount in the first round. The other first round matchup pits the seventh-seeded San Francisco Dons against the sixth-seeded Pepperdine Waves.

The winner of this event earns an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

The WCC Tournament kicks off on Friday, with eighth-seeded Loyola Marymount tangling with fifth-seeded San Diego. The Lions won just three of 30 total games this season, but one of those victories did come against San Diego. LMU though, went 0-17 away from home and hasn't won this event since 1990. The Toreros on the other hand, upended Gonzaga in the finals last season for their second championship, but they also had the luxury of hosting this event. San Diego was considered a challenger for the WCC title coming into the season, only to struggle for the most part and finish with a losing record within the league.

The first round will concluded with the seventh-seeded Dons hooking up with the sixth-seeded Waves. The Dons went only 3-11 in league play, but they did win two of their last three games, including a 70-62 besting of Pepperdine in their finale. USF is just 12-21 all-time in this tourney and hasn't taken home the hardware since 1998. Pepperdine has gone even longer without a title, claiming its third in 1994. Losers of four straight down the stretch, the Waves ended up with just a 5-9 conference ledger.

On Saturday, the quarterfinal round gets started with fourth-seeded SCU clashing with the winner of the LMU/San Diego matchup. The Broncos fielded a young team that came together in the second half of the season, winning eight of their last 11 bouts. SCU has won this event twice, with the last coming in 1993, and own a 23-20 mark all-time in the tourney.

The second quarterfinals tilt will feature third-seed Portland against the survivor of the USF/Pepperdine battle. The Pilots put together one of their best campaigns in recent memory at 18-11, but losses in their final two outings cost them a potential second seed. Portland could have certainly used the higher seed, as it is just 7-20 all-time in this tournament, winning its only title in 1996.

The top-seeded Bulldogs will make their much anticipated debut in the first game of the semifinals on Sunday. Gonzaga swept the WCC for the third time in history, becoming the first league member to accomplish that feat. The Bulldogs have won nine straight and 11 of the last 12 WCC regular season crowns and are looking to add to their league record nine tourney titles. Gonzaga is 33-13 all-time in this event and has been in the finals 11 straight years and 13 of the last 14. Gonzaga had its run of four straight championships stopped with a loss to San Diego last season.

The second-seeded Gaels will bring the semifinal round to a conclusion on Sunday. SMC was supposed to challenge Gonzaga for the league title, but the loss of star guard Patrick Mills in late January put an end to those hopes. Mills, averaging a team-high 18.7 ppg prior to breaking his right hand, is out for an indefinite period of time. The Gaels though, did show they could win without Mills and enter the postseason riding a five-game winning streak. SMC won its only title in 1997 and it is just 17-21 lifetime in this event.

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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?

I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.

Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.

There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.

Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.

For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.

A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.

The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.

Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.

So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.

Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.

“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.

Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.

“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.

It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.

Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.

The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.

“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.

“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”

Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.

The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.

“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”

Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?

“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.