North Carolina downs Maryland
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
02/04/2012 - College Park, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tyler Zeller scored 22 points and Harrison Barnes had 18, as No. 5 North Carolina used a late surge to down Maryland, 83-74, at Comcast Center on Saturday.
The Tar Heels (20-3, 7-1 ACC) had lost five of their last seven trips to College Park, but got 17 points and 12 rebounds from John Henson and a career- high 16 assists from Kendall Marshall to earn the victory. They have won five straight since a disappointing 90-57 loss at Florida State.
North Carolina will host in-state rival No. 5 Duke on Wednesday night.
Terrell Stoglin scored 20 points to pace the Terrapins (13-9, 3-5), who have dropped five of their last six. They were coming off a double-overtime loss to Miami on Wednesday. Alex Len chipped in 12 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.
The Terrapins were in control for the majority of the game, They took a 40-37 lead into the break on Len's put-back at the buzzer and were up 57-52 with 11 1/2 minutes to go.
Then North Carolina came to life, reeling off seven straight to take its first lead since early in the first half. Barnes bookended the spurt with a jumper and a three-pointer and Henson had a dunk in between, as the Tar Heels went on top, 59-57.
They led the rest of the way, although the margin wasn't a comfortable one.
Stoglin hit a jumper to make it a one-point game, 70-69, with 3 1/2 minutes left. But the Tar Heels leaned on their superior size to maintain the slight edge, scoring four straight on put-backs by P.J. Hairston and Henson.
James Padgett's free throw made it 74-70 and the Terrapins had a chance to further cut into the deficit after Reggie Bullock missed an ill-advised, rushed layup. Stoglin failed to capitalize, however, missing a three-pointer and Barnes sunk a pull-up jumper out of a timeout to put UNC up 76-70 with 1:06 to play.
The Tar Heels made 5-of-6 free throws the rest of the way and Henson threw down a slam at the buzzer to cap the scoring.
Game Notes
The Tar Heels sealed their eighth straight 20-win season under head coach Roy Williams with the victory. They have 54 20-win seasons in program history...The Tar Heels lead the all-time series with the Terrapins, 116-57...Bullock had 11 points.
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Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.