College basketball betting players figured that Texas would challenge for the Big 12 title, but they’ve fallen well off the pace, and they’re even behind their rivals from Texas A&M. Both play crucial midweek games before they clash in the basketball edition of the “Lone Star Showdown” on Saturday afternoon.

Texas vs Texas A&M odds – Saturday, February 27, 2:00 PM ET

The No.21 Longhorns (21-6, 7-5) escaped Texas Tech with a 71-67 win last weekend, but they needed to hold off a rally by the Red Raiders. Gary Johnson had a career-high with 22 points off the bench, while Damion James was held to 12 points, but he managed 10 rebounds. They were the only two Longhorns to reach double figures as Texas shot 40.3% from the field, but they did manage to outrebound the Red Raiders 43-26, including 17-4 on the offensive glass, and those second chances were the difference in this game for a floundering Texas team that is struggling just to stay above .500 in the Big 12. The Longhorns will host Oklahoma State, another 7-5 team, on Wednesday.

The No.23 Aggies (19-7, 8-4) bounced back from a tough loss against Kansas to beat Iowa State 60-56 on the road, led by 14 points from Khris Middleton and 12 points from Donald Sloan. The Aggies had a horrible night from the field, shooting 39.6%, but they also held the Cyclones to 32.2%, including 5-of-20 from beyond the arc. Bookmakers (bookmaker reviews) may have been worried that the Aggies were looking ahead to this week, and made them small favorites on the road against one of the Big 12’s worst teams. They wouldn’t have been blamed if they would have done this: the Aggies will head to Baylor, who are another 7-5 team in the conference, on Wednesday night.

The Aggies should be the favorites at home in this contest at Reed Arena, and the Longhorns have lost five straight in College Station. The Longhorns won a spirited 72-67 overtime win on January 16^th in Austin, and James was a beast with 26 points and 12 boards as he put the then-No.1 Longhorns on his back. It all went downhill for the Longhorns after that, as they’ve gone 4-6 in the 10 games since then. The problem with the Longhorns is their guard play, specifically the freshman trio of Avery Bradley, Jordan Hamilton and J’Covan Brown. When they’re good, they are really good, and the Longhorns usually roll. However, they’ve struggled lately, forcing too many bad shots, and outside of a couple of big performances, they haven’t been steady. Look for Texas A&M’s senior guards, Sloan and Derrick Roland, to put the shackles on the young Longhorns.

Bet college basketball: Texas A&M

With the trade deadline just past, it is time to take a look at which teams bettered themselves and which made themselves better for the future by sacrificing the present.

Why? So we can bet on them of course.

This Wednesday we have a clear example of what happens when a team trades away the reason for their success and has to figure out a new way to play when the Orlando Magic travel to Houston to face the new look Rockets.

Orlando Magic (38-19, 2^nd in Eastern Conference) @ Houston Rockets (28-27, t-10^th in Western Conference)

NBA odds (*note lines are approximations as they have not been posted at the time of writing)

Spread: Magic -6

Over/Under: 190

Money Line: Magic -220, Houston +145

Key Storylines

Bronze Medal: Can the Rockets cool off Vince Carter?

Vince Carter started this year off terribly. He was taking bad shots, not hitting them and not setting up teammates. He looked disinterested. Coming over from New Jersey in the offseason, the Magic thought he would be an upgrade over Hedo Turkoglu but looked like a disappointment for much of the season. About a month ago, former Nets Coach Lawrence Frank (asked by Magic coach Stan Van Gundy) came and visited Vince to see what was up. Stan Van Gundy has started using some plays Vince is used to running from his old Nets days and the results have been tremendous. Carter is averaging 20.6 points 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists a game in February compared to 8.7 points , 2.7 boards and 2.2 dimes in January. Carter is finally back to form and playing well with the rest of the Magic. This team is a whole new beast with Carter playing this way. The Rockets will throw Trevor Ariza at him, who is one of the league’s best defensive G/F’s. Carter has plenty of options to pass off to on this deep Magic team, but look for Carter to step up in big moments no matter who is guarding him.

Advantage: Magic

Silver Medal: Did the trade improve or hurt the Rockets?

At the trade deadline the Rockets shipped off seldom used Tracy McGrady, team leader Carl Landry and Joey Dorsey off and got back SG Kevin Martin, backup center Hilton Armstrong, rookie F Jordan Hill, F Jared Jeffries aka the worst offensive player in the NBA, and the right to swap 2011 1^st round picks with the Knicks (top 1 protected) and the Knicks 2012 1^st round pick (top 5 protected).

This trade doesn’t make the Rockets better now. Carl Landry was the all purpose dynamo underneath for the Rockets. Now they have little or no presence underneath. Martin is a sharpshooter and he will take a lot of the shooting load from Trevor Ariza. It will take some time for these guys to play as one, but expect Coach Rick Adelman to get them up to speed quickly. Martin will have to go against the likes of Vince Carter and Mikael Pietrus in this game so it probably won’t happen Wednesday.

Advantage: Magic

Gold Medal: How does this team stop Dwight Howard?

Dwight Howard is the premier center in the NBA.  Although Shaq may have gotten the best of him heads up, the Magic were able to knock off the Cavs last week. The Rockets added Jared Jeffries for his defense. Jeffries can play four positions on D, but is skinny and can’t be confused for a big banger. Dwight Howard will eat him, Chuck Hayes, Hilton Armstrong and Luis Scola alive. Howard will put up ridiculous numbers in this game.

Advantage: Magic

Prediction:

The Rockets will be on a slide until they get accustomed to playing with their new roster. Even then, this team will have trouble against teams with dominant big men. The trade really is for next year and the future as Yao Ming should be back and this team should instantly become a contender once that happens. The Knicks draft picks may be useful if the Knicks cannot land a big name and become a playoff team next year. That aside, the Rockets have very little chance, even at home, versus this Magic team.

Final: Magic 96 – Rockets 76

Sports betting tips: Take the Magic and the under as this game is a lock.

The Matchup

With one team surging and one team sagging, the outcome to this contest is fairly easy to predict. For those looking for betting tips, San Antonio travels to Philadelphia on Friday night to take on the struggling Philadelphia 76ers. While the Spurs have just two wins in Philly since 1999, look for the team to make it three after a workman-like performance on Friday night. The Spurs continued their winning ways after the break with a 90-87 win over Indiana on Wednesday. After winning three of their last four, San Antonio remain one game behind Southwest-division leading Dallas.

For their part, Philadelphia is looking to get back on track after faltering in their last two performances, most recently against Miami in their first game after the break. It was a rough night as the 76ers were blasted 105-78 in their worst loss since November. Prior to their last losses, Philly had been on a season-high five game win streak.

The Breakdown

Historical record (and sportsbooks) reveal that Philadelphia has not been kind to the San Antonio Spurs. They have lost seven of nine road matchups with the 76ers since the 1999-2000 season. In their last meeting, Philadelphia took all of the jingle and darn near most of the jangle out of the Spurs, shutting them down 109-87 on January 16. A win against a strong team such as San Antonio could give Philadelphia the confidence and fire it needs to go on another hot steak, however, the team’s play in their last outing, gave fans little to see confidence in.

Also, look for Allen Iverson to be back in the game on Friday. Iverson missed the last few games due to family medical issues, however, after seeing minimal time in Tuesday’s game, look for Iverson to be back in the starting lineup on Friday. This will mark Iverson’s first meeting with San Antonio since February, 2006. Iverson scored an incredible 42 points in that meeting and has averaged 28.8 points and 5.5 assists over 25 career games versus the San Antonio Spurs.

The Bottom Line

While San Antonio is the better team according to NBA betting lines, you cannot discount their past poor performances in Philadelphia. Also taking into account the addition of Allen Iverson back into Philly’s starting lineup, and it looks like we have the makings of an upset and a much needed win at home for Philly. Not so fast. Expect Tim Duncan to bounce back from his terrible performance from the field on Wednesday, and San Antonio to gut it out, and eek out a win in front of what will no doubt be a typically demure, high class and relaxed crowd in Philly.

The Detroit Pistons have taken a big dive from the ranks of being an NBA and Eastern Conference contender. As they continue their post All-Star break stretch, they’ll have to travel on the road to face a team that has become the best in the East.

The Magic are the reigning Eastern Conference Champs and they don’t expect to have many problems with the Pistons, who have seemingly lost their quality roster and team identity. The Pistons have made a couple of recent changes to their roster in the last year or so, such as firing head coach Flip Saunders and trading away Chauncey Billups, that has left the Pistons with a very mixed bag of a roster.

The good news for Detroit is that they are finally healthy, but they aren’t exactly a cohesive group. They have a lot of duplication, with players like Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum, and Ben Gordon and Richard Hamilton, but they don’t have a lot of leadership or toughness anymore.

Meanwhile, the Magic are far more complete and won’t have many problems dealing with the Pistons. At best, the Pistons are looking at a cover but not a win.

Detroit Pistons @ Orlando Magic

Bodog Odds (Bodog Reviews): Magic -11

The Pistons will be on the second of back-to-back games, which means fatigue might be a factor for them. If that doesn’t tire them out, the Magic’s defense should.

Scoring 100 points has been a trek for the Pistons this season as they haven’t topped the mark in regulation over their last 28 games.

The Magic are the league’s seventh-best defensive team, allowing just 95.9 per game. Meanwhile, Detroit ranks 29^th in scoring offense while averaging just 91.7 per game. If you’re looking for some more stats to indicate that this will be a one-sided matchup, just look at the home-road statistics of both teams.

The Magic are 20-5 at home while the Pistons are 6-18 on the road. The Magic don’t lose often at home but they are coming off a home loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, which left a fairly bitter taste in their mouth.

Expect Orlando to be very focused on rebounding from that loss. Sports handicapping experts should expect this game to play out exactly how it looks, which will be a very easy Orlando win.

NBA Betting Odds Pick: Magic -11

Rookies vs Sophomores

Friday February 12 at 9:00 pm EST

The Rookies have not won a game since 2002 and besides last game where they came within six points, they have been beaten every year by double digits and as many as 41. Readers know that the Rookies did get one item of good news this week as sophomore Derrick Rose will not play as he was selected to play in the All Star game.

Primetime Performers

Rookies: Tyreke Evans has played great for the Sacramento Kings all year and has shown that he was worth the 4^th overall pick last summer. Averaging 20.3 points, 5.1 assists and 4.8 boards he will be the best statistical player on the court on Friday. Playing the majority of the season without Kings star shooting guard Kevin Martin has not slowed him down and should be expected to put up a lot of points in a game that is notorious for lack of defence.

Sophomores: While the Clippers have been struggling this year, Eric Gordon has led the team and improved his game across the board. Scoring 17 a game and adding three boards and three assists, he should be the focal point in the offence. Those doing NBA betting should remember that in last year’s game he put up 19 points on six of eight shooting including three for four from downtown.

X-Factors

Rookies: Stephen Curry has finally been getting steady playing time in Golden State and has responded with a huge month in January. Scoring around 20 points, six assists and four rebounds a game since New Year’s he is joining Brandon Jennings in the race to catch Evans for rookie of the year. He also just rattled off a monstrous triple-double against the L.A. Clippers putting up 36 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds and three steals while playing against former All Star Baron Davis.

Sophomores: Marc Gasol is primed to have a monstrous game. He is the only player in the league averaging 15 points and 9.5 boards as a centre in the Western Conference and joins Andrew Bogut and Dwight Howard as the only players to do it in the entire NBA. Gasol also stands at 7’1” and will be likely be matched up with Duan Blair who stand just 6’8” since the rookie team’s tallest player is Jonas Jerebko, who stands just 6”10” and at just 231 lbs is not going to guard the 265 lb Minnesota Grizzlies player.

Matchup

The Rookies have only one player (Blair) who plays center and two (Taj Gibson and Jerebko) who play power forward, those doing sportsbetting should expect a lot of three guard line-ups. They have a huge speed advantage to make up for the lack in size and with the loss of Rose, the Sophomores have no chance of matching the Rookies in scoring from the backcourt. They will however dominate the paint as the Sophomores boast four players of 6’10” or more and should counter with a big group on the court.

Betting Recommendations

In the ten years of the Rookie versus Sophomore format of the Rookie Challenge, the Rookies have only won twice and this year should be no different as they are just too good down low.

Pick: Sophomores

According to gambling software, the Los Angeles Lakers are still one of the top favorites to win the NBA championship, but the defending champions have a couple of injury worries, notably to their star player. The Lakers will travel to Utah on Wednesday to face a red-hot Jazz team.

Lakers vs Jazz betting – Wednesday, February 10, 9:00 PM ET

Even without Kobe Bryant, the Lakers came away with a 101-89 win over San Antonio at home on Monday, and without Bryant, they had a balanced attack that moves the ball around. Pau Gasol led the way with 21 points, 19 boards and eight assists, while Lamar Odom added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers, who had 20 assists as a team. The Lakers were also missing Andrew Bynum, and this was a good win for a team missing two-fifths of their starting lineup, even if it was at home.

The Jazz had won eight in a row before their road game with the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday, and they’re coming off a 116-106 win over Denver at home on Saturday night. Andrei Kirilenko and Deron Williams had 21 points apiece for the Jazz, while Carlos Boozer returned to the lineup to notch 19 points and 13 boards. The Jazz shot 49.4% from the floor and forced 20 Denver turnovers in the contest, and like they’ll have to on Wednesday against the Lakers, they were facing a short-handed team as the Nuggets were missing Carmelo Anthony.

The Jazz should be favored at home in your sportsbook, as they are 22-6 at EnergySolutions Arena. The Lakers have lost six of their last 10 in Utah, including a 102-94 loss back in December. They’ll have their hands full dealing with a streaking Utah team, especially with no Bryant (back, finger, ankle) or Bynum (hip), and the Bynum absence could be more important. This could allow Boozer and Paul Millsap to have their way in the post against the Lakers. Also, the Lakers have to find something to do at the point, namely, do they make the switch from Derek Fisher to Shannon Brown? Fisher has problems staying in front of the better point guards in the Western Conference, as shown by Tony Parker’s ability to penetrate against the Lakers at will. The Lakers got some help for Fisher in the second half, but if they wait until then to pick up Williams, it’ll be a long day for the Lakers, who are also 19-23 without Bryant in the lineup since the 2003-04 season. Look for the Jazz to keep their winning ways going.

NBA betting pick: Utah

Minnesota Timberwolves (+6.5) vs Philadelphia 76ers Minnesota Timberwolves (+6.5) to win at (  1.952)
Dallas Mavericks/Denver Nuggets (Over 210.5) points at (  1.952)

Statistic: 138/279 50%

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BOS Bruins v BUF Sabres BUF Sabres  to win at 1.70
CAL Flames v OTW Senators under 5 goals at  2.00

Statistic:

179/308 58,1%

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We are only days away and the Super Bowl odds are up and we’re down to our last week of NFL picks. In this year’s contest the New Orleans Saints, led by quarterback Drew Brees, will vie for the Vince Lombardi trophy against MVP Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts.

Super Bowl XLIV: New Orleans Saints vs. Indianapolis Colts

Sunday, February 7^th 2010

Spread: Colts -4.5

Total: 56.5

Money Line: Colts -200, Saints +170

Key Storylines

Injury to Dwight Freeney

If anyone has been watching the line this week they know that it has fallen a point or a point and a half in some cases. The main reason for this is the injury to Colts DE Dwight Freeney (ankle). Freeney suffered a third degree sprain (which includes a torn ligament) in his ankle with two minutes left in the AFC Championship game. The Colts star DE will be a game-time decision but his effectiveness will surely be in question with a bad wheel.

The loss of Freeney could be a major factor in this game as the Saints will be able to have another receiving option available on pass plays if a running back or tight end isn’t needed to double or chip on the All-Pro. Giving Drew Brees more options is usually not a good recipe for success.

Colts Rookie CB Jerraud Powers

Powers has been a great surprise for a Colts secondary that has suffered through injuries to key players this season. Powers has excelled in his first year out of Auburn but was a scratch for the AFC Championship game with a bad foot. Powers has claimed that he is okay and will play, but it remains to be seen if he can cover the athleticism and speed of the Saints receiving core in his condition.

Saints TE Jeremy Shockey

Shockey still has a bitter taste in his mouth from having to watch his old team gel in his absence and go on a Super Bowl run. Shockey demanded a trade from the Giants following their Super Bowl victory and has been a man on a mission this season. Shockey is one of the best all around tight ends in the game with both solid blocking and receiving skills. Shockey is a mismatch for most teams and the Colts will have to game-plan for his unique abilities. That is of course if Shockey’s health holds up. Shockey has been having trouble for most of the postseason with various injuries and has been pretty banged up. Expect this warrior to keep on battling, but his ability to get open may be limited by injuries.

Peyton Manning vs. Gregg Williams’ Defense

This looks lopsided just writing it, like a mid-80’s Tyson boxing match. Gregg Williams is considered to be a very good defensive coordinator. Well Peyton Manning just chewed up and spit out the Jets number one ranked defense last week and they threw the kitchen sink at Manning. The Saints run a 4-3 base with tons of blitz schemes and try to hit the quarterback early and often. Peyton Manning has a +100 QB rating against the blitz this year and eats 4-3 defenses for breakfast. If Gregg Williams thinks he can hit Peyton, he would be the first one this year to accomplish this feat. Manning has impeccable timing with releasing the ball and always seems to know when to get rid of it and hasn’t made a big mistake in what seems like an eternity.

The Saints were lucky that the Vikings coughed the ball up against the Saints more than the Colts will for sure.

Peyton Manning is the only four-time MVP in NFL history. It won’t be his last, expect him to add a second Super Bowl MVP trophy to his collection, as Drew Brees just falls short on a historic performance by Peyton Manning.

Colts 38 – Saints 30

Super Bowl 44 odds have been out for over a week now, but the first significant move has happened with Indianapolis’ advantage decreasing a little bit. However, an injury shouldn’t hurt the Colts’ chances against New Orleans too much.

Saints Colts betting – Sunday, February 7, 6:20 PM ET

The Saints come into this game healthy, and that’s a good thing because they’ll need all the help they can get. However, there are some questions that have been raised about New Orleans on both sides of the ball. They gave up a ton of yards against Minnesota, and only five turnovers from the Vikings got the Saints to this point. During the second half of that game, the Saints had problems moving the ball against the Vikings, who took Reggie Bush out of the game.

The Colts have a big injury worry as defensive end Dwight Freeney has torn ligaments in his ankle. Freeney, who has an outstanding motor and speed coming off the edge, would be a huge boost to the Colts’ defense, who have to deal with one of the fastest offenses in the league. But as long they have Peyton Manning on the other side of the ball, the Colts feel like they could be in a super casino and come out rich. Manning won his fourth MVP award this year, beating Brees by a wide margin, and he’s taken his game to another level in the playoffs, particularly against the New York Jets. The Colts have also won seven games this year in the fourth quarter, and if you give Manning late chances, he’ll burn you.

The Colts have dropped a half-point to 5-point favorites according to betting services, and the absence of Freeney up front shouldn’t hurt the Colts too much. Indy has a lot of experience, and whenever someone gets hurt, or is ineffective, they have players who can step up. They have enough team speed on defense to handle the Saints, and they have another good end on the other side in Robert Mathis. Offensively, the Colts won’t make the same mistakes that the Vikings did, especially with Manning under center.

NFL picks: Colts -5