Irish and Wildcats meet in Big East clash

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/17/2007 - Villanova, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 20th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish are a perfect 13-0 at home, but must go on the road this evening, as they take on the Villanova Wildcats in Big East action from the Pavilion.

Mike Brey's squad is a stellar 15-2 on the season and has won 14 of its last 15 games. The lone loss during that span came in the team's only true road contest, dropping a 66-48 decision at Georgetown on January 6th. Since then, the Irish have won two in a row, including an 88-76 victory over Seton Hall on Sunday. The victory moved ND to 3-1 in Big East action.

The Wildcats are the opposite, 1-3 in league play, and have lost three of their last four games, including a 75-64 setback at Syracuse on Saturday. These two teams will meet again in 10 days in South Bend.

Villanova holds a 15-12 edge in the all-time series. In their only meeting with Notre Dame last season, the Wildcats edged out the Irish, holding on for a 72-70 decision.

Notre Dame shot .534 from the floor and hit 10 three-pointers in posting a 12- point win over the Pirates on Sunday. Russell Carter hit all four of his attempts behind the arc and led four Irish players in double figures with 24 points. Carter recorded his first double-double of the season and second in his career by adding 10 rebounds. Rob Kurz just missed his own double-double with 15 points and nine caroms and was followed in the scoring column by Luke Harangody and Zach Hillesland, who added 12 points apiece. Notre Dame is a real surprise this season and a full arsenal at the offensive end is the reason for the success. The team is averaging a hardy 84.1 ppg this year, shooting .492 from the floor and .401 from behind the arc. Carter has been outstanding this season and is one of the Big East's top snipers, shooting .454 from three-point range (49-of-128) and pacing the team with 18.0 ppg. Kurz is a perfect complement down low, adding 14.4 ppg, while grabbing 8.8 rpg. Colin Falls and Harangody provide adequate scoring depth with 12.2 and 12.0 ppg, respectively.

Villanova has done a nice job at the offensive end of the court as well this year. The team is shooting .449 from the floor, resulting in a healthy 75.8 ppg. The scoring pool is not as deep as Notre Dame's, but Curtis Sumpter is a special player that can take over a game inside. The 6-7 senior has returned from a knee injury last year and leads the Wildcats in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 18.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per outing. Mike Nardi provides perimeter balance with nearly 14 points per game (13.8) and is responsible for a team-high 39 three-pointers to date. Scottie Reynolds furthers the cause from the perimeter, averaging 9.9 ppg. Sumpter was unstoppable in the low post against Syracuse, finishing with a double-double of 24 points and 12 rebounds, but it wasn't enough in an 11-point loss at Syracuse. Nardi and Reynolds finished with 17 and 14 points, respectively, but the team shot just .361 from the floor and just .286 from behind the arc (8- of-28).

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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