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Longhorns dodge Law to drop AggiesNCAA Basketball Betting Lines03/01/2007 - Austin, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The long arm of the Law could only extend so far. Despite an inspired performance from their leader Acie Law IV, the seventh- ranked Texas A&M Aggies fell to No. 15 Texas, 98-96, in a classic double- overtime duel in the Frank Erwin Center. Law twice resuscitated his teams' hopes with a pair of clutch three- pointers at the end of both regulation and the first OT, and finished with 33 points and five assists. The Longhorns, though -- behind 30 points from freshman Kevin Durant -- made just enough plays in the closing minutes to pull out the hard-fought win. Durant added 16 rebounds and three blocks while D.J. Augustin finished with 25 points and seven assists for Texas (22-7, 12-3 Big 12), which is now tied with the Aggies for second place in the conference just behind Kansas. Damion James chipped in 22 points and A.J. Abrams added 16. Neither team was able to gain separation down the stretch in regulation, until Durant nailed a long three-pointer from the wing with 19 seconds on the clock to make it 76-72. Undaunted, Dominique Kirk got the ball at the other end and drained a three of his own to pull Texas A&M within one. Then, after Augustin was fouled and made both free throws, Law came up with the shot of the game. Despite having the 6-10 Durant draped all over him, Law released a high-arcing three-pointer from the right baseline that dropped through with one second left to force overtime. History repeated itself in the first extra session, as the Aggies again trailed late by three, and were again bailed out by Law. With time running down, the scrappy guard shook loose of his defender and sank a three out top to force a second overtime. Texas played front-runner again in the second OT, and assumed a 96-93 edge with 11 ticks left after Durant was fouled and went 1-of-2 from the line. The Aggies opted to go for a quick two on the other end, and Antanas Kavaliauskas converted a layup with five seconds left. Durant was again sent to the line and made both attempts, making it a three- point game with time running out. The Longhorns decided to foul Law before he could try a three-pointer, sending him to the line. After making his first shot, he missed his second try on purpose and A&M secured the offensive rebound, but were unable to convert on the putback as time expired. Kavaliauskas had 18 points and Josh Carter scored 17 for the Aggies (24-5, 12-3), who had a three-game winning streak snapped. The Aggies went up 19-13 with about 13 minutes remaining in the opening half after four straight points from Carter, but the Longhorns rattled off the next six points to tie it up. The game remained tight for the rest of the half, but James scored the last four points before intermission -- including a tip-in with just one tick left -- to make it 43-36 Texas at the break. That lead was pushed to 50-39 early in the second half following a pair of James free throws. The Aggies rattled off the next nine points to cut the deficit to two, however, and the game stayed close until the end. Game Notes UT holds a 129-82 edge in the all-time series with A&M, but the Aggies posted a 100-82 decision in College Station on February 5th...Texas plays at Kansas in its regular-season finale...The Aggies will close out the regular season with a home date against Missouri this weekend.
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Teams that should be in: Stanford Should be in: Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.
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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 millionIn the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree. And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so. Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal. So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them. Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.) The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money. As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached. The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs. In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season. Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done. And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting. So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year. There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve. So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal. And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million. There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.) Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft. Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey. Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year. So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation. To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs. |
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