Marc Lawrence Sports Handicapping News

College Football Teaser Preview

The 2008 College Football season will be here before you know it.  We are busy at the moment compiling the 2008 PLAYBOOK Football Handicapper Yearbook magazine (on sale at newsstands nationwide July 8th).  Each week from now until the magazine debuts we will share with you a team preview excerpt , extracted directly from the magazine.  Enjoy...

ARIZONA STATE
Team Theme: CHEF DENNIS
The king of home cooking, Dennis Erickson, welcomes another fortuitous schedule in ’08 when his troops play host on seven occasions, including four in a row to open the campaign.  To amplify, Erickson is 48-28-3 ATS at home as a college football head coach, including 34-13 when playing off a double-digit win.  He is also a three-time PAC 10 Coach of the Year – with three different teams - and one of only two coaches to ever beat a No.1 ranked team three times in his career (Lou Holtz the other).  In what has become a solid pattern, Denny’s teams started 8-0 last season before fizzling to a 2-3 finish.  We weren’t surprised.  His teams are now 25-33-1 ATS from Game Ten out, including a dismal 6-17 as a visitor.  SR QB Rudy Carpenter is the nation’s second-best active quarterback in TD passes (65) and needs 2,620 passing yards to become ASU’s all-time leader.  It helps that his favorite target, WR Michael Jones, who led the nation in TD frequency, will return. Bon appetit.

Early Baseball Observations...

The 2008 MLB season is underway and with it, like in seasons past, a few surprises.  For instance, who wold have believed the offensively loaded Detroit Tigers would go winless in their first seven games?

Or how about the Baltimore Orioles leading the super-tough A.L. East?  And can the St. Louis Cardinals maintain their strong start and outlast the other five opponents in the N.L's top-heavy Central division?

My best guess is that by the All-Star break these three teams will each have changed direction.  And speaking of the N.L. Central, it leads to a head-scratching question that MLB somehow feels it does not need to justify.  That is, how do two leagues with three divisions each find 5 teams in four divisions, yet the  N.L. Central is comprised of 6 teams, while the AL West has only 4?  Doesn't a move of Houston to the A.L. West sound too simple?  And since the National League absorbed Milwaukee from the A.L., wouldn't turnabout be fair play?  We would then have six balanced, 5-team divisions.

Oh well.  If it took the league two decades to address the steroids issue, it would seem that a logical move of this magnitude will likely happen only after they put Jose Canseco into the Hall of Shame, er, Fame...

NCAA Tournament Review

Kansas cut down the nets and is the new NCAA Basketball Champion.  It was a thrilling tourney with all four No.1 seeds advancing to the Final Four for the first time in tournament history.

In review, here is how the seeds broke down Against The Spread in this year's event -
1. 14-8
2. 4-7
3. 9-5
4. 3-4
5. 3-4
6. 4-3
7. 5-3
8. 3-3
9. 3-3
10. 4-3
11. 1-4
12. 5-3
13. 2-4
14. 0-4
15. 2-2
16. 1-3

Notice, if you will, the No. 4 - 10 seeds were closely bunched.  Interestingly, favorites in the tourney were 39-24 ATS.  In addition higher seeds were 47-13 SU and 38-22 ATS in games against lower seeds.

The bottom line is that while the tournament was a bit chalky, it was still great to watch and exciting down to the final game.

The Final Dance...

As the 2008 NCAA Tournament winds to a conclusion this weekend in San Antonio there numerous things we've learned from this year's Dance.

Aside from this being the first ever Final Four involving all four No. 1 seeds, this year's event has been kind to favorites as chalk is 38-22 ATS.  In addition the aforementioned No. 1 seeds are 11-5 ATS in this year's slugfest.

It's our contention that defense wins the cheese.  That being the case consider teams scoring less than 70 points in the tourney this year are 8-42 SU and 10-40 ATS, while those that managed to score 80 or more points are 20-2 SU and 18-4 ATS.

The teams are set and the lines are locked and loaded.  Let the contest start and, while we're at it, save the Last Dance for me...