NCAA Basketball – Kansas State stuns Texas Longhorns

They say that every good story worth telling has two sides to it. This might also hold true to a vast array of daily life circumstances. If you have made it past the play-for-fun stage and enter the realm of either recognizing that in sports there’s either winning or losing, you’ll know exactly what is happening in Austin, Texas.

For the Longhorns, both on college basketball and particularly in college football, there is always a huge deal of pressure set upon coaches, players, and even fans. The Texas Longhorns might not have the most ambitious educational program in the United States, but you can be quite certain that when it comes to collegiate sports, they are expected to pass with flying colors. Every season: no exceptions. Anything other then making it into the NCAA Tournament, or going for a BCS Bowl Game is considered failure.

Kansas State doesn’t really live up to the same expectations. At least they don’t have to. First of all because for decades now, the Wildcats have been overshadowed by the Kansas Jayhawks. Things are not as intense when it comes to NCAA sports in Manhattan as they are in Lawrence, Kansas. But this time around, it really seems as if the Wildcats are giving it their very best to change those expectations and perform against the odds.

Yes, for the most part, Kansas State had been somewhat of a disappointment. They started as the No. 2 team in the nation before the season kicked in, but surely but slowly the Wildcats were underperforming. But recently things began to click in. After a 75-70 win over the Longhorns, last night, the Wildcats have now recorded its 5th consecutive win and 7th in the last 8 games played. To really get things into perspective, the Wildcats have defeated 3 teams in the top 30 in this last streak.

Great games by Jacob Pullen and Rodney McGruder have pushed Kansas State to collect wins over Kansas, Missouri, and Texas just to name the latest wins against ranked teams.

The Texas Longhorns, on the other hand, are falling into a slurp just two weeks after some sports reporters had believed that they would have no trouble dominating the Big 12. Texas lost for the third time during the last 4 games, putting a very significant and lopsided end to an 11-consecutive-win streak that had prompted them into top 5 positions in the rankings.

Things have not been good in Texas. The Longhorns have not been able to rely on some of their key-players who have failed to live up to their expectations. For instance: Jordan Hamilton shot 5 of 18 from the floor on this last game. And it is not a matter of having just one bad game. Everybody has a bad night, but heck, it really seems as if Hamilton totally lost his aim. In the Longhorns last three losing games, Hamilton has gone 15-of-58 from the field.

An 11-0 start in conference play had the Longhorns among the top contenders for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Now they’re trying finding their way back to the top and not having to worry too much about how much down they are going to fall.

Kansas State is finally figuring out how to get back on the winning side of things. There are some signs that warn us about what this guys could do in March. For instance consider that this is the Wildcats’ fifth straight win and first on the road over a Top Ten team since 1994. We’ll take that as a good omen.

NCAA Basketball – Wisconsin serves Ohio State its first defeat of the season

by Stephen Lars on Feb.14, 2011, under Basketball, Sports News

Everything that goes up must eventually come down. There is somewhat of a certain beauty when the big teams go down. It’s not just the disappointment of seeing a brilliant team lose its perfect season, or the fight of the underdog to play against the odds and pull off an impressive win. Yes, there is some sort beauty behind the fall of the perfect; perhaps it is something like the upside of failure.

And the Wisconsin Badgers now all about it. The crowd couldn’t resist much longer and stormed in the court as the home team was working its way up to defeat a No.1 ranked team for the first time since 1962. The Badgers put on one heck of a comeback on the second half to close on a 15-point margin to defeat the Ohio State Buckeyes by 71-67.

Playing the underdog is somewhat of an act of sheer faith. Yes, sometimes the spread is so significantly unbalanced that going for the little team is exciting and worth taking your chances. And yet there is a whole other approach when it comes to wagering on sports such as the College Hoops: playing against the team that is breaking all the records.

The Ohio State Buckeyes had had one phenomenal season this year, brining in not only the schools second best ever season starting winning streak. At 24-0 the Buckeyes had only one better record from the season kickoff and it came in 1960-61 when Ohio State went on for a 27-0 start. But then it all went south.

The man of the hour was no other then Jordan Taylor who in 13 minutes was capable of leading the Badgers into an impressive come from behind win over the best team in the Nation. Taylor scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half, working Wisconsin to keep the NCAA Division I basketball championship from having a perfect team since Indiana had its flawless season back in the 1975-76 season.

Taylor was the spark that started the 15-0 fire from the Badgers completing 8 straight points, including back to back three’s that really gave Wisconsin that special boost to build up enough momentum to hold back the Buckeyes desperate attempt for a comeback.

For those of you fond of stats and records, the Wisconsin Badgers have joined Florida as the only team to defeat the same No.1 team in the Nation on both NCAA football and NCAA basketball during the same academic year. As a matter of fact this is the first time that a NCAA team has defeated the No. 1 team in both football and basketball during the same season.

The Badgers have been a good team this season. Even though the squads numbers aren’t as impressive as most fans would like, at 19-5 overall and 9-3 in Big Ten conference play, the Badgers have been quite outstanding when playing at home. One must take into consideration that this is the Badgers 17th straight win at home. Wisconsin was sharp from the three point line, hitting 12 of 24 3 to really guide the team into the upset. But by the halftime break it sure didn’t look like the Badgers would be close after such a big deficit.

Taylor worked the Badgers momentum hitting a floater and two deep 3-pointers, then Wisconsin went on another 10-0 run at the end of the game to hold on to their advantage

NCAA Basketball – Jacob Pullen leads Kansas State to a win over Kansas

Instate Rivalry in college sports are among the most exciting games in NCAA regulated sports. There is so much tradition and so much history involved in each of this games that one can’t help but to feel a certain fascination for these games. So when Kansas State hosted the Kansas Jayhawks at the Fred Bramlage Coliseum in Manhatan, KS, it really seemed as if all the ingredients for a great game where on the ground.

And here is where it gets really interesting. Kansas State has been up to this point somewhat of a disappointment the No. 3 ranked team before the season kickoff was now unranked and could only hold onto a mediocre 16-9 record overall and 4-6 mark in the Big 12 before the game began. So Kansas State had to deal with the fact that the team had not have a good win since Thanksgiving and as if that was not enough, the team’s off the court shenanigans has brought them a couple of suspensions to their starters. Jacob Pullen was suspended for 3 games while Curtis Kelly took a 6-game suspension for violating NCAA rules.

On the side of the Jayhawks, there team was going through a great moment and just a couple of hours prior to the game the Jayhawks had pushed the Texas Longhorns from the top to claim themselves as the No. 1 team in the nation. So yes, on one side of the story the Jayhawks had to defend their votes that placed them ahead of the Longhorns; on the other hand, Kansas State really had to bring on their A-game and prove their fans that their season was not over.

And what better way to prove they are still alive and worthy of going to March Madness then taking a win over their instate rivals: the Kansas Jayhawks. That’s when Jacob Pullen began to shine. The senior guard was capable of turning the game around with a brilliant performance, scoring 38 points to lead the Wildcats to an outstanding upset 84-68.

To really put things into perspective, you might need to know that this is one of the most lopsided rivalries as the Wildcats have only won 2 of their previous 45 games against the Jayhawks. Pullen and company have now made that 3 wins in their head to head matchup. This was one heck of an upset. Just a month ago, the Jayhawks had beat the Wildcats by 24 points. But that was all going to change. Kansas State was a dominant, well paced and organized team.

Even head coach Bill Self, from Kansas, had to agree that the Wildcats were a much stronger team. In the press conference he commented:

nanny state Victoria to prosecute bookies for offering free bets

There's no denying that Australia is a nanny state now. Political correctness, occupational health & safety and ambulance-chasing lawyers have changed the fabric of society, almost entirely for the poorer. A couple of years ago, a constitutional challenge by corporate bookmakers and Betfair threw out the age-old ban on bookmakers advertising in states other than the one they were licensed in. It defied the constitutional notion of free trade across state borders which every other industry had benefitted from since federation in 1901. But the nanny state mentality fought back in order to protect their once state-owned monopoly TABs, with the banning of incentives for free bets - standard marketing practice anywhere else in the world.

Bookies charged for bet offers

CHARGES have been laid against three bookmakers just four days out from the biggest event of the Spring Carnival.

The Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulaion has laid charges against three bookmaker firms over betting inducements.

Charges are expected to be laid against other firms.

Luxbet - a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tabcorp - International All Sports (IASbet.com) and Eskander's Betstar have been charged with offering an inducement to open a betting account.

Under Victorian gambling laws it is illegal to offer rewards as an incentive to open a betting account.

The firms each face hefty fines with the maximum penalty for each offence set at $2,389.

IASbet allegedley offered the biggest inducements, rewarding first-time gamblers with up to $1000 in free bets.

Eskander's Betstar allegedley offered free bets of up to $500 while Luxbet allegedley offered guaranteed minimum odds on Roger Federer or Serena Williams to win the 2010 Australian Tennis Open.

The first 50 new customers to open a Luxbet account, deposit a minimum of $100 and place a fixed odds bet of up to $50 on Federer or Williams to win the Open were guaranteed the odds.


I have the utmost respect for any organisation trying to prevent problem gambling, however this is as far removed from problem gambling as banning the sport in question. Casinos and poker machines (slots or fruit machines in other parts of the world) cause the vast majority of problem gambling cases, in the region of 95%, so imposing restrictions on the GAMING part of gambling makes sense. Poker machines in Victoria and most Australia states are in plague proportions, so much so that it is virtually impossible to keep a pub viable without using the pesky things. WAGERING however is a completely different animal. There is competition between operators, there is skill involved in winning and it is possible to win long-term at it, although only a tiny percentage of punters (

NCAA football – Ohio State is the new No. 1

by Stephen Lars on Oct.13, 2010, under Football, Sports News

Things are mixing up quite nicely atop the NCAA football season AP ranks. And this week was certainly key in the changes that have now sent the Ohio State Buckeyes a top of the charts. Let’s start with the Alabama Crimson Tide. They had been atop the rankings for quite a while now, but the team’s lost to South Carolina, this Saturday, has certainly hurt their rank.

Here is the thing, not only did South Carolina pulled an dramatic upset against the Crimson Tide, (let’s not forget that the Crimson Tide was giving up to -7 points against the spread) but finished with Alabama’s 19-game winning streak. This is the first time that Alabama’s losses a game since the 2009 Sugar Bowl. And despite head coach Saban’s talent, the great performance that Mark Ingram had last week against Florida, and the solid defense that had been characteristic of the Tide, South Carolina won on fair grounds 35-21 on Saturday.

The AP polls kept on rolling as Ohio State received 34 first place votes. While Alabama’ lost its streak, Ohio State was sweeping Indiana 38-10, keeping up with their 6-0 overall and 2-0 in conference play, as they are the dominating team not only in the Big Ten conference, but in the Nation.

Oregon, received 15 first-place votes and Boise State got 8. Texax Christian University, TCU, received one vote, and despite not playing this weekend, the Oklahoma Sooners received two votes. Now, this is quite a change, because once you do the numbers, you come to realize that Ohio State is now No.1, followed by Oregon, Boise State and TCU. Now, for the first time in a long while, let’s call it a decade, it seems that No. 5 Nebraska is actually could be in their way to actually putting on a fight for the National Championship.

If you are into NCAA football you might have noticed that this Top-5 AP poll is missing something: The SEC teams. This is the first time since November 2nd, 2008, that neither Florida nor Alabama, are taking the No.1 spot in the rankings. The Southeastern Conference had dominated the AP polls during 29 consecutive weeks. Now, giving Florida’s under-par performance, and Alabama’s first lost of the season, Auburn is not the highest rated SEC team in the nation.

This is certainly a refreshing change of pace for the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes had not been this high in the AP polls since the 2007 final regular season poll. At the end, LSU went on to defeat the Buckeyes in the BCS National Championship Bowl game. This was not only a bit unexpected, but you must take into account that this was the first time a team won the National Championship with two losses in the regular season.

Now, may the Buckeyes keep up with their good work and, they could very well be on their way to yet another BCS National Championship. Now, we are going to keep an eye out, as Oklahoma is expected to have one heck of a game against Iowa State. Here is the thing. Oklahoma is now 5-0, and may they defeat Iowa State who is 3-3 so far into the season. A win here might kept on pushing the lines up, and launch Oklahoma into the top 3.

NCAA Football- Ohio State Buckeyes defeat Indiana Hoosiers

Last week, Ohio State fans were a bit anxious as their talented quarterback, Terrelle Pryor, was sent to the locker room for a while. The talented player, who is one of the top candidates for the Heisman Trophy, had a leg injury and was suffering a bit. He had managed to guide the Buckeyes in their come-from-behind 24-13 win over Illinois last Saturday. From what happened since he came back late during the third quarter, the Ohio State’s fans couldn’t help but wonder how bad was his injury.

And here is the beauty of this young quarterback’s performance this Saturday. Pryor had strained his left tight muscles last week, but after intensive recovery, he was able to guide the Buckeyes with an outstanding performance. After keeping the ball away from his hands during the first quarter, Pryor was able to complete three touchdowns in the game (this is the third time this season he hits that mark) for a career-best 334 touchdowns in 24 of 30 with no interceptions.

He was absolutely fantastic from short to medium and long range passing. Just consider his touchdown passes for a second here. He covered 22 yards with Dane Sanzenbacher, then 60 yards with Brandon Saine and 17 yards for DeVier Posey for their 38-10 win over the Indiana Hoosiers. No doubt that after South Carolina’s crushing of the then-No.1 Alabama Crimson Tide, the Ohio State Buckeyes was going to wake up Monday morning the new No.1 team in the AP polls.

The Buckeyes have had one heck of a season. The team is now 6-0 overall and 2-0 in conference play. This is Ohio State’s 12th consecutive victory and its 16th consecutive win over the Indiana Hoosiers, who haven’t found a way to break pass such a solid defense.

That might be part of the trick. Sure enough, the Buckeyes have an outstanding team in the offensive end. Terrelle Pryor keeps on breaking school records in every game. But there is much more then mere offensive prowess to the latest success of Ohio State.

For instance, Indiana arrived to this game middling 40 points and a very decent 350 passing yards a game. But truth be said, quarterback Ben Chappell had a dishful of problems finding spaces and gaining valuable seconds as the Buckeye’s defenders kept pushing him to the limit. And he was not too launching in such a harassing environment. Chappell’s numbers where far under par. He went 16 of 26 for 106 passing yards with no touchdown passes and 2 interceptions.

Now, head coach Jim Tressel had even more reasons to celebrate. Not only was he the mastermind behinds Ohio State’s brilliant performance this season, and not only was he going to start the week as the coach of the No. 1 ranked team in the Nation, but he had also accomplished his 100th win with the team. Tressel won his 100th game in his 121st game. Not bad at all. As of press-time, he is the third fastest coach to reach the mark among the Big Ten coaches.

The Buckeyes will now play the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday. Now, another victory here against the Badgers would be key once the BCS standings come out. Will keep you informed on their performance as the season progresses.