BYU's lengthy home win streak in danger against No. 6 Wake Forest

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/03/2009 - Provo, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The nation's longest home win streak appears to be in serious jeopardy tonight as the BYU Cougars entertain the sixth-ranked Wake Forest Demon Deacons at the Marriott Center in Provo.

Off to their best start since 1987-88, the Cougars have won an astounding 53 consecutive games at the Marriott Center, with the last setback for the squad coming against Loyola Marymount in the 2005-06 home opener. This year, the squad is a perfect 6-0 in the building and 5-1 elsewhere thanks to a 74-68 victory against Tulsa on the road Tuesday. The win came 10 days after the Cougars suffered their first and only loss of 2008-09, a 76-75 defeat at the hands of Arizona State as a potential game-winning basket at the buzzer was waved off.

As for the Demon Deacons, they've maintained an unblemished record to this point in the campaign, thanks in part to a questionable non-conference slate that has included early meetings with the likes of NC Central, Winston-Salem State, East Carolina and Radford. Aside from the double-digit win over Baylor as part of the 76 Classic in Anaheim in late November, the team has cruised in almost every other outing. On Tuesday, Wake Forest easily dismissed Radford in an 83-61 final at home which means the Demon Deacons have scored at least 81 points in all but one of the last eight games.

Wake Forest leads the all-time series with the Cougars by a count of 3-1 after picking up a 79-62 victory at home in Winston-Salem a season ago. Against ranked opponents, the Cougars have an all-time record of 50-112 and are 14-20 versus such teams at the Marriott Center over the years. BYU is just 17-61 versus schools in the top-10, with Wake being the highest-ranked, non- conference opponent ever to face BYU in this building.

Wake had a little trouble with the Highlanders in the first half of their game on Tuesday, leading by only seven points at the break, but in the second half the offense opened up and the Demon Deacons cruised to the 22-point win. Jeff Teague scored a game-high 19 points for the home team, leading four players in double figures, while Al-Farouq Aminu was one of two with a double-double as he dropped in 18 points and cleared 10 rebounds. James Johnson came up with 12 points, 12 boards and five assists, followed by Chas McFarland who tallied 10 points, but on just 2-of-8 shooting from the field. Teague leads the team in scoring after 12 games with his 18.8 ppg, shooting not only 52.5 percent from the field but also 51.7 percent behind the three-point line. In addition, Teague is also first with 50 assists and 28 steals, which tells the story of a player who makes a full effort at both ends of the floor. Aminu, a 54.8 percent shooter from the field, checks in with 12.9 ppg and a team-best 9.1 rpg, followed by Johnson and his 12.8 ppg and 7.7 rpg. At the moment Wake is shooting an impressive 51.3 percent from the floor, one of the best marks in college basketball, while limiting the opposition to just 36 percent from the floor and 27.8 percent out on the perimeter.

Down by four at the break versus Tulsa at the Reynolds Center, the Cougars picked up the pace at both ends of the floor in the second half in order to land in the win column. In addition to holding the Golden Hurricane to just 34.4 percent from the field after the intermission, the visitors also converted 57.7 percent from the floor themselves. Lee Cummard led a trio of double-digit scorers with his game-high 26 points, but it was Jonathan Tavernari who put it all together with his 20 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. Jimmer Fredette managed to work through six turnovers by posting 13 points. Cummard leads the team in scoring overall this season with his 18.4 ppg, but now Tavernari is right on his tail with 18.3 ppg of his own. The former is shooting an amazing 59.9 percent from the field, 45.7 percent behind the three-point line and 82 percent at the charity stripe, all while averaging close to six rebounds per game and better than three assists per outing. Tavernari checks in with 7.3 rpg to lead the group and give them a rebounding advantage of more than five per game against the competition. Like Wake, the Cougars are also shooting the ball extremely well from the field at a 52.1 percent clip and are holding foes to just 28.9 percent out on the perimeter.

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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

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