Spiders attempt to snare Musketeers in A-10 semifinals

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - Atlantic City, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The second-seeded and 24th-ranked Xavier Musketeers do battle with the third-seeded Richmond Spiders in the semifinal round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament today at Boardwalk Hall. The winner of this game will meet either Temple or Rhode Island in the finals on Sunday.

Winners of eight games in a row, the Musketeers find themselves in the semifinals of this event for the ninth consecutive year. After sharing the regular-season title at 14-2, Xavier earned a first-round bye and began tourney play with a 78-73 victory over seventh-seed Dayton last night. The Musketeers, who have won this event four times, are 4-6 in the semifinals and have lost their last three appearances in this stage.

On the flip side, Richmond went 13-3 during the regular campaign and also earned a first-round bye. The Spiders began their tourney run last night with a 77-72 besting of 11th-seeded Massachusetts in the quarterfinals. It was the third straight victory for Richmond, which is now one win shy of setting the school record for a single season. This is the Spiders' third appearance in the semifinals in their ninth showing in the A-10 tourney.

As for the all-time series, Xavier holds a 11-3 advantage over Richmond and that includes a 78-76 double-overtime decision in late February that helped the Musketeers earn a share of the A-10 title. That is Richmond's only loss in its last 12 games.

The Spiders drained 11-of-20 long-range buckets and held off UMass for a 77-72 win after opening a commanding 38-21 lead at the intermission. David Gonzalvez led a balanced attack with 15 points and six boards, while Ryan Butler and Kevin Smith each had 14 points. Justin Harper and Kevin Anderson also got into the mix, tallying 13 points apiece. For the season, Anderson tops the club in scoring at 17.7 ppg adn he also has 56 steals to his credit. Gonzalvez is another scoring threat at 14.3 ppg and he too is a tenacious defender, racking up a team-high 59 steals. Harper adds 10.8 ppg and 5.5 rpg for Richmond, which is holding foes to 61.7 ppg and recording 8.5 steals per contest.

The Musketeers shot 50.0 percent form the floor and made 21 free throws over the final 20 minutes, as they rallied from a 15-point defeat to top Dayton 78-73 last night. Xavier finished the game 33-of-41 at the stripe, in addition to dominating the boards, 39-28. Terrell Holloway led the charge with 22 points and three steals, while Jordan Crawford posted 20 points. Jason Love also did his part, registering a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. For the season, Crawford averages a hardy 19.7 ppg to pace Xavier and he also grabs 4.6 rpg and dishes out 2.9 apg. Love adds 12.0 ppg and a team-high 8.7 rpg to the lineup, while Holloway contributes 11.7 ppg and a team-best 4.0 apg. As a team, Xavier is netting a healthy 79.9 ppg and ripping down an impressive 40.0 rpg.

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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.