{"id":4024,"date":"2009-03-28T09:07:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-28T14:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2009\/03\/missouri-connecticut-pitt-villanova-headline-saturday-best-bets\/"},"modified":"2009-03-28T09:07:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-28T14:07:00","slug":"missouri-connecticut-pitt-villanova-headline-saturday-best-bets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2009\/03\/missouri-connecticut-pitt-villanova-headline-saturday-best-bets\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri-Connecticut, Pitt-Villanova Headline Saturday Best Bets"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: <\/span><\/font>Pittsburgh<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>, Villanova, UConn, and Missouri<\/st1:place><\/st1:State> compete in the Elite Eight, and the Suns try to score a road victory against Utah<\/st1:place><\/st1:State>.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Tipping off on the hardwood  . . .<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/strong><\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Suns will be in <\/span><\/font>Utah<\/st1:place><\/st1:State> to take on the Jazz on Saturday night in the top NBA  matchup<\/span> on the day’s schedule. Phoenix’s late playoff push was hit with a setback on Thursday with a 129-109 loss to Portland<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>; Shaquille O’Neal picked up 20 points for the Suns in that loss. Phoenix<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>, though, got past Utah<\/st1:place><\/st1:State> 118-114 at home on Wednesday night, with Grant Hill leading the way with a 26-point game.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Chicago<\/span><\/font><\/st1:place><\/st1:City> will host Indiana<\/st1:place><\/st1:State> in the only matinee on the league’s Saturday slate, while the evening will also feature Detroit<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> at Washington<\/st1:City>, New York<\/st1:State><\/st1:place> at Charlotte<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>, Milwaukee<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> at Miami<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>, the Clippers at Houston<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>, Golden<\/st1:PlaceName> State<\/st1:PlaceType><\/st1:place> at Denver<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>, and Memphis<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> at Portland<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>. The Trail Blazers got 29 points and 12 rebounds from LaMarcus<\/span> Aldridge in their win over the Suns, and 26 points from Brandon Roy.<\/p>\n

Best sports picks\u2026<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

The power of 620 sports services<\/a><\/span> behind every selection has Bill Tanner is the No. 1 <\/span><\/font>college<\/span><\/font><\/span> and NBA handicapper combined since 1995. He’s from the basketball crazed state of Indiana<\/st1:PLACE><\/st1:STATE><\/st1:PLACE><\/st1:STATE><\/st1:place><\/st1:State> and his Platinum Plays in hoops hit around 62 percent. He also hits above 60 percent in college football with “Plats”.   <\/span><\/font>About a dozen years ago, he lapped dinosaur “Doc” as the top Big 10 handicapper in the land. In all sports combined, he has had just 37 Double Platinum Game of the Year plays (excludes pushes) and is 26-11. Double Platinum Game of the Year on Missouri\/Connecticut.<\/span> Click now to purchase<\/a> sports betting picks from the top sports services or you can get more information<\/a> and a free sports<\/span> pick<\/o:p><\/p>\n

On the road to the Final Four . . .<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/strong><\/o:p><\/p>\n

It’ll be <\/span><\/font>Missouri<\/st1:place><\/st1:State> vs. Connecticut<\/st1:place><\/st1:State> and Villanova vs. Pittsburgh<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. The No. 1 Huskies have been pegged as 5.5-point favorites in their matchup with the No. 3 Tigers at University<\/st1:PlaceType> of Phoenix Stadium<\/st1:PlaceName><\/st1:place>, with that game’s total set at 150 points. Connecticut<\/st1:place><\/st1:State> cruised through the Sweet 16 round on Thursday night with a 72-60 win over Purdue. Missouri<\/st1:place><\/st1:State> was an upset winner on Thursday, getting past No. 2 Memphis 102-91.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Over at TD Banknorth<\/span> Garden on Saturday night the No. 2 Panthers will enter as 2-point favorites against the No. 3 Wildcats (with the total at 142.5). <\/span><\/font>Pittsburgh<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> outlasted No. 4 Xavier in a 60-55 win on Thursday night, getting 19 points from Sam Young in a game that they trailed 37-29 at halftime. Villanova impressed in a convincing 77-54 dismantling of No. 2 Duke on Thursday, as Scottie Reynolds had a team-high 16 points. Dante Cunningham had 14 points and 11 rebounds.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Taking a trip around the rink . . .<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/strong><\/o:p><\/p>\n

An afternoon matchup between the Rangers and Penguins in <\/span><\/font>Pittsburgh<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> launches an 11-game slate in the National Hockey League on Saturday.  Both New York<\/st1:place><\/st1:State> and Pittsburgh<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> are still in the hunt for fourth place in the Eastern Conference (and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs) thanks to solid play of late. The Penguins are 7-1-2<\/st1:date> in their past 10;  the<\/span> Rangers are 6-3-1<\/st1:date>.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The rest of the NHL’s Saturday schedule will take place at night, and include <\/span><\/font>Los Angeles<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> at Nashville<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>, Boston<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> at Toronto<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>, Ottawa<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> at Atlanta<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>, Philadelphia<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> at the Islanders, Carolina<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> at New Jersey<\/st1:place><\/st1:State>, Buffalo<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> at Montreal<\/st1:City>, Florida<\/st1:State><\/st1:place> at Dallas<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>, Columbus<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> at St. Louis<\/st1:City>, Minnesota<\/st1:State><\/st1:place> at Calgary<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>, and Phoenix<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> at San Jose<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>. The Sharks are still neck-and-neck with the Wings for top spot in the West standings.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Rounding out the Roundup . . .<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/strong><\/o:p><\/p>\n

Finally, the 2009 Formula 1 season gets underway this weekend with Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit (with North American race fans catching the event in the wee hours on Sunday morning). Lewis Hamilton won this race last season, beating Nick Heidfeld<\/span> across the finish line by 5.4 seconds. Nico<\/span> Rosberg<\/span>, Fernando Alonso, Heikki<\/span> Kovalainen<\/span>, Kazuki<\/span> Nakajima, Sebastien<\/span> Bourdais<\/span>, and Kimi<\/span> Raikkonen<\/span> made up the rest of the race’s top eight in ’08, while Rubens Barrichello<\/span> was disqualified from sixth due to a pit infraction.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

OffshoreInsiders.com<\/b><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: Pittsburgh, Villanova, UConn, and Missouri compete in the Elite Eight, and the Suns try to score a road victory against Utah. Tipping off on the hardwood  . . . The Suns will be in Utah to take on the Jazz on Saturday night in the top NBA  matchup on … Continue reading Missouri-Connecticut, Pitt-Villanova Headline Saturday Best Bets<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}