Illini's McCamey, Davis to return as seniors

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

05/08/2010 - Champaign, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - University of Illinois point guard Demetri McCamey and forward Mike Davis withdrew from the NBA Draft Saturday and will return for their senior seasons.

McCamey was a first-team All-Big Ten selection last season, leading the team in scoring at 15.1 points per game and finishing second in the country with a school-record 7.1 assists per contest.

The 6-foot-3 guard also topped the Fighting Illini in steals at 1.5 per game and averaged 3.6 rebounds -- good for third on the team.

McCamey is the only player in Illinois history to reach 1,200 career points and 500 assists in three seasons of competition. He tied a school record with a career-high 16 assists at Purdue on February 20 and recorded ten 20-point games as a junior.

"After going through workouts and talking with my family and Coach (Bruce) Weber, I feel that it's in my best interest to return to school for my senior season," McCamey said. "Point guards are judged on victories. I think our team can do big things next year so I'm coming back to help us compete for championships and at the same time keep getting better so I can challenge for a first-round spot in next year's draft."

Davis was the Big Ten's top rebounder, averaging 9.2 boards, and was third on the team in scoring with an average of 10.7 points last season. His 15 double- doubles ranked second in the conference.

"I put my name in to hear from NBA personnel which areas of my game I need to make improvement," Davis said. "Deep down I knew another year of school was best for me, but having the chance to work out and get that feedback were helpful so I'm thankful for that opportunity. Now I'm motivated to work harder than ever so that we can have a great year next year, get back to the NCAA Tournament and make a run."

Wiwon NCAA Basketball Betting News

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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