2010 Southland Conference Tournament Preview

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/08/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eight Southland Conference teams will gather in Katy, Texas this week to compete for a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The quarterfinal round, featuring all eight teams, will take place on Wednesday, followed by semifinal action on Thursday. After a day of rest, the last two teams standing will compete for the tournament title on Saturday afternoon.

There are 12 teams in the league, and the bottom four (Northwestern State, McNeese State, Central Arkansas and Lamar) missed the cut for this event. Sam Houston State enters as the top seed after winning 14 of 16 conference tilts during the regular season, three games better than second-seeded Stephen F. Austin. Third-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and fourth-seeded Southeastern Louisiana were 10-6 versus league foes, so they certainly have to be viewed as threats. As for fifth-seeded Texas State, sixth-seeded Texas-San Antonio and seventh-seeded UT-Arlington, all were at least .500 in league play. In fact, the only participant in the tournament that lost more league games than it won during the regular season is eighth-seeded Nicholls State. Last season, Stephen F. Austin won the title, and eight different programs have captured the crown over the last eight years, making this tournament one to watch.

The first of four quarterfinal-round matchups pits the second-seeded Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks against the seventh-seeded UT-Arlington Mavericks. The Lumberjacks won the only regular-season meeting with the Mavericks by a 72-65 final on January 20th. As mentioned, Stephen F. Austin won the title a year ago by beating Texas-San Antonio by 11 points in the championship game. That crown was the first for the Lumberjacks, who are a modest 10-11 all-time at this event. They are coming off a loss to Texas-San Antonio in the regular- season finale and need to bounce back strong. As for the Mavericks, they closed out the regular season with a three-game losing skid and are just 13-23 all-time in this tournament. However, they did win the championship in 2008, so the taste of success still lingers. UT-Arlington is scoring 74.6 ppg, significantly better than Stephen F. Austin's 66.9 ppg, but the Lumberjacks are the best defensive team in the league (60.1 ppg), while the Mavericks rank near the bottom (73.4 ppg). Marquez Haynes is the man to watch in this matchup, as he is UTA's best player and the league's leading scorer (22.8 ppg).

Another quarterfinal pairing features the third-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders against the sixth-seeded Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners. UTSA is the best free-throw shooting team in the conference (.756) and tops in three-point percentage defense as well. As for Corpus Christi, it leads the conference in rebounding margin (+5.3 rpg). The Islanders, a relative newcomer to the league, captured their lone Southland Tournament title in 2007 and is 4-1 at this event. The Roadrunners have won this event twice, most recently in 2004, and are 14-13 in Southland Tournament tilts. Corpus Christi and San Antonio split a pair of meetings during the regular season and are evenly matched. Neither team possess an individual ranked in the top 10 in the league in scoring.

The top-seeded Sam Houston State Bearkats are obviously favored in their quarterfinal matchup with the eighth-seeded Nicholls State Colonels, but it should be pointed out that the lone regular-season encounter between the two teams resulted in a rather narrow 75-69 victory for SHSU. The Bearkats have won this event only one time (2003) and are 8-11 all-time in Southland tourney games. As for Nicholls State, it has captured the crown twice, most recently in 1998. The Colonels are far from pushovers, as they possess the league's second-leading scorer in Anatoly Bose (20.4 ppg), as well as the ninth-leading scorer in Fred Hunter (14.1 ppg). Sam Houston State boasts the fourth and fifth top point producers in the league in Clavell Gilberto and Corey Allmond, who are generating 16.9 ppg and 16.3 ppg, respectively. The Bearkats are the top scoring team in the league (80.8 ppg), and Nicholls State (65.9 ppg) ranks 11th.

Rounding out the quarterfinals is a clash between the fourth-seeded Southeastern Louisiana Lions and the fifth-seeded Texas State Bobcats. These teams met just once during the regular season, and Southeastern Louisiana won that showdown by a 75-66 final. The Bobcats closed out the regular season with three straight victories and figure to enter this event with some confidence. They have won this tournament twice, but the most recent title came back in 1997, and the club is just 9-13 all-time at the event. Texas State is second in the conference in scoring (77.1 ppg), but the club is next-to-last in scoring defense (77.8 ppg). Cameron Johnson paces the Bobcats with 14.3 ppg, and he is fifth in the league in rebounding (7.9 rpg). The Lions pride themselves on strong defensive play, as they are yielding only 65.8 ppg while holding foes to a league-best 39.5 percent shooting from the floor. Patrick Sullivan paces Southeastern Louisiana with 15.7 ppg, and he is shooting 53.1 percent from the field while ripping down 8.7 rpg.

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Hernandez received a cortisone shot Thursday after leaving camp and returning to New York to have his neck examined. The 41-year-old right-hander is penciled in as the team's No. 2 starter behind Tom Glavine.

El Duque's health is a major issue for the Mets, who won the NL East in 2007 and came within one victory of the World Series. Their aging and unsettled rotation is a big question mark this year.

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Hernandez went 11-11 with a 4.66 ERA last season, including 9-7 with a 4.09 ERA in 20 starts after the Mets acquired him from Arizona in late May. But he missed the playoffs because of a torn calf muscle.

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