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03/17/2010 -
MILWAUKEE (AP) -It's perhaps the most oft-repeated nugget of conventional NCAA tournament wisdom and it bodes particularly well for Wisconsin this year: Experienced guard play can be a decisive edge.
The Badgers start one of the tournament's most experienced guard pairs, Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon. Both are seniors making their fourth straight NCAA tournament appearances. Going into Friday's first-round matchup with Wofford in Jacksonville, Fla., both must excel if the No. 4-seeded Badgers are to make an extended run this month.
``It always gives you a pretty good chance,'' Badgers coach Bo Ryan said. ``If you want to put it down as percentages when you make out the batting lineup - who bats first and who's in the third spot and who's batting before the pitcher - you take all the percentages and you say, 'What is it in tournaments?' Guard play is extremely important.''
Wofford starts three guards in Brad Loesing, Junior Salters and Jamar Diggs. Salters is a senior, but none of the guards has the experience of the Badgers' backcourt.
Hughes and Bohannon have played in all seven of Wisconsin's NCAA tournament games during the previous three seasons. Hughes played sparingly in the tournament as a freshman, but Bohannon hasn't played fewer than 26 minutes in any NCAA tournament game during his career.
The two have experienced highlight-reel highs, including Hughes' overtime game-winner against Florida State in the first round last year. And when they've struggled, so has Wisconsin: They shot a combined 5 of 28 from the field in last year's second-round loss to Xavier.
Now given one last chance to play in the tournament, they're looking to create a few more highlights.
``Obviously, we're excited,'' Bohannon said. ``Me and Trevon have been fortunate enough to play four years in the NCAA tournament consecutively, and that's a great accomplishment. We're really looking forward to another chance to go out there and perform again.''
Hughes said he expects to make some noise in the tournament, especially after following up his fireworks against Florida State with a disappointing performance against Xavier. Hughes was 3 of 16 from the field in that game, while Bohannon shot 2 of 12. The duo combined to go 1 for 14 from 3-point range.
``Every time we step on the floor, we feel like we could do some damage,'' Hughes said. ``Everybody on our team, the coaching staff, we feel like we could win every game. We prepare for everybody the same way, so we figure we've got a chance every time we go into a match.''
Hughes is a point guard who can play good defense, create his own shot and come through under pressure. Bohannon is mostly known for his outside shooting, including 40.2 percent from 3-point range this year. He hasn't found as many shooting opportunities of late, putting up only 12 3-point attempts in the Badgers' last four games.
Bohannon was 1 of 10 from the floor in an ugly Big Ten tournament loss to Illinois that ranks among Wisconsin's worst outings of the season. Hughes wasn't much better, shooting 4 for 16 from the field, but his late flurry of 3-pointers at least managed to make the game close.
``Even though we lost a game, we've got to bounce back stronger and better than we have before,'' Bohannon said. ``And we've done that throughout the course of the season. When we had a loss, we would bounce back very strong, and we've got to have the same mentality going into this one.''
Never one to gush, Ryan sounds optimistic going into Friday.
``If you just take a look over the years, I know there are a lot of people who subscribe to the theory that talent is what's really important because lack of preparation time, things like that,'' Ryan said. ``But that's not always true. You need defense to keep you in it and you need some players to get hot offensively. I haven't seen a team advance without a combination of those things, so, we've got senior leadership, we've got some guys who potentially can be very hot in a game.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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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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