Tar Heels battle Flyers for NIT title

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

04/01/2010 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York's famed Madison Square Garden is the site of tonight's NIT Championship Game between the third-seeded Dayton Flyers and the fourth-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels.

North Carolina, the defending national champion, failed to qualify for this year's NCAA Tournament after a wildly inconsistent regular season. Fortunately, the team was rewarded with an NIT bid and has made the most of its opportunity. In Tuesday's semifinal game against second-seeded Rhode Island, the Heels mounted a late comeback to force overtime and squeak out a 68-67 victory. UNC is making its sixth appearance in this tournament. The Heels won the NIT title in 1971 and own a 13-4 all-time record in the event. Roy Williams' team has beaten the likes of NCAA Tournament Final Four participant Michigan State and national power Ohio State this season, so there is obviously talent on the Tar Heel roster.

Dayton has a storied NIT history, as it has made 21 previous appearances and owns a stellar 39-20 record in the tournament. The Flyers have won this event twice and have five second-place finishes to their credit, but all of that success occurred over four decades ago. Dayton was the preseason favorite to win the Atlantic 10 Conference this year, but the team failed to live up to the billing and was shunned as an at-large hopeful by the NCAA Tournament selection committee. Still, the squad has improved its overall record to 24-12 and is coming off a 68-63 decision over Ole Miss in the NIT semifinals on Tuesday night.

The Flyers and Tar Heels have split their only two previous meetings, and UNC won the most recent matchup by 30 points back in 2006.

North Carolina was fortunate to knock off Rhode Island on Tuesday, especially when you consider that the Tar Heels connected on only 34.9 percent of their field goal attempts. They shot 2-of-17 from three-point range and turned the ball over 17 times. UNC was also outscored 12-8 from the foul line, but the club did earn a 60-45 rebounding advantage and limited the Rams to 36.8 percent shooting. Deon Thompson scored 16 points and ripped down 13 rebounds for the Heels, who got 14 points from Will Graves. Tyler Zeller added 12 points off the bench for North Carolina, which is scoring 74.7 ppg while allowing 71.7 ppg to opponents this season. Thompson is netting 13.7 ppg as the only active double-digit scorer for the Tar Heels, who are outrebounding foes by 5.7 rpg.

As poorly as North Carolina shot the ball on Tuesday, Dayton was even more inefficient. The Flyers connected on a mere 33.3 percent of their field goal attempts, but they managed to hold Ole Miss to 34.4 percent shooting while outscoring the Rebels 24-15 from the foul line. Chris Johnson netted 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with four steals, and Marcus Johnson added 12 points before fouling out. Chris Wright showed his all-around ability by posting nine points, 11 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and a pair of steals. Wright is averaging 13.7 ppg through 36 outings, and he is pulling down 7.2 rpg as well. Chris Johnson checks in with 11.8 ppg and 6.9 rpg for the Flyers, who are generating 70.0 ppg while yielding 62.1 ppg.

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The NFL preseason is approaching. Time for players, coaches and teams to turn over a new leaf. General managers have hired some new coaches, while coaches have added some offensive and defensive assistants to try and improve things. Here’s a look at some changes to look for in the preseason.

New York Jets: The Jets were one of the surprise teams in the NFL last season, making the playoffs under hard-driving first-year coach Eric Mangini. Mangini rebuilt the offensive line with rookies D'Brickashaw Ferguson (the No. 4 pick in the 2007 Draft) and Ohio State center (the 29th pick in the first round). This season he upgraded the defense with rookie linebacker David Harris (Michigan) while the secondary picked up a much needed top-notch corner in Pitt CB Darrelle Revis (No. 14 overall).

The Jets have added balance to the offense for QB Chad Pennington with RB Thomas Jones, essentially stolen from the Bears. He will upgrade a New York ground game that was 20th in rushing with a weak 3.5 yards per carry. They have their first true feature back since Curtis Martin. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer prefers ball control, like his father Marty. In preseason, behind Pennington you’ll see second-year QB Kellen Clemens and mobile newcomer QB Marques Tuiasosopo.

Jacksonville Jaguars: The heat is on Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville as the Jaguars flopped last season despite a ton of talent. Keep in mind that under Del Rio the Jaguars have been outstanding in preseason with a 12-4 SU, 11-5 ATS August mark. online football betting Their defense is loaded, it’s the offense that has been stuck in first gear the last few years.

Enter a new offensive coordinator in Dirk Koetter, the former Boise State and Arizona State pass-happy coach. He will try and upgrade a passing game that ranked 24th last season. Del Rio has criticized wide receivers and Matt Jones this summer, both of whom have battled injuries. It will be interesting to watch the “new” Jaguars passing game in preseason.

Arizona Cardinals: Word out of Arizona is that the players like new coach Ken Whisenhunt, who was the Steelers offensive coordinator last year. We think of Arizona as all-passing because their running game has been awful of late because of a poor offensive line. However, keep an eye on the running game in preseason as they’ve made a lot of changes.

The new coach brings in Russ Grimm to coach the offensive line (Grimm did a marvelous job building the Steelers line). They took Penn State OT Levi Jones in the first round and signed two offensive linemen, Mike Gandy and Al Johnson, to provide depth. Reggie Wells was moved from right tackle to left guard and they want more speed out of the offensive line for pulling and traps, a Pittsburgh staple under Bill Cowher.

Atlanta Falcons: While all the attention has been focused on QB Mike Vick’s off-field problems, new coach Bobby Petrino is revamping the Falcons from an all-running team to a more balanced one. Petrino likes the experience of backup QB Joey Harrington and he has veteran backup Chris Redman, who used to play for Petrino at Louisville and knows his offenses better than anyone. Petrino wants Vick to be more of a pocket passer.

The addition of FB Ovie Mughelli is a sign Petrino wants a power rushing attack behind a physical fullback and newcomer WR Joe Horn should upgrade what was a below average wideout corps. Petrino is changing their old zone-blocking scheme to a more traditional in-line blocking scheme and the offensive line is bigger. Rookie DE Jamaal Anderson was grabbed in the first round and the secondary got younger with former Auburn cornerback David Irons, who the Falcons think was a steal as a sixth-round pick.

Cleveland Browns: The 2007 Browns look like a double-edged sword. There was the excitement of the offseason, trading for RB Jamel Lewis, upgrading the offensive line with Wisconsin’s Joe Thomas (the No. 2 pick in the draft) and free agent LG Eric Steinbach, then trading for Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn when he fell to No. 22. GM Phil Savage and head coach Romeo Crennel feel they have a talented, balanced offense with these new pieces, plus TE >Kellen Winslow and WR Braylon Edwards.

However, were these moves made in desperation? And were they foolish ones? The Browns gave up their 2008 first-round pick for Quinn and we all know QBs take time to develop. And even first-round QBs can be busts (Joey Harrington, Akili Smith). We also don’t know if the offensive line is that much improved (31st in rushing in 2007) and they did nothing to improve a defense that was awful against the run (142 yds pg allowed).

The Browns have a new offensive coordinator in Rob Chudzinski. This is a young offense and Quinn looked tentative, indecisive and inaccurate early in camp. Crennel will play Charlie Frye, Quinn and Derek Anderson in preseason. And there is a mixed bag for rookie QBs receiving significant starts: Tim Couch (14), Kerry Collins (13), Ben Roethlisberger (13), Vince Young (13), Joey Harrington (12), Matt Leinart (11) and Kyle Boller (nine). While all the focus will be on the Browns new-look offense, I’m more concerned with the defense.

Carolina Panthers: Coach Jon Fox loves the ground game, but Carolina has made some interesting changes for 2007. Fox fired offensive coordinator Dan Henning and brings in Jeff Davidson to run the offense. Davidson has brought in zone-blocking schemes to the Panther offense, a dramatic change for a system that's been built around a power-running style.

In zone-blocking, offensive linemen are responsible for blocking any defender who appears in their zone, instead of focusing on one defender. The Broncos and Falcons have had success with the system, which features smaller, more athletic offensive linemen and can create running lanes on the inside and outside. Keep an eye in preseason on how Carolina adjusts as it will take time to learn the system. Fox has been one of the top coaches in preseason, with a 15-5 SU, 12-7-1 ATS August record.

Dallas Cowboys: WR Terrell Owens is still here, but QB Drew Bledsoe and Bill Parcells are gone. New head coach Wade Phillips takes over, replacing Parcells. He ran the Chargers defense last season. Phillips was chosen by teary-eyed owner Jerry Jones partly because he is one of the best 3-4 coaches in football and the Cowboys have loaded up on players for that scheme.

Remember that Phillips was blitz-happy with the Chargers last season and early reports out of the Dallas camp have mentioned how the Cowboys have been blitzing a lot, a departure from Parcells. The theme of the 2007 Dallas defense appears to be one of attack.

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