Road-weary Rockets face No. 12 Kansas

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

12/09/2006 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 12th-ranked Kansas Jayhawks leave the friendly confines of the Allen Fieldhouse, but will take on the Toledo Rockets in familiar surroundings nonetheless, as the two teams will meet in the Kemper Arena in Kansas City this afternoon, in the American Century Investments Shootout.

This will be the 104th time that Kansas has played a game in the Kemper Arena. The Jayhawks have won seven of their last eight games and enter this contest following a 72-62 win over Pac-10 foe USC on December 4th.

The Rockets have yet to play a game at home this season and the road has not been kind to Toledo in the early stages. The team is just 2-4 on the year and has dropped two straight games, including a 98-93 overtime decision at Vanderbilt last weekend. This game is the first-ever meeting between these two programs.

The Rockets have struggled with offensive depth this year, but that does not mean that the team is void of firepower at that end of the court. Keonta Howell and Justin Ingram has been a solid scoring duo in the first six games. Howell is shooting .494 from the floor, including .460 from three-point range and leads the team in scoring with nearly 20 points per game (19.8). Ingram is hitting on just 38.3 percent of his shots, but is still putting up a healthy 17.2 ppg. Florentino Valencia rounds out the double-digit threats with 13.8 ppg and is also the team's top rebounder (7.3 rpg). The Rockets led by five points with just under two and half minutes remaining in the extra session, but couldn't pull out the road win at Vanderbilt last weekend. Howell did his best to lead the way to victory, erupting for a career-high 32 points, on 11- of-19 shooting. Valencia poured in 18 points, while Ingram added 16. Jonathan Amos came off the bench to tally 12 points in the loss.

Scoring depth is a must when you go up against Kansas, because Bill Self's squad has the ability to win games at either end of the court. The team is netting a solid 77.3 ppg this season, on .472 shooting. The Jayhawks allow just 59.3 ppg and hold a +8.8 rebounding advantage coming into this contest. Four of the team's five starters are averaging double figures, led by freshman forward Darrell Arthur. The 6-9 youngster is shooting a sizzling .622 from the floor this year, while putting up 14.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. He is followed in the scoring column by sophomore forward Julian Wright (12.4 ppg), who paces the team on the boards (8.3 rpg). Fellow sophomores Brandon Rush (12.3 ppg) and Mario Chalmers (11.0 ppg) add to the scoring deluge for the Jayhawks. Five players notched double figures in the win over USC, but none more impressive than Darnell Jackson, who came off the bench to tally a near double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds in 22 minutes of work. Chalmers and Rush led the team with 13 points apiece. Chalmers had one of his best all- around games, adding five rebounds, four assists and six steals. Wright and freshman Sherron Collins finished off the double-digit scores with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

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Brandon Roy Favorite to Win 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year

Portland TrailBlazer’s guard, Brandon Roy, is MySportsbook.com’s overwhelming favorite to win the NBA Rookie of the Year odds.

Despite missing 20 games due to an injury earlier this season, Roy has definitely put up the best numbers of his 1st year peers. In 32 games, Roy is averaging 15.3 PPG, 4.2 boards and 3.5 assists in over 33 minutes of play per game. While most rookies breakdown as the season progresses (see Morrison), Roy is only getting stronger as his playing time and scoring average has increased each month.

With 30 or so games left in the regular season, Roy isn’t a lock for the award by any means. Other rookies are putting together some pretty impressive campaigns and a few could give Roy a run for the award with increased playing time. Heading the list is first pick, Andrea Bargnani of the Toronto Raptors. Even though he has started only two games all season, Bargnani is averaging 10.3 PPPG while shooting 35% from deep.

Randy Foye of the Minnesota Timberwolves could be set to give Roy the best competition NBA Rookie of the Year betting lines. With the benching of Mike James, Foye looks like he could be the starter in the T-Wolves backcourt for the rest of the season. So far, Foye has averaged 9 PPG and 2.4 assists in just under 21 minutes per game. With his new role of starter, Foye’s numbers will definitely increase. In his first game as the new starting guard this past Sunday, Foye had 10 points; five rebounds and 8 assists. More importantly, he logged 34 minutes of playing time; his third highest run of the season.

Adam Morrison, of the Charlotte Bobcats, was the favorite early on in the season after averaging 15+ PPG through the first month of the season. Ever since his torrid start, Morrison’s point production has declined each month. This really isn’t surprising, considering at 6’8” he only weighs 205 lbs. Obviously he will need to hit the weights big time during the off-season in order to keep from breaking down in the future.

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