Wisconsin battles Marquette in Badger State bash

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

12/09/2006 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In what may prove to be the day's best college basketball game, the 17th-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles welcome the 11th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers to town for a non-conference clash.

Wisconsin has won four straight games to improve to 8-1 overall, and the most recent victory came over Winthrop on Monday by an 82-79 final in overtime. The only loss for the squad came against Missouri State by a 66-64 final in a neutral site affair, and today's tilt marks the first true road game of the season for the Badgers.

Marquette won eight straight games to open the season, but the club was then shocked at home by North Dakota State, 64-60, in the championship game of its own Blue & Gold Classic. Fortunately, the Golden Eagles were able to get back on track with a win over Delaware State on Tuesday by a 65-48 final. While many of the team's games have come against weak non-conference opponents, Marquette did make a major statement with back-to-back wins over Texas Tech and Duke.

Wisconsin holds a 61-51 edge in the all-time series with Marquette, including a 77-63 triumph over the Golden Eagles last season.

Wisconsin is scoring 76.7 ppg this season while limiting opponents to 59.8 ppg. The top offensive performer for the Badgers is Alando Tucker, who figures to contend for Big Ten Player of the Year honors. Tucker is scoring 19.3 ppg, and the coaches have to be happy to see the historically poor free throw shooter improve significantly this season. Kammron Taylor is a solid second scoring option for the Badgers, as he is posting 11.9 ppg, and Brian Butch adds 10.3 ppg and 6.1 rpg to the mix. In the narrow overtime victory over Winthrop on Monday, Tucker and Michael Flowers posted 21 points apiece. As for Butch he hit 7-of-11 shots from the floor en route to 17 points, and he grabbed nine rebounds as well. Wisconsin earned a commanding 40-18 rebounding advantage in the tilt, including a 21-4 edge on the offensive glass. The Badgers also outscored Winthrop 24-6 from the foul line, the most obvious reason that they were able to overcome a 15-of-25 three-point effort by the opposition.

Marquette connected on 50 percent of its field goal attempts against Delaware State, including a stellar 9-of-14 effort from three-point range. Defensively, the Golden Eagles limited the Hornets to 34.8 percent shooting, and those positives enabled Tom Crean's club to overcome a 10-of-19 showing from the foul line and a 31-28 rebounding disadvantage. Four of the five Marquette starters reached double figures in scoring, and Jerel McNeal led the way with 16 points while Wesley Matthews pitched in 15 points. As for Dan Fitzgerald and Dominic James, both tallied 13 points in the win. James is scoring a team- high 17.0 ppg this season, and McNeal adds 13.9 ppg to the mix despite the fact that he has struggled with his shooting. Matthews is posting 12.0 ppg for the Golden Eagles, who are netting 75.0 ppg while limiting the opposition to 60.4 ppg.

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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.