Bruins battle Beavers in Pac-10 lidlifter

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/02/2009 - Corvallis, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pac-10 Conference play gets underway for the 12th-ranked UCLA Bruins tonight, as they arrive in Corvallis to take on the Oregon State Beavers.

UCLA carries a six-game win streak into this clash, and the team is now 10-2 overall. The Bruins are coming off a 78-55 thrashing of Louisiana Tech, and their only two losses have come by a total of seven points to Michigan and Texas. They have only played one true road game to date, and that tilt ended in defeat.

Oregon State has won its last four games to improve to 5-5 overall, and the club is fresh off a 59-50 victory over Seattle on Monday. Clearly, however, the level of competition increases significantly tonight. The schedule has been rather soft for the Beavers thus far, but first-year head coach Craig Robinson has seemingly changed the losing mentality of the program.

UCLA owns a commanding 82-34 series lead against Oregon State, which includes sevens straight wins over the Beavers.

Darren Collison is the leading scorer for UCLA, as the dynamic point guard is netting 14.3 ppg on 55.0 percent shooting from the floor, including 50 percent from three-point range. Collison is also handing out 5.3 apg and paces the squad with 24 steals. Josh Shipp provides 11.7 ppg for the Bruins, and Jrue Holiday is scoring 10.6 ppg. The club is posting 77.2 ppg on 50.1 percent field goal efficiency, and it is limiting opponents to 57.9 ppg on 42.5 percent shooting. Shipp scored 16 points for the Bruins in the victory over Louisiana Tech last time out, while both Holiday and Alfred Aboya had 12 points. Holiday pulled down 10 rebounds and dished out five assists, and Collison made up for a two-point showing by dishing out 10 assists against only one turnover. The Bruins played tremendous team defense in the clash, as they limited the Bulldogs to 36.8 percent overall shooting.

Calvin Haynes has only played four games for Oregon State this season, but has proven to be a big-time performer in those contests. Haynes is generating 18.8 ppg on 64.1 percent shooting from the floor, including 10-of-18 from three- point range. Omari Johnson provides 11.3 ppg as the only other double-digit scorer in the lineup for the Beavers, who are generating 64.3 ppg on 49.1 percent field goal efficiency. Defensively, they have managed to limit foes to 61.2 ppg on 41.9 percent shooting from the floor. Haynes exploded for 24 points off the bench to lead the Beavers to victory versus Seattle on Monday. Daniel Deane pitched in 10 points for Oregon State, which earned a 20-6 edge in points from the foul line despite a lackluster 60.6 percent shooting effort from the charity stripe.

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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).

Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.

A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.

"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.

De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.

The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.

The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.

De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.

Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.

But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.