Report: Two UConn assistants resign

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

05/27/2010 - Storrs, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Connecticut has called a news conference for 10 a.m. (et) Friday at Gampel Pavilion, when the school is expected to disclose its review of possible recruiting violations in the men's basketball program.

The Hartford Courant reported Thursday night that assistant coach Patrick Sellers and director of basketball operations Beau Archibald have resigned from the staff due to the allegations that were first reported by Yahoo! Sports in March 2009.

UConn reportedly violated NCAA rules in the recruitment of Nate Miles, who was expelled from school in October of 2008 without even practicing with the Huskies. Yahoo! Sports conducted a six-month investigation and said Miles was provided with lodging, meals and transportation by Josh Nochimson -- a professional agent and a former UConn student manager.

Since Nochimson had a relationship with UConn basketball, the NCAA defines him as a person with "athletic interests" for the school. Therefore, he would be unable to be involved in the recruiting process.

The report also stated that the UConn basketball staff, including five different coaches, had at least 1,565 phone and text communications with Nochimson during Miles' recruitment between 2006 and 2008. Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun was said to have been involved in 16 of those calls.

The Yahoo! report indicated that former UConn assistant coach Tom Moore made 27 calls to people close to Miles in December 2006. The NCAA permits just one call per month to prospective recruits in a player's junior year of high school.

Moore, according to the Yahoo! report, knew Miles had a relationship with Nochimson, another potential NCAA violation. Moore has since left UConn and is the head coach at Quinnipiac University.

The report states that Nochimson advised Miles, who eventually enrolled at UConn in June 2008 after attending five high schools in four different states.

In late September 2008, Miles was arrested by UConn campus police and issued a restraining order after a female student said she was physically and sexually assaulted by him. Miles then made contact with the woman, leading to felony charges of violating a restraining order.

The school expelled Miles in early October before basketball practice began. Miles eventually enrolled at the College of Southern Idaho.

Calhoun received a five-year contract extension through the 2014 season earlier this month. The Courant reports Calhoun, athletic director Jeff Hathaway and Rick Evrard, the school's outside counsel for NCAA-related matters, will be at the press conference.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

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