UConn basketball charged with eight violations

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

05/28/2010 - Storrs, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Connecticut has received a notice of allegations from the NCAA in regard to possible recruiting violations in the men's basketball program.

UConn officials and the NCAA have been investigating the basketball program since March of 2009, when a report from Yahoo! Sports indicated possible rules violations in the recruitment of Nate Miles, who was expelled from school in October of 2008 without even practicing with the Huskies. The Yahoo! Sports report said Miles was provided with lodging, meals and transportation by Josh Nochimson -- a professional agent and a former UConn student manager.

The school on Friday said the notice from the NCAA contains eight allegations of violations, including impermissible phone calls and text messages to prospective student-athletes, impermissible benefits provided to a prospective student-athlete by a representative of the institution's athletic interests and an impermissible benefit to a prospective student-athlete by a member of the basketball staff.

UConn head coach Jim Calhoun was also part of the allegations, as the NCAA said he failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance in the men's basketball program and failed to adequately monitor the program to ensure compliance with NCAA legislation regarding telephone calls, text messages and benefits provided by a representative of the institution's athletic interests.

"During these past fifteen months, we have fully cooperated with the NCAA's inquiry into our recruitment of a particular student athlete and other matters generally related to the recruitment and conduct of our program," Calhoun said in a release through the school. "In this regard, we are steadfast in our belief that we operate a program deeply committed to complying with the NCAA's guidelines.

"In my 38 years as a collegiate head basketball coach, 25 of which I have spent at the University of Connecticut, I look with particular pride at our strong record of compliance and the impact that we have had on the young men in our program.

"We look forward to working with the NCAA in the coming months and expect to fully respond to their concerns. While we may have made some mistakes in the recruiting process, UConn has never wavered in terms of its fostering and maintaining a strong culture of compliance and has always striven to meet the high standards expected of us."

The university has until August 20 to provide a response to the NCAA Committee on Infractions. School officials are scheduled to appear before the committee on October 15-16.

"The University of Connecticut is fully committed to NCAA rules compliance and takes this matter very seriously," said UConn athletic director Jeffrey Hathaway. "With regard to Coach Calhoun, he personally has a long standing history of demonstrated commitment to NCAA compliance. We appreciate his continued commitment, as well as the full cooperation and support that he has provided throughout this process."

Other allegations from the NCAA include the provision of impermissible complimentary admissions or discretionary tickets, as well as a failure by the institution to adequately monitor the conduct and administration of the men's basketball staff in the areas of: telephone records; representatives of the institution's athletics interests; and complimentary admissions or discretionary tickets.

The NCAA also alleged that two members of the basketball staff provided false and misleading information to the NCAA Enforcement staff and to the institution.

On Thursday night, the Hartford Courant reported that assistant coach Patrick Sellers and director of basketball operations Beau Archibald resigned in the wake of the allegations.

The notice of allegations says members of the basketball staff violated rules by exchanging at least 160 impermissible phone calls and sending at least 191 impermissible text messages to prospective student-athletes. The NCAA permits just one call per month to prospective recruits in a player's junior year of high school.

In regard to Nochimson, the NCAA alleges he provided impermissible benefits and that as a former team manager he could be considered a person with "athletic interests" for the school. Therefore, he would be unable to be involved in the recruiting process.

The school released documents from the NCAA detailing Nochimson's role and correspondence with members of the UConn staff, including assistant coach Tom Moore, now the head coach at Quinnipiac.

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.

Sportsilne NCAA Basketball Betting News


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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

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As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

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