If the Kentucky Wildcats are able to make a strong push for a national title this sports betting season, the biggest surprise will be the fact that head coach John Calipari could earn his 500^th win for the second time in his career. Technically, Calipari actually clinched his 500^th win last season for the Wildcats in front of a wild crowd that was just happy to be part of the moment. However, according to the official records that moment never really happened, and Calipari is still stuck at 458 wins. That is because the NCAA has already stepped in and voided some of those wins due to rule violations, which essentially has put a stain on the resume of coach Kalipari.

It is something that has echoed across the sportsbook promo landscape long enough at the college level, and the scariest part is that it might still be some time before all of the repercussions of the past decade and rule violations plays out. Already a ton of college programs from football to basketball, to even volleyball have been hit by NCAA investigations, sanctions, and voided accomplishments, and while it might serve as motivation for some for others it is simply a tough loss. The Wildcats should once again have one of the best programs in college basketball again this year, and coach Calipari is the biggest reason why, but after an offseason of rulings from the NCAA, he will still be chasing that illustrious win No. 500.

When it comes to the four major professional sports in North America, there is an interesting perspective that could lend a little insight to why some sports are more vulnerable than others at the highest level. The National Football League will end its lockout this week, a major relief to football fans that were becoming increasingly worried about the prospect of losing actual games. Although football at the college level is so popular, it is nothing in comparison to the NFL, which has the biggest fan base of the four major sports. When it comes to MLB betting and the NHL, the loss of games in both leagues due to a lockout would hurt, but there is no threat of their fans getting their fix from other sources, as the game at the college level is not the same as football. That leaves basketball as the one sport where there is vulnerability next to the game at the college level. While an NBA lockout would be devastating for the game at the professional level, it would actually really help the game at the college level.

Every sports betting year it seems as though fans from North America are enticed by the NCAA national title tournament, the March Madness that is a national pastime. The truth is that while everyone watched the Madness, conference games aren’t as big of a draw, mainly due to all the other sports going on. However, an extended NBA lockout that drags into the NCAA season could change the outlook on those games with the chance for fans to spend more time watching the game at the college level, and that would provide a big boost.

Memo to the NBA owners: The lockout that you have imposed could not have come at a worse time. Forget that Dirk Nowitzki is a bonafide star and that the Dallas Mavericks are no longer a team that can’t be considered a legitimate championship contender because of their inability to get the job done in the postseason. Forget that Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and the circus that has gone on in the Miami Heat organization has attracted a whole new group of followers to the association. Forget that the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Clippers are relevant again with young stars like Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin, that the Cleveland Cavaliers will have some cavalry the next time they face the Heat, or that the New York Knicks appear on the verge of becoming the next big three. The NBA lockout could not have come at a worse time with so many interesting sports betting storylines to follow, and that will really hurt the product in the long run.

The NHL is now drawing better ratings than it ever has, while the college basketball product will remain relevant with new sports betting bonus stars joining those that decided to stay back including Harrison Barnes and Jared Sullinger. There are several platforms that basketball fans can now turn to, and if the lockout extends they could lose interest in the NBA altogether. The NBA could not have picked a worse time to lock out its players, and it is questionable whether they will ever be able to get back to where they were.

The NCAA made a landmark announcement on Tuesday about the location for a college basketball game this season, and as is often the case with such a bold decision there is obvious debate of whether or not it was the appropriate one. It was confirmed that a couple of college powerhouse programs will tip off on the deck of the USS Carl Vinsion on Veterans Day, with the game taking place on the same flight deck off of which the body of Osama Bin Laden was cast. The controversial decision will bring a ton of scrutiny for obvious reasons, and there is no doubt that it will bring a ton of attention for reasons both good and bad that will likely overshadow the sports betting bonus game between Michigan State and North Carolina.

The ship will be docked in a port in San Diego when the game takes place, with a projected 7,000 on hand to take in the game. Members of the crowd will feature military personnel and their families, as well as the families of those that will play. There will be considerable hype and excitement on what projected to be an emotional day, but the obvious concern is that the game will be a target for all the wrong reasons. An increased security presence will be an obvious necessity for the game, and there will be a ton of online sports betting debate about whether the decision is the right one.

Belmont betting enthusiasts also handicapping college basketball are slowly counting down until the 2011 – 12 NCAA seasons begin five months from now in November. In a matter of weeks, sports betting online handicappers will watch one of the best draft classes in recent NCAA history are selected by the 30 NBA teams. Here is the latest college basketball offseason news.

Despite only lacing up for 11 games this past season, Duke freshman guard Kyrie Irving appears to be a lock as the number one pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers on draft day. Irving in his short stint with Duke appeared to be one of the best players on the court, with an abundance of court IQ that could take him to the next level in the NBA. What’s more, although he missed roughly two and a half months with a broken big toe, Irving played exceptionally well for the Blue Devils in a reserve role during the March Madness tournament. If Irving gets injured while on Cleveland, he seems to have the motivation to make his injuries a distant memory once returning.

After destroying the Duke Blue Devils in the Sweet 16, Derrick Williams of the Arizona Wildcats was projected by many experts to be the number two pick in this year’s NBA draft. However, with a Minnesota Timberwolves team in need of a center rather than a forward, look for Williams to end up in Utah with the number three pick. Williams along with Kyrie Irving and Kentucky point guard Brandon Knight, is considered by many to have franchise player worthy talent. In an ideal world for Cleveland Cavaliers fans, Williams would drop to fourth, thus allowing the Cavaliers to have two franchise players on their team moving forward.

Brandon Knight of Kentucky seems to be a lock to go third overall, but if he falls to seventh, look for the Sacramento Kings to swoop up the speedy point guard. Sacramento already has two other John Calipari alumni, in Memphis star Tyreke Evans and Kentucky star DeMarcus Cousins. If the Kings can draft Brandon Knight, they will have a great core in place when the team finally decides to contend.

Belmont betting enthusiasts also handicapping the NBA playoffs finally got to see some action after a long layoff, as the NBA Finals kicked off last night in Miami. This year’s NBA Championship will be a rematch of the 2005 – 2006 seasons final in which the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks faced off for the title. Dwayne Wade received his only ring during that season, but this year we think Dirk Nowitzki will get redemption and win his first NBA title. Here is a preview of the NBA finals.

On paper this NBA final features one of the deepest teams in the league taking on a team with three franchise star players. Similar to the 2007 – 2008 Boston Celtics, whom were led by Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, the big three in Miami, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh have many fans believing they should win the NBA title in their first year as a unit. In theory, the Heat are young enough, and dominant enough, that they should have no problem disposing of the Mavericks in six games.

Going into the finals, fans and experts alike have had a difficult time assessing who will guard who during each game. But, with that in mind, we can guarantee that at some point in the series, we will see LeBron James guarding Dirk Nowitzki and vice versa. Depending on who plays the better defense, could be the difference between Dallas and Miami winning the NBA title.

However, throughout the NBA playoffs, Dirk Nowitzki has somehow managed to elevate his status from a superstar to a sports betting God like superstar, as he has taken his game to a whole new level. From embarrassing Portland in the first round, to making the Los Angeles Lakers appear old and in need of a facelift, Nowitzki has shown the rest of the NBA that this is his year to win a title.

After their Cinderella run to the NCAA college basketball final four this past season, the consensus among both Virginia Commonwealth fans and media was that it was a once in a lifetime success story that the program would have trouble repeating. Their inspirational coach was likely to be picked up by a bigger school, and some of their top players would be moving on after their senior seasons. But after the school managed to keep head coach Shaka Smart with a new $1.2 million contract it built more than enough reason for optimism at VCU, and that has led to something even more inspirational ahead of the 2011 Belmont betting race.

The school will increase student fees this season so that it can give the basketball program an extra $733,00, including for coaches’ raises. That translates into an increase of about $50 per student going forward, with the budget set for the fiscal year that begins on this July 1. The figures that the school release show that 37-percent of the student fees already go towards the athletics program, including salaries, scholarships, and sports-facility repairs. The rest of the money for the sports betting program comes from private donations and ticket revenues, as well as a university fee allocation. Whether or not the school will be able to compete once next year’s NCAA national title tournament nobody knows, but the security of Smart should have them earning at least a spot in the top-68 in the nation after being one of the final teams to make it a year ago.

With the Preakness betting set to come to a close later this week, it is once again time to look at all the offseason news surrounding the NCAA. For this week, we have received an influx of emails regarding the Butler Bulldogs, who for a second sports betting year in a row, will be losing their star player to the NBA draft. Last year, Gordon Haywood was drafted by the Utah Jazz, but where will Shelvin Mack go? Today we try to figure out how Butler will make it to the National title game for a third year in a row.

If you had told us two years ago, heck even last year that the NCAA March Madness tournament would conclude with the Butler Bulldogs being the maid of honor to the National Champions, we probably would have called you crazy. However, here we are two years later eating our words for not believing that Butler Head Coach Brad Stevens could guide the Bulldogs to two straight National title games and lose both.

The first year they did it, in 2010 against the Duke Blue Devils, fans and experts including ourselves, thought that given how close the Bulldogs got to winning the title, there was a possibility they could be there again soon. Yet, this season, when they were destroyed by the Connecticut Huskies in the Championship game, we figured that the team’s boat had sailed after two incredible seasons. As we mentioned earlier, making matters worse, the Bulldogs lost their top tier player for a second year in a row, as guard Shelvin Mack declared for the NBA draft.

Unlike the 2010 National title losing Butler Bulldogs, the 2011 version, has a lot of work cut out for them headed into 2012. Aside from Mack, Butler will be losing six players to either the NBA draft or graduation. Aside from Mack, Matt Howard and Zach Hahn two other impact players are graduating. If there is an Achilles heel to Butler’s success, it is their inability to recruit top tier talent. As this is the case, it appears that the Butler Bulldog’s window for a National title has all but closed.

The 2011 Preakness Stakes betting event marks the halfway point until the next college basketball regular season starts. After an incredible 2010 – 2011 campaign, college basketball betting online enthusiasts ourselves included, find that they are chomping at the bit for the 2011 – 12 seasons to start. It’s no betonline.com scam, here are a few teams we believe will be floating around the top 25 all season next year, after the April deadline for the NBA draft has passed.

North Carolina Tar Heels – Going into the 2011 – 12 seasons, the North Carolina Tar Heels, project to have one of the scariest lineups in recent memory. Essentially, the Tar Heels will witness the returns of four of five starters from this past season, Tyler Zeller, Harrison Barnes, John Henson and Kendall Marshall. Along with freshmen James McAdoo and PJ Hairston, the Tar Heels should be able to contend for a National Title by the end of next season.

Ohio State Buckeyes – After bowing out to Kentucky in the elite eight round of the 2011 March Madness tournament, Buckeyes phenom Jarred Sullinger chose to stay with Ohio State for another year instead of declare early entry for the NBA draft. On the one hand, fans from around the NCAA were scratching their heads as to why a possible first overall pick would go back to school. Conversely, fans of the Buckeyes were thrilled that Sullinger loved Ohio State so much that he would stick around for another season.

Along with Sullinger, the Buckeyes see roughly the same team as the 2010 – 11 seasons return for a chance at winning a National title. After creating the best record in the entire NCAA a season ago, the Buckeyes aim to show the rest of the college basketball world that it wasn’t just a fluke.

The Kentucky Derby betting race is only a few short days away, however it is the NCAAB that is receiving the entire spotlight. With the NBA sports betting draft just over a month away, the NCAA passed a new rule regarding underclassmen’s draft status. The move will help college head coaches shape their rosters quicker, then they were previously able too. Here is a look at the new NCAA rule and what it means for future underclassmen.

Essentially, the new rule adopted by the NCAA for underclassmen declaring for the draft, is that they will have a deadline to decide. In years past, underclassmen had the opportunity to take up to the week before the NBA draft to decide whether they wanted to remain in school or take their talents to the professional ranks. However, the new deadline, which is the end of April, forces underclassmen to decide quicker if they want to return to school or not. Meaning to say, if you don’t adhere to the deadline, it is assumed that you will be playing for your school come the following November, as opposed to choosing the NBA.

This rule, basically gives college basketball head coaches the opportunity to decide their rosters in advance. On the one hand, this new rule seems fair for the colleges, as they are no longer dependent on the decisions of their students. Yet at the same time, this new rule disproves everything that colleges are supposed to be about. In general, one of the great things about going to college is that colleges allow their students to make their own life decisions. However, with the institution of a deadline, students are forced to work within the rules of the college basketball team.

By forcing the students to make a choice according to a deadline basically imposed by the Head Coaches, it assures that the school has a chance to benefit for another year on the National scale. But what it also does is it leaves the chance that a player who may have been a top draft pick in the previous year’s draft, to lower their own stock, by being confined to the college game for another year.