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Florida Gators Basketball Tickets - We Could Be Seeing An All-time Great Class
By Jay Nault
Anyone who loves college basketball should act now to get their hands on Florida Gators basketball tickets, as this team that’s being led by a core of talented players may be setting itself up for one of the greatest single-class runs in the history of the sport.

Whether the Gators’ recent dominance on the national landscape continues for years to come is immaterial at this juncture, as with each passing week, fans everywhere are reminded why this team is unquestionably the best in the land. Below we’ll look at several reasons for the Gators’ ascent to the top of the mountain in their sport, and we’ll also look at their prospects for a repeat NCAA title this spring.

A Superstar Coach

It’s hard to believe that Gators’ coach Billy Donovan has already been stalking the sidelines in Gainesville for more than 10 years. Donovan came to Florida as one of the proverbial coaching “prodigies” in the industry, but the fact is that some of these future stars work out while others do not. Donovan had only two years of head-coaching experience prior to his stint at Florida, and he was only 32 years old when he came aboard.

All he’s done is taken everything he learned from the likes of Rick Pittino and established the Gators as a national force, and that began long before last season’s championship run. Donovan led the Gators to the Final Four and into the title game in 2000, and his in-game coaching is as renowned as his recruiting. Basically, Donovan rarely gets out-coached, and in the turbulent world of college hoops, Donovan’s ability will assure that Florida Gators basketball tickets will always be hard to find.

The “’04’s”

The current group of Gators is led by what is shaping up to be one of the greatest recruiting classes of all time, and they have even dubbed themselves the “04’s,” as that’s the year each of them came to Gainesville. The class of Cory Brewer, Joakim Noah, Al Horford and Taurean Green present a dynamic nucleus of players with unbelievable skills and loyalty. Any of these players could’ve moved on to the NBA after last season’s title, but they all decided to return, and that’s good news for the fans in Florida and bad news for anyone who faces the mighty Gators from this point forward.

Overall, this team is loaded, mature, motivated and ready to stake their claim on basketball history. They are tournament-tested and can beat you in any of several ways. Therefore, you need to get your Florida Gators basketball tickets now, as you could be witnessing one of the greatest runs in college basketball in the past 20 years.
Written by Jay Nault, sponsored by www.stubhub.com . StubHub sells Florida Gators basketball tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and more to just about any event in the world.

Basketball Betting Online
By William
The March Madness brings along the online betting fever. Right from college students to office goers, almost everybody gets onto the net and places a bet. The FBI estimates that over $2.5 billion is wagered on the NCAA tournament with only $80 million betting done legally. That goes to show the amount being gambled illegally!

The FBI estimate may just be the tip of the iceberg. Independent observers believe that the amount being wagered on basketball is much higher. They may be right because in 2003, 1.6 million bets were placed on the NCAA tourney through wagering outlets. The value of this bets was $96 million.

Most of the betting today is being done online, and the average size of the best is $50. This is quite large by any standards. This is because it is much easier to place a bet on an online site. The individual does not have to wait for a bookie to pick up the phone, and identify him. He can simply go online, and place a wager. There is no one to ask him uncomfortable questions.

On an average, the March Madness fans spend around 1.5 hours every week on the net, seeking information about basketball games or placing bets. A Google search for words like bet, NCAA and basketball threw up as many as 342,000 different betting-related sites. Clearly, basketball betting has gone through the roof.

Most of these sites lure potential betters by promising inside information. The stakes are very high, and sometimes-even teams agree to perform poorly because they have been offered a good amount to lose the match. This turns the fun sport into a spoiled sport.

The NCAA has strict rules regarding leakage of inside information by basketball officials. But the lure of easy money is too high. This can be seen from a university of Michigan study done in 2000. The study, which quizzed basketball and football, sports officials found:
• More than 84 percent admitted they had gambled since becoming an official.
• Forty percent of those responding said they had bet on sports.
• Almost 23 percent said they had wagered on the NCAA Tournament
• Twelve of the 640 admitted knowing an official who had called a game

Clearly, online betting has become a dangerous phenomenon. It has started affecting student behavior. Even offices are not immune to betting on basketball games. Almost every office has a basketball pool. Many office goers go on the net during office hours to place bets.