Ncaa Tournament Odds

South Carolina in repeat mode in College World Series

OMAHA, Neb. — The South Carolina baseball program permanently etched its name into the College World Series history book Tuesday night.

With a 5-2 victory over Florida behind the stellar pitching of junior left-hander Michael Roth, the Gamecocks won their second consecutive NCAA championship, becoming the sixth program to repeat as national title holders along with Texas, Southern Cal, Stanford, LSU and Oregon State.

"Like the (CWS) motto says, ’History happens here,’ and that’s what we did. We made some history," Roth said.

The Gamecocks opened TD Ameritrade Park, the $131 million downtown ballpark on the Missouri River, the same way they closed Rosenblatt Stadium, the historic "Diamond on the Hill" that housed 61 College World Series: They swept the best-of-three championship finals. Last season they finished off UCLA on June 29, while they knocked out Florida on June 28 this time around before a record crowd of 26,721 in the new ballpark.

"I couldn’t imagine this before it happened," South Carolina coach Ray Tanner said. "It’s one of those things that you think about the odds of being able to come two years in a row and winning it back-to-back. You can’t even go there. I was hoping we could have a good year and win a regional, maybe a Super Regional, and get back to the new stadium. But it never even entered my mind that we could go back and win it again."

The Gamecocks (55-14) also made their mark on the NCAA record book by winning their 16th consecutive tournament game, breaking the record set by Texas in 1983-84. And by winning their 11th consecutive CWS game, the final six last season and all five this season, they broke the record set first by Southern Cal in 1972-74 and duplicated by LSU in 1996-98.

"It’s not going to sink in for a while. Just playing here is an honor and winning it is an unbelievable feeling. Closing down Rosenblatt and opening up this place, I couldn’t go out a better way," senior catcher Brady Thomas said. "This team has been through so much this year. We’ve battled injuries, and we’ve been though a lot of adversity. We’ve just persevered through it. This is a tough group of guys, and I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for this team right here."

With a 10-0 run in the national tournament — three in the regional, two in the Super Regional and five in the CWS — they became the first team to go unbeaten over that stretch since Miami, Fla., went 9-0 in 2001. The last team to go unbeaten in the CWS was Oregon State in 2007.

NCAA Tournament Odds: Saint Mary's vs. Villanova - Bodog Beat

A lot of people questioned why Villanova got a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament after the Wildcats had lost five of seven to close the season, which included a defeat to Marquette in the Nova’s Big East Tournament opener. And Villanova looked anything like a No. 2 seed on Thursday in barely escaping No. 15 Robert Morris, 73-70 in overtime. If Nova plays like it did then on Saturday against No. 10 Saint Mary’s, its season will be over. However, Villanova has opened as a 4.5-point favorite on Bodog’s college basketball odds for the South Region game in Providence, R.I.

Villanova All-American guard Scottie Reynolds had a day to forget in the first round. He was benched for the start of the game (along with fellow starter Corey Fisher ) for undisclosed reasons, and Reynolds started 1-for-14 from the field as the Wildcats (25-7, 18-13 ATS) saw themselves down eight points with just over eight minutes remaining. But then Reynolds made his mark at the free-throw line, hitting 7-for-8 in the final three minutes-plus to get the game to overtime. He finished with 20 points on 2-for-15 from the field but was 15-for-16 from the line.

Saint Mary’s (27-5, 20-10 ATS) took care of No. 7 seed Richmond on Thursday, 80-71, behind star center Omar Samhan’s 29 points and 12 rebounds. That was the Gaels’ first NCAA Tournament win since 1959. If Villanova has one weakness it’s defending talented big men, so Samhan could have another big day Saturday if he stays out of foul trouble (he was in a bit against Richmond). Thanks to him, the Gaels outrebounded Richmond a whopping 40-17 for their biggest rebounding margin of the season. Villanova will have the huge edge in the backcourt, so Samhan will need a big game.

Let the Madness reign with Bodog’s odds and props!