Basketball Betting: James Favored for MVP award and NCAA Favorites Announced

Wherever he plays in the 2010-11 NBA season, LeBron James is the favorite to capture his third straight MVP award. The free agent star is a +100 choice to win the league's top individual honor again. Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlin and Larry Bird are the only three players in the history of the NBA to win three consecutive Most Valuable Player awards. Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and Kevin Durant are behind James at odds of +500. Bryant, who will turn 32 prior to the start of the season, won the 2007-08 MVP award. Like James, Wade is in this summer's free agent class. There is a good deal of speculation that James and Wade will become teammates for the Miami Heat. If the two stars joined forces, it might be more difficult for them to put up MVP-like numbers. Durant will have just celebrated his 22nd birthday when the new season gets underway. After winning the scoring title last season, he will certainly be in the running for the MVP this season. Denver Nuggets forward Carmello Anthony (+800) is one of the NBA's top performers but is sometimes overlooked in comparison to some of the other stars in the league. After winning the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award in each of the last two seasons, Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard will be seeking the top overall trophy in the league. He will need to boost his offensive game to have a real shot at winning the MVP this year. The last pure center to win the MVP award was Shaquille O' Neal in 1999-2000. Duke, Purdue are co-favorites to win NCAA hoops crown The defending NCAA champion Duke Blue Devils are expected to get a significant challenge in the 2010-11 season from a team that lost to Duke in the Sweet 16 in last year's NCAA tournament. Duke and the Purdue Boilermakers are +500 co-favorites to cut down the nets in the upcoming college hoops season. While the Blue Devils lost Jon Scheyer to graduation, guard Nolan Smith and forward Kyle Singler are back for their senior campaigns. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski has once again brought in a talented freshmen class to compliment his returning upperclassmen. The Boilermakers will have one of the top senior trios in all of college basketball this season. Center JaJuan Johnson, forward Robbie Hummel and guard E'Twaun Moore all averaged 16 points per game a year ago. A late season injury to Hummel hurt Purdue's chances of a Final Four bid in the 2009-10 campaign.