Leafs' Kadri in for some heavy lifting

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07/16/2010 - Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nothing says pressure like holding the weight of a Stanley Cup-starved city on your shoulders.

But regardless of how you look at it - fortunately or unfortunately - that is the reality for Toronto Maple Leafs forward Nazem Kadri.

The 19-year-old London native will be given every opportunity this summer to shed his penciled-in status on coach Ron Wilson's roster in exchange for a permanent position on the blue and white.

To do so, Kadri will not only have to bulk up - despite already adding 15 pounds of muscle this offseason - and improve his defensive play, he will need to grow a thick skin in order to survive in this hockey-crazed market.

And it certainly won't be an easy thing to do after the Boston Bruins nabbed highly touted prospect Tyler Seguin with Toronto's second overall pick in this year's draft, leaving Kadri as the young messiah in a devout hockey Mecca.

Luke Schenn, the Leafs' fifth overall pick in 2008, once wore this crown, but the expectations of a sturdy stay-at-home defender are modest in comparison to a dynamic offensive juggernaut.

While it might be early to group Kadri under the "dynamic offensive juggernaut" umbrella, his performance up-to-date has certainly warranted heightened expectations.

After nearly cracking the Leafs' roster out of training camp a season ago, Kadri returned to his junior team, the Ontario Hockey League's London Knights, and lit the league on fire.

He finished tied for fourth in scoring with 93 points in 56 games, while racking up another 27 in 12 playoff games and earning a spot on Canada's World Junior team.

The silky-smooth forward also brings along a strong pedigree, having been pumped out of Dale Hunter's hockey machine in London.

Hunter breeds professionalism, respect and responsibility - all culminating factors that have helped transform Kadri from a skill player into a complete player.

Just take a look at the likes of Corey Perry and Dave Bolland, two flashy forwards in London who parlayed the hard-knock lessons of Hunter into NHL success and Stanley Cup rings.

That's not to say Kadri will follow the fate of the two former Knights, but it does speak volumes to the type of player that Kadri can become: an in your face, pain-in-the-you-know-what, point-producing competitor.

Toronto general manager Brian Burke recently said to the National Post that Kadri could potentially be to the Leafs what Matt Duchene was to the Colorado Avalanche last season.

While that would be ideal, it would not be surprising to see him start the season with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.

Burke gave the same treatment to Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan in Anaheim and assigned Tyler Bozak for AHL duty last year despite his impressive audition at training camp.

The bottom line is that Kadri will have to earn a spot and prove that he can be a consistent contributor on a club in dire need of a significant resurgence.

If all goes to plan, Kadri will be celebrating his 20th birthday on the eve of the kickoff to the 2011 campaign as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Suiting up against the rival Montreal Canadiens - his favorite team growing up - on opening night would be icing on the cake.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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