Football Betting

Bryans reach fourth U.S. Open final

Tennis Betting Lines

09/08/2010 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top-seeded twin Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, will play in their fourth men's doubles final at the U.S. Open.

The 32-year-old Bryans handled a 12th-seeded Spanish tandem of Tommy Robredo and Marcel Granollers 6-1, 6-4 in Wednesday's semifinal action at the National Tennis Center.

The twins will meet 16th-seeded Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi in Friday's finale. The Indian Bopanna and Pakistani Qureshi got past unseeded Argentines Eduardo Schwank and Horacio Zeballos 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

The Bryans own eight Grand Slam doubles titles overall, including U.S. Open ones in 2005 and 2008, and have been major runners-up on eight other occasions. They captured the Aussie Open title earlier this year.

Friday's winners will split $420,000.


<< Turkey and Serbia move into semifinals at Worlds
Istanbul, Turkey (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ersan Ilyasova poured in 19 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead Turkey to a comfortable 95-68 win over Slovenia in the quarterfinals of the 2010 FIBA World Championship. Turkey will meet Serbia,

<< Swisher's HR in ninth boosts Yankees over Orioles
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Swisher's one-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth lifted the New York Yankees to a 3-2 victory over Baltimore in the finale of a three-game set. Koji Uehara (1-1) began the home

<< Warriors sign swingman Carney
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Golden State Warriors have signed guard/forward Rodney Carney, the team announced Wednesday. No terms of the deal were disclosed. The 26-year-old Carney played in 68 games for Philadelphia

<< Zvonareva lands in U.S. Open semis
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Russia's top player, Vera Zvonareva, was a straight-set quarterfinal winner Wednesday at the 2010 U.S. Open. The seventh-seeded Zvonareva reached her second straight Grand Slam semifinal by handlin

<< Mets take rubber contest of series with Nats
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Evans' pinch-hit double in the seventh inning drove in the winning run as New York upended Washington, 3-2, to capture the rubber match of a three-game set. Luis Hernandez went 2-for-4 with a

Wolverines safety Emilien to transfer >>
Ann Arbor, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michigan sophomore safety Vladimir Emilien has asked for his release from the university in order to transfer. The News of Ann Arbor on Wednesday reported that head coach Rich Rodriguez granted the re

Portland Meadows gains recognition with bonus program >>
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Little known Portland Meadows will gain some rare notoriety with the advent of the new Black-Eyed Susan 2.2 program. The track's first ever running of the $80,000 Portland Meadows Oaks has been include

Flying to a college football game? Take these tips >>
NEW YORK (AP) -Smell the tailgate party - it's college football season. But if you're flying in for a game, you might be headed for a headache. Cutbacks at major airlines have made flight choices more difficult this fall, especially to smaller colle

Former Sugar Bowl executive director dies at 72 >>
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Mickey Holmes, executive director of the Sugar Bowl during the period when coaching legends Bear Bryant, Vince Dooley and Joe Paterno won national championships there, has died. He was 72.Sugar Bowl spokesman John Sudsbury said Ho

Rogers has high expectations for season >>
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) - During training camp, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers noted that the team has a different kind of swagger this year. He calls it ``real confidence.''Now that Rodgers enters Sunday's season opener in Philadelphia as

Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional basketball lines can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.