Gonzalez tops Garcia-Lopez in lone Estoril Open match

Tennis Betting Lines

05/03/2009 - Estoril, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Argentina's Maximo Gonzalez topped Guillermo Garcia Lopez of Spain in the only first-round match on Sunday at the clay-court Estoril Open.

Gonzalez topped Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 6-3 in just over 97 minutes at National Stadium.

The first round will continue on Monday.

Roger Federer beat Nikolay Davydenko in last year's Estoril finale.

Wwhangame Tennis Betting News

<< Rangers keeps pace with win over Hearts
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rangers moved back to within one point of league-leaders Celtic on Sunday as the club recorded a 2-0 win over Hearts at the Ibrox Stadium. Andrius Velicka scored right before halftime and Kris Boyd talli

<< Liverpool adds to Newcastle's woes
Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Newcastle's relegation fears increased on Sunday as the Magpies suffered a 3-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield. The result leaves Alan Shearer's men three points from safety with three games to play,

<< Canada cruises past Norway at Worlds
Zurich, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Drew Doughty registered a goal and two assists, as Canada took down Norway, 5-1, at the 2009 World Hockey Championship. Steven Stamkos, Dan Hamhuis, Jason Spezza and Matthew Lombardi also

<< Nadal continues his domination on clay with title in Rome
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic to claim his fourth Italian Masters title in five years, extending his clay-court winning streak to 30 consecutive matches. Nadal needed just over two hours to d

<< NBA Playoff Preview - Boston vs. Orlando
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics certainly don't mind walking the tightrope. The defending NBA champions advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals on Saturday by dispatching of the upstart Chicago Bulls in Game 7 of the most thril

Almagro defeats Hernych in BMW Open first round >>
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Spain's Nicolas Almagro was the lone first- round winner Sunday at the clay-court BMW Open. Almagro needed 74 minutes to defeat Czech Jan Hernych 6-3, 6-4 at MTTC Iphitos. The other 15 matches in

Yankees-Angels rained out in New York >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sunday's series finale between the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the New York Yankees has been postponed because of inclement weather. A make-up date has yet to be determined. The Yankees' Phil

Yankees put Marte on DL >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees have placed left-handed reliever Damaso Marte on the 15-day disabled list with tendinitis in his pitching arm. The move, which is retroactive to April 26, comes after Marte str

Bartoli, Kanepi among first round winners in Rome >>
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marion Bartoli and Kaia Kanepi were among the first round winners at the $2 million Internazionali BNL d'Italia tennis event. The 11th-ranked Bartoli, of France, topped China's Peng Shuai, 6-0, 7-6 (7-

Rios, Wells homer as Blue Jays complete sweep of Orioles >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rios' solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning proved to be the difference, as the Toronto Blue Jays used clutch two-out hitting to defeat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-3, and complete a three- game sw

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.