Liverpool drops first leg at Lille

Soccer Betting Lines

03/11/2010 - Lille, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eden Hazard scored off a free kick with just five minutes remaining and Lille edged Liverpool 1-0 on Thursday in the first leg of their Europa League Round of 16 series at Lille Metropole.

Hazard curled a 25-yard free kick from the far left through traffic and inside the right post past Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina, handing the French club a slight lead entering the second leg at Anfield.

Liverpool, which lost to Wigan in the English Premier League on Monday, hosts the return leg March 18 when all the second legs are played.

Juventus defeated England's other final 16 participant, Fulham, 3-1 at Stadio Olimpico. Nicola Legrottaglie, Jonathan Zebina and David Trezeguet scored for the Italian side.

Germany's Wolfsburg used a first-half penalty kick by Torsten Frings to earn a 1-1 draw at the Mestalla against Spain's Valencia, which played the final 35 minutes a man down after Ever Banega was sent off.

Ruud van Nistelrooy scored as Germany's Hamburg opened with a 3-1 victory over Belgium's Anderlecht at HSH Nordbank Arena, and Zvjezdan Misimovic scored in the second half as fellow German side Wolfsburg earned a 1-1 draw at Russia's Rubin.

Nine-man Sporting Lisbon escaped the Vicente Calderon with a 0-0 draw against Spain's Atletico Madrid, while fellow Portuguese club Benfica used a goal by Maxi Pereira to win the first leg at Estadio da Luz against France's Marseille 1-0.

Axel Witsel, Milan Jovanovic, and Igor De Camargo scored as Belgium's Standard Liege beat Panathinaikos 3-1 in Greece.

Wwwoasiscasino Soccer Betting News

<< Marquette trumps 'Nova to reach Big East semis
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<< Cardinals re-sign OL Bridges
Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Cardinals re-signed guard/tackle Jeremy Bridges to a three-year contract on Thursday. Bridges signed a one-year deal with Arizona prior to last season and played in all 16 games with the club, in

<< LeBron likely to return on Friday
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James will likely return to the court when the Cleveland Cavaliers visit the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday. James missed a loss to the Bucks last Saturday and a win over the Spurs on Monday in an

<< Southeastern Conference Tournament Recaps
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mikhail Torrance scored 17 points to help Alabama rally for a 68-63 win over South Carolina in the first round of the SEC Tournament. Justin Knox had 16 points and seven boards while JaMychal Gree

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Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Indianapolis Colts signed guard Andy Alleman on Thursday. Alleman played in nine games with Kansas City in 2009, with three starts. He appeared in 15 games two years ago with the Miami Dolphins.

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MySportsbook.com Releases World Series Championship Lines

New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox early favorites to win 2008 World Series
The Major League Baseball season starts this weekend and MySportsbook.com, a leading online sportsbook for over 8 years, is the first to offer baseball sports betting lines on who will win the 2007 World Series.

"The World Series is the biggest baseball event in the sports betting world and MySportsbook.com is excited that we are first to market with betting lines on every team," says Tim Dalton, Marketing Director, MySportsbook.com. "We are getting things ready for a great baseball season and our members are looking forward to our Player Payback Bonuses, as well as Dime Lines, all season long."

Going in to this weekend, MySportsbook.com's favorites to win the World Series are the New York Yankees at 7-2 and last year’s winners the Chicago White Sox at 9-2.

"These betting lines are ripe for the picking," Dalton added, "baseball fans know that the season is long and many factors, including players staying healthy, will affect these Future odds as the baseball season progresses. Betting on your favorite team in the beginning of the season could prove quite lucrative. We are seeing examples of this right now in the NCAA College Basketball Tournament with a lucky few that placed pre-season bets on George Mason to win it all. Anything can happen."

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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

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