Celtic draws Kilmarnock to open SPL season

Soccer Betting Lines

08/05/2007 - Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Glasgow Celtic FC got off to a rough start to the 2007-2008 Scottish Premier League season, drawing with Kilmarnock, 0-0, in the first game of their title defense.

The champions dominated the match, but were unable to capitalize a a plethora of chances. Kilmarnock, on the other hand, is more than happy to head home with a share of the points against the perennial power.

Celtic will have a chance to get a win when it plays its next league match on Saturday at Falkirk while Kilmarnock hosts Dundee United on Aug. 13th.

Nbcsportd Soccer Betting News

<< Marlins hold off Astros
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cody Ross went 2-for-2 with a double and two runs batted in as the Florida Marlins held on to defeat the Houston Astros, 6-5, in the finale of a three-game series at Dolphin Stadium. Ross came in to replace Migu

<< Lyon, Le Mans start season on winning note
Lyon, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lyon, the defending French Ligue 1 champions, got their title defense off to a good start, winning their first contest of the 2007-2007 season 2-0 over Auxerre, Sunday. Goals by Milan Baros and Karim Ben

<< Tigers' Casey injures elbow
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Tigers designated hitter Sean Casey left the team's 3-1 loss to Chicago Sunday after being hit by a pitch in the third inning. The 33-year old Casey was plunked by Gavin Floyd on the left elbo

<< Jeong wins Futures event in New Hampshire
Concord, NH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ji Min Jeong closed with a two-under 70 on Sunday to win the USI Championship by three strokes. Jeong completed her first Duramed Futures Tour title at seven-under-par 209. She picked up $10,500 for th

<< Young stars as Nats finish sweep of Cards
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dmitri Young hit a two-run double in the eighth, as the Washington Nationals put up three in the inning to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-3, in the finale of a three-game series at RFK Stadium

Emilio leads United to easy win over Revolution >>
Foxborough, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United's Luciano Emilio scored twice in a 3-0 win over New England on Sunday to pull into a first-place tie for the scoring lead in Major League Soccer. Emilio has 12 goals this season - 10 in his l

Busch dominates en route to Cup win >>
Long Pond, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kurt Busch led 175 of 200 laps while capturing Sunday's Pennsylvania 500 Nextel Cup race at the Pocono Raceway. The No.2 Penske Racing Dodge driver crossed the finish line 4.132 seconds ahead of Dale Ea

Phils rally for five in ninth, down Brewers in extras >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wes Helms hit a two-run double in the 11th inning as the Philadelphia Phillies came back to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-6, to salvage the finale of a three-game set at Miller Park. Aaron Rowand finish

Any Given Saturday gets Sunday Haskell win >>
Oceanport, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Any Given Saturday, ridden by Garrett Gomez, gave trainer Todd Pletcher his second consecutive victory in Sunday's $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. Last year Bluegrass Cat gave Pletche

Kiefer among first-round winners in Montreal >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - German Nicolas Kiefer, Frenchman Arnaud Clement and Czech Radek Stepanek were first-round winners of the $2,450,000 Rogers Masters Tournament. Kiefer dropped his first set to Russian Dmitry Tursunov

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.