13th-ranked Memphis silences Chattanooga

Cbasketball Betting Lines

11/20/2008 - San Juan, PR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Doneal Mack scored 19 points and doled out four assists to lead 13th-ranked Memphis past Chattanooga, 83-71, in opening round action of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

Robert Dozier added 18 points, eight rebounds and four helpers for the Tigers (3-0), who advance to play the winner of the Southern California-Seton Hall matchup on Friday. Shawn Taggart gave 16 points and 11 boards in the win.

Stephen McDowell poured in a game-high 27 points for the Mocs (0-3), who will play the loser of the Southern California-Seton Hall matchup on Friday. Nicchaeus Doaks ended with 15 points and a game-best 16 boards.

Mack's layup tied the game at 13-13 with 11:20 left in the first half.

Two Taggart layups, a Mack three-pointer and a dunk by Antonio Anderson gave Memphis a seven-point lead with 3:55 showing on the clock.

Memphis followed by outscoring Chattanooga 11-6 the rest of the first half, as the Tigers held a 47-35 lead at the intermission.

Dozier's fastbreak dunk capped a 9-2 Memphis run to open the second half. The surge gave the Tigers a 56-37 lead with 16:31 left in the game.

Keyron Sheard's three-pointer brought the Mocs within 74-60 with just under five minutes remaining and the teams traded baskets before Ty Patterson nailed a three-ball right around the three-minute mark to bring Chattanooga within 77-66.

The Mocs were unable to get within 11 points the rest of the way, and the Tigers cruised to victory.

Game Notes

The Mocs dropped a 114-75 decision at Tennessee on Saturday, and they followed that effort with a 103-75 setback at Missouri on Monday...Memphis is fresh off Monday's 80-58 decision over UMass, and John Calipari is now the winningest coach in program history with 222 victories...Memphis owns a 9-2 series lead over Chattanooga.

Sportsonlu Cbasketball Betting News

<< Celtic's Hartley suffers ankle injury in friendly
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Celtic midfielder Paul Hartley fears that he faces a spell on the sidelines after picking up an ankle knock in Scotland's friendly international defeat to Argentina. The former Hearts star could miss Sat

<< Portsmouth signs goalkeeping coach to new contract
Portsmouth, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Portsmouth has successfully headed off reported interest from Spurs in David Coles after agreeing a new contract with their goalkeeping coach. Coles, 44, had been strongly linked with a move to W

<< Iona will no longer have football
New Rochelle, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Iona College has announced that it is terminating its football program, effective immediately, on Thursday. "It is with a heavy heart and careful deliberations that we have come to this extremely di

<< Rangers ship righty Loe to Japan
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers have sold the rights to right-handed pitcher Kameron Loe to the Fukuoka SouthBank Hawks of Japan's Pacific League for an undisclosed amount. Loe, the club's 20th round pick in 2002,

<< Hamburg loses De Jong to knee injury
Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hamburg will be without midfielder Nigel de Jong for the rest of the calendar year because of a knee injury. The Netherlands midfielder, who has only just returned to action after a knee ligament injury

FCS Previews: Week 13 >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Here are the predictions for the top 25 games and other notable contests from week 13 of the FCS season. THURSDAY NIGHT'S GAME Grambling State (8-2, 5-0, SWAC) at Texas Southern (4-6, 1-4 SWAC), 8 p.m.

England's Capello pleased about performance >>
Berlin, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fabio Capello is pleased to see his England team playing with such confidence after watching them produce an impressive display to beat Germany 2-1 in a friendly international in Berlin on Wednesday. O

NFL Inactives (Thursday, November 20, 2008) >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The following is a list of inactive players for tonight's NFL game. CINCINNATI BENGALS AT PITTSBURGH STEELERS, 8:15 P.M. (ET) Bengals - 3rd QB Carson Palmer, S Chinedum Ndukwe, DE Eric Henderson, T Levi

Detroit Shock >>
Re-signed head coach Bill Laimbeer to a two-year contract.

49ers offensive coordinator Martz reportedly fined >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Martz was reportedly fined $20,000 on Thursday for criticizing officials following a loss to Arizona earlier this month. According to


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.