Toronto Against Ream Zusi

Soccer Betting Lines

Panama City, Panama (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A first-half goal from Graham Zusi was enough for the U.S. men's national team to collect its second 1-0 win in four days, this time in a friendly against Panama. A stoppage-time goal from Ricardo Clark on Saturday against Venezuela gave the Americans a win in their first match of 2012. However, the team only had to wait nine minutes before Zusi fired them into the lead on Wednesday while Jurgen Klinsmann's men had to play the final 35 minutes of the match with 10 men after Geoff Cameron picked up a red card.

 

It was one of the few chances that the U.S. was able to create, and Panama enjoyed the better of the play over the remainder of the match as U.S. goalkeeper Nick Rimando needed to make two nice saves before halftime, the first on Luis Renteria and then on Blas Perez.

 

The first came on a header from six yards that missed the left post by inches, while the Panama striker fired wide of the net from close range when he should have scored in the 86th minute.

 

Klinsmann will take his team to Italy for its next match on February 29 before beginning World Cup qualifying in June.

 

The match finished 2-2, but Barca went through on aggregate, 4-3, to eliminate the defending champions.

 

London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - QPR acquired defender Nedum Onuoha from Manchester City on Thursday and signed him to a 4 1/2-year contract. Onuoha, 25, made his debut for City in 2004 and played 92 matches for the club, some of those under current QPR manager Mark Hughes. Onuoha was on loan with Sunderland last season and played 31 matches.

 

The former England Under-21 international can play center back or right back, and becomes the second defensive addition for QPR this week. QPR signed Taye Taiwo on loan earlier this week from AC Milan for the rest of the season.

 

The transfer fee for Onuoha was not disclosed.

 

Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto FC signed defender Richard Eckersley on Thursday. Eckersley, 22, joined Toronto FC on loan from Burnley last April and played 23 matches for the Major League Soccer club. He started 22 of those matches, and also made six appearances in the CONCACAF Champions League.

 

Eckersley started his youth career with Manchester United and played two games for the Premiership giants. Eckersley signed a four-year deal with Burnley in July 2009 and had loan deals at Plymouth Argyle, Bradford City and Bury before finally landing with Toronto FC.

 

Harrison, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - English Premier League club Bolton has signed U.S. defender Tim Ream from Red Bull New York, although the terms of the deal were not disclosed. Ream, 24, agreed to personal contract terms with Bolton, earned United Kingdom visa approval and passed a physical. He played for New York from 2010-12, made his U.S. debut in November of 2010 and has gone on to earn six more caps.

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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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