Starace upends Granollers in Bucharest

Tennis Betting Lines

09/08/2008 - Bucharest, Romania (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Italy's Potito Starace upset seventh- seeded Spaniard Marcel Granollers in Monday's first-round action at the $525,000 BCR Open Romania.

Starace stifled Granollers in 6-2, 6-4 fashion on the red clay at Arenele BNR. Up next for Starace will be Frenchman Florent Serra, the 2005 Bucharest champion.

In other opening-round play, Spaniard Albert Montanes bested Korean Hyung-Taik Lee 6-1, 7-6 (7-4); Serra outlasted fellow Frenchman Nicolas Devilder 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-4); Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez held off German Mischa Zverev 6-4, 3-6, 6-0; and German Denis Gremelmayr edged out France's Jeremy Chardy 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.

This week's top seeds are Frenchmen Richard Gasquet and defending Bucharest titlist Gilles Simon. Gasquet will open his week against Spaniard Oscar Hernandez, while Simon, who topped Romania's own Victor Hanescu in last year's finale here, will face Russian Evgeny Korolev in his first-rounder.

Wwwibingo Tennis Betting News

<< Cleveland continues road trip in Baltimore
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Indians continue their road trip tonight with a visit to Baltimore's Camden Yards, where the Tribe will attempt to hang another loss on the badly-slumping Orioles in the opener of this four-game series. Balt

<< Giants send Lincecum to hill against Diamondbacks
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After getting swept out of first place in the National League West, one would think a trip to San Francisco would be good for Arizona. That is, of course, unless you have to face Tim Lincecum. Lincecum will try to help the

<< Streaking Dodgers pay Padres a visit
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers will try to win their ninth straight game tonight, when they begin a three-game series with the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Los Angeles completed a three-game sweep of the Diamondbacks on Sunday

<< A's aim to extend winning ways versus Tigers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics have an opportunity for their first three-game win streak in close to three months when they visit the Detroit Tigers tonight for the first of three straight meetings between the clubs. Oakland swept

<< Brewers hope to get on track in opener with Reds
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Brewers failed to capitalize on the help the Reds gave them over the weekend, and now Milwaukee must watch out for a Cincinnati club that is doing its best to shake up the playoff race. The Brewers and Reds open up a t

Line of Scrimmage: A Week 1 Honeymoon >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ah, the honeymoon period. It's a beautiful thing when your love is new, when you gaze into your spouse's eyes and dream of your future together. In those halcyon days just after you've made your union officia

Week Two Headlines >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The college football season is now two weeks old, and there is certainly plenty to talk about already. With that in mind, here are the top stories following a furious weekend of action: PIRATE MANIA Wel

Around FCS: Montana-Cal Poly Lives Up To Billing >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It is amazing what FCS fans will do to catch a good football game. There were plenty of folks around the country finding any way possible to follow the showdown between No. 5 ranked Montana and No. 11 Cal Pol

England's Ferdinand returns to training >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rio Ferdinand will travel to Croatia with the rest of the England squad for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier after returning to training on Monday. The Manchester United defender missed Saturday's

West Ham candidate Laudrup takes charge at Spartak >>
Moscow, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - West Ham United's managerial shortlist has just got shorter with the news that potential candidate Michael Laudrup has agreed to take over at Russian club Spartak Moscow. The 44-year-old Dane was on t

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.