Cyclones blow into Waco seeking upset of Bears
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
02/13/2012 - Waco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The tie for third place in the Big 12 Conference Standings will be broken tonight, as the Iowa State Cyclones square off with the Baylor Bears at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.
The Cyclones have played Baylor 20 times leading up to tonight's clash, and Iowa State leads the all-time series 12-8. As mentioned, the Cyclones and Bears are tied for third place in the Big 12 standings with identical 8-4 league ledgers, two games behind both Kansas and Missouri.
Iowa State won its fourth game in five tries on Saturday as it handled Texas A&M on its home floor, 69-46. The decision improved ISU's overall record to 18-7. The Cyclones were able to knock down 10 three-pointers in the contest, which put them in a tie for seventh in the nation in three-pointers made per game (8.9). Head coach Fred Hoiberg had to be pleased with his squad's dominant 38-22 rebounding advantage. Iowa State has the fifth-best scoring offense in the Big 12 (73.8 ppg), and the seventh-best scoring defense (66.0 ppg).
Royce White is the go-to-guy for Iowa State, and he is the only player in the country to lead his team in points (13.2 ppg), rebounds (9.4 rpg), assists (4.8 apg), steals (1.2 spg), and blocks (1.1 bpg). Chris Allen is ISU's second-leading scorer with 12.7 ppg, and he has been deadly from three-point range, going 17-of-29 from downtown in his last four games. Scott Christopherson and Chris Babb both produce for the Cyclones as well, and both demand extra attention when out on the perimeter.
Baylor head coach Scott Drew can't be criticized too harshly for his team's current two-game slide, as it went up against the talented Kansas Jayhawks prior to suffering a 72-57 loss to the Missouri Tigers on Saturday. Baylor lost to Kansas and Missouri in consecutive games earlier this season as well, which has contributed all of the losses to its 21-4 overall record. BU shot the ball poorly against Mizzou, as it connected on only 36.2 percent of its field goal attempts, which included a dismal 4-of-17 showing from three-point range, while the Tigers were able to hit 14-of-28 from beyond the arc to run away with the victory. Baylor is third in the Big 12 in scoring margin (+11.4).
Baylor has a deep attack as five players average double figures in the scoring column. The Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year, Perry Jones III leads the team with 13.8 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Freshman forward Quincy Miller was excellent in the recent loss to Missouri, as he poured in a 20 points. Quincy Acy and Pierre Jackson are both contributing just under 13.0 ppg. Acy is an exciting high-flyer who leads the team with 53 blocks. Brady Heslip is a serious threat from long range as he has knocked down 43.5 percent of his shots from beyond the arc coming into this contest.
Manhattan, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sunflower State rivals square off in Manhattan this evening, as the Kansas Jayhawks pay a visit to the Kansas State Wildcats in an important Big 12 Conference clash. After a December 19 loss to Davidson, Kans
<< Heat try to solve Bucks at Bradley Center
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat resume a hectic three games in three nights
stretch tonight when they hit the hardwood at Bradley Center vs. the Milwaukee
Bucks.
The Heat kicked off their tough journey and improved to 2-1 on a season-long
<< Jazz continue hectic stretch in NOLA
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Utah continues a grueling three games in three nights road
stretch tonight in the Big Easy when it visits the struggling New Orleans
Hornets.
The Jazz snapped a three-game skid in Memphis last night with an impressive
98-
<< Canucks host streaking Coyotes in Vancouver
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Coyotes will try to push their longest winning
streak of the season to six games when they visit the first-place Vancouver
Canucks tonight at Rogers Arena.
The Coyotes, who are holding onto the eighth seed in t
<< Habs aim to stay hot vs. Hurricanes
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The suddenly-hot Montreal Canadiens will try to extend
their winning streak to a season-high five games when they welcome the
Carolina Hurricanes for tonight's battle at the Bell Centre.
The Canadiens have scored 15 times
Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tied with top-ranked Kentucky for the best overall record in the nation, the Syracuse Orange hit the road tonight to clash with the Louisville Cardinals in a Big East Conference showdown at the KFC Yum! Center.
Suns start tough stretch in Oakland vs. Warriors >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phoenix will begin a grueling three games in three nights
stretch in Oakland tonight against the Golden State Warriors.
The Suns have won three straight on the road, including Saturday's 98-84 win
in Sacramento, and 11 of
Clippers finish road trip in Dallas >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers hope to tie a bow on a successful
road trip by securing their first win in over five years in North Texas when
they take on the reigning NBA champion Mavericks.
The Clips have lost nine straight in
Rounding Third: Linsanity would never happen in MLB >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The whole sports world seems to be
enamored with what's going on with the New York Knicks and Jeremy Lin. It's
become a story that has transcended not only the National Basketball
Association, but all of spor
Revs add French forward Sene >>
Foxborough, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Revolution announced on
Monday that the club has acquired forward Saer Sene on a free transfer from
Bayern Munich.
Sene has spent the past two-and-a-half years playing with Bayern
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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.
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