Dempsey sends Fulham past Juve in Europa

Soccer Betting Lines

03/18/2010 - London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Clint Dempsey scored in the 82nd minute and Zoltan Gera had two goals, leading Fulham to a 4-1 win over 10-man Juventus on Thursday and into the quarterfinals of the Europa League on aggregate, 5-4.

Bobby Zamora also scored for Fulham, which overcame a second-minute goal from David Trezeguet to erase a 4-1 overall deficit in the Round of 16 series. Juve won the first leg 3-1 in Italy.

Atletico Madrid, Benfica, Hamburg, Liverpool, Standard Liege, Valencia, and Wolfsburg also advanced to the quarterfinals.

Gera scored the first of his two goals 12 minutes after Juventus captain Fabio Cannavaro was sent off midway through the first half and added his second four minutes after the break to level the aggregate at 4.

Dempsey, who returned from a knee injury in the first leg last week, missed an open header minutes after coming on as a substitute, but delivered a brilliant strike to cap the English club's memorable win at Craven Cottage.

The American chipped the ball from the edge of the penalty area just over Juve goalie Antonio Chimenti and into the upper-left corner.

Jonathan Zebina capped Juve's exit from European play when he was sent off in the closing seconds of normal time, allowing Fulham to easily finish off three added minutes.

Liverpool joined Fulham in the last eight with a 3-0 win over Lille at Anfield to overturn a first-leg deficit. Lille won 1-0 in France last week, but Steven Gerrard opened the scoring and Fernando Torres added two as Liverpool advanced on aggregate, 3-1.

David Villa scored a hat trick at Weserstadion as Valencia advanced with a 4-4 draw against Werder Bremen. Bremen earned a 1-1 draw in Spain in the first leg but the Spanish side built a 4-2 lead in the return leg in Germany and held on to advance on away goals with the aggregate 5-5.

Benfica defeated Marseille on a 90th-minute goal from Alan Kardec in a 2-1 win at Stade Velodrome in France that sent the Portugal side through on aggregate, 3-2.

Belgian side Standard Liege got a goal from Deiudonne Mbokani in a 1-0 victory over Greece's Panathinaikos at Maurice Dufrasne Stadium to secure advancement on aggregate, 4-1.

German side Hamburg nearly blew a three-goal aggregate lead but, after Belgium side Anderlecht scored four goals in a 22-minute span at Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, Mladen Petric sealed the visitors' 6-5 overall win despite a 4-3 loss in the second leg.

Sergio Aguero scored twice to help Atletico Madrid draw Sporting Lisbon 2-2 at Estadio Jose Alvalade in Portugal and the Spanish side advanced on away goals. Atletico and Sporting tied the first leg 0-0.

Wolfsburg's Christian Gentner scored the series-winner in the 119th minute and the German side edged Russia's Rubin 2-1 at Volkswagen Arena in the lone extra time match to advance on aggregate, 3-2.

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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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