 |
 Basketball Betting |
 |
||||
|
 |
||||
|
||||
Magic open road trip at Oklahoma CityBasketball Betting Lines11/12/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Orlando Magic will attempt to get back on the winning track Wednesday as they kickoff a three-game road trip by visiting the struggling Oklahoma City Thunder at the Ford Center. The Magic, who will be looking for their first road win of the young season, missed out on a chance for a perfect homestand when they fell to the Portland Trail Blazers, 106-99, on Monday. All-Star Dwight Howard finished with 29 points and 19 rebounds for Orlando, which had won the first four games of a five-game stint at Amway Arena. Hedo Turkoglu had 35 points on 11-of-21 shooting, including 4-of-7 from three-point range. Oklahoma City continues to struggle mightily in its first season since moving from Seattle. The Thunder lost their fourth straight game Monday when Indiana's T.J. Ford scored 11 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 10 assists, as the Pacers toppled Oklahoma City, 107-99, at Conseco Fieldhouse. Second-year star Kevin Durant netted a game-high 37 points on 13-of-27 shooting with eight boards for the Thunder, who lost for the sixth time in seven games to open the season. Jeff Green had 14 points and seven rebounds for Oklahoma City. On the injury front Thunder power forward Chris Wilcox is questionable for Wednesday's game with a sprained right knee while Howard has a swollen left knee but is listed as probable by the Magic. Orlando has won five straight against the Thunder franchise.
<< Kings pay a visit to Clippers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Sacramento Kings attempt to win for the first time on the road this season when they arrive in Hollywood to take on the woeful Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center. The short-handed Kings missed out on a chance
<< Rockets, Suns square off in the desert
<< Utes bring perfect mark to San Diego for clash with Aztecs
<< Cardinal seek upset of sixth-ranked Trojans
<< Winless Wizards welcome Jazz to town
Cadillac back in the Bucs' stable >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have activated running back Carnell "Cadillac" Williams off the physically unable to perform list and could have the former first-round draft pick available for Sunday's game against
Panthers return home to face Lightning >>
'Hawks aim for fifth straight win in home test vs. Bruins >>
Luongo, Canucks put shutout streak on the line vs. Avs >>
St. Louis hopes to get on track in Buffalo >>
COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTINGNCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking. No. 1 always seems to fit USC. Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent. Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory. Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3. "We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team." Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time. "Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team." The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points. "I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won." Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State. "There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?" USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll. "It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter." While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls. As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule. But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference. Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com. The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road. The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second. The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia. No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday. Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee. Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina. Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson. The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996. South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20. The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24. Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com |
|
