Real Madrid avoids Zaragoza scare to extend lead atop La Liga

Soccer Betting Lines

01/28/2012 - Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Madrid surrendered an early lead but battled back to avoid an embarrassing defeat to last-place Real Zaragoza as the Galacticos earned a 3-1 win at the Bernabeu on Saturday.

With Villarreal holding Barcelona to a scoreless draw Saturday, Real Madrid's fifth-straight league win sees its lead atop the Spanish top flight extend to seven points.

Angel Lafita put Zaragoza in front after 11 minutes, but Madrid responded through Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Mesut Ozil to claim a vital home victory.

The Bernabeu faithful were left stunned early on when Lafita redirected a square pass into the back of the net to give Zaragoza the lead.

Madrid applied pressure throughout the rest of the first half, but the equalizer did not come until the 32nd minute when Kaka latched onto a through ball before slotting a curling shot just inside the far post.

Ronaldo grabbed his league-leading 24th goal of the season just four minutes into the second half, narrowly beating the offside trap to stuff a square pass from Ozil into the back of the net.

Ozil then wrapped up the scoring seven minutes later, threading the needle on the left side of the box with a powerful shot to the near post.

Real Madrid improves to 52 points on the year while Real Zaragoza remains bottom with just 12 points.

Villarreal 0, Barcelona 0

Villarreal, Spain - Villarreal held the reigning European champions scoreless at El Madrigal on Saturday as it played to a 0-0 draw with Barcelona.

The Catalans now sit seven points adrift of La Liga leaders Real Madrid after its 3-1 win over Real Zaragoza earlier on Saturday. Barcelona's sixth draw of the season brings its point total to 45 through 20 games.

Villarreal improves to 20 points on the year, but remains in a tight battle against relegation as it sits just one point above the drop zone.

Athletic Bilbao 3, Rayo Vallecano 2

Madrid, Spain - Fernando Llorente scored a hat trick to help Athletic Bilbao claim a 3-2 win over Rayo Vallecano at the Teresa Rivero on Saturday.

Michu put Rayo Vallecano in front in the 10th minute, but Llorente quickly overturned the deficit with goals in the 17th and 23rd minutes. Alejandro Arribas equalized for the home side in the 27th minute to ensure the two teams went into halftime deadlocked on two goals apiece, but Llorente grabbed the game-winner in the 68th minute to give Bilbao all three points.

Bilbao improves to 29 points on the year, while Rayo Vallecano suffers its second-straight defeat to remain on 22 points.

Espanyol 1, Mallorca 0

Barcelona, Spain - Vladimir Weiss scored in the 19th minute to help Espanyol defeat 10-man Mallorca, 1-0, at the Estadi Cornella-El Prat on Saturday.

Mallorca goalkeeper Dudu Aouate was sent off in the 46th minute for bringing down Rui Fonte just outside the area. Mallorca failed to rebound from the sending off, as the match ended in favor of Espanyol with Weiss's strike holding up as the winner.

Espanyol, unbeaten in its last six league games, sits fifth in the table on 31 points, while Mallorca sits three points above the relegation zone with 22 points.

Sothevys Soccer Betting News

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Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.

The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.

MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.

A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.

A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.

Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.

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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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