Fading Hornets resume road trip vs. Clippers

Basketball Betting Lines

03/15/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The fading New Orleans Hornets resume a five-game road trip at Staples Center tonight hoping for their 13th straight win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Hornets dropped the opener of their trek in Phoenix last night when Amare Stoudemire scored 36 points, pulled down 12 rebounds and sank all 14 of his free throw attempts, as the Suns ran past New Orleans, 120-106.

Rookie Marcus Thornton scored 28 for the Hornets, who have lost three straight and seven of their last eight games. David West ended with 24 points and seven rebounds in defeat. Emeka Okafor chipped in 15 and 12, while Darren Collison contributed 13 points with 10 assists.

"It's tough. Amare took over the game in the third quarter," Thornton said. "We made some silly turnovers and that's like giving them two points every time. We just have to work through it and be professionals."

New Orleans, which is a miserable 7-14 since losing All-Star Chris Paul to a knee injury, is now an almost insurmountable eight games behind Portland for the final playoff spot in the West with just 15 games left to be played.

The Clippers, meanwhile, continue to play out the string and are coming off another setback in a long line of futility against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday. Matt Bonner had a team-high 21 points in that one, as the Spurs cruised to a 118-88 win, their 16th consecutive victory over the hapless Clips.

The Spurs also completed the series sweep for the fourth consecutive season, as the Clippers haven't won against them since March 7, 2006. San Antonio's current streak against the Clippers is the league's longest by one team against a single opponent.

Baron Davis totaled 22 points to pace the Clippers, who have lost seven in a row overall. Travis Outlaw had 17 points, six assists and five boards in the loss.

"We have to compete," Clippers head coach Kim Hughes said. "I think we had four players on our defensive side competing tonight and that's not enough. Whether we are playing back-to-backs, four games or five games, we need to be competitive. I thought most of our guys didn't compete."

LA hasn't beaten the Hornets since a 100-90 win on Jan. 8, 2007.

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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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