Arsenal out to win one for Ramsey

Soccer Betting Lines

03/05/2010 - London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The injury suffered by Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey is still fresh in the mind of many of his teammates, who are getting set to host Burnley at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

The promising teenager had his season cut short last weekend when he suffered a horrific broken leg against Stoke City after a late challenge from Ryan Shawcross, and now the rest of the Gunners are using the incident as motivation.

"After the Stoke game we didn't see Aaron because he went straight to the hospital," midfielder Emmanuel Eboue told the league's official website. "I am so, so disappointed about what happened.

"Sometimes in football these things happen but we want always to play for him.

"Burnley is a very difficult game for us, we know that. But we will try our best to win it for Aaron Ramsey."

In addition to winning the game for Ramsey, a victory would also pull Arsenal level on 61 points with league-leaders Chelsea, who will be in action in the FA Cup this weekend.

Arsenal has won three straight games in the league since losing back-to-back contests to Manchester United and Chelsea, and with a favorable schedule the rest of the way, Arsene Wenger's side is confident that they can provide a serious challenge for the title.

Burnley is hoping to just survive relegation over the remainder of the season as the club sits in 19th place, but just one point from safety.

A disappointing home loss to last-placed Portsmouth last time out didn't help the cause, and making matters even worse is the fact that Saturday's game is away from Turf Moor, where the club has earned just one point from 14 away contests.

However, Burnley's Leon Cort feels that his side is capable of taking points away from its trip to London if they go into the match with the belief that they can do it.

"The whole country believes we're going to go there and get wiped clean," Cort told the club's official website. "But if we go there and believe, do what we can do and stay strong as a team, I believe we can cause an upset.

"You can't go there and roll over because they will punish you. Obviously it's going to be a very tough game and our away form isn't great, but we have to go there and keep believing."

With many other Premiership clubs taking part in FA Cup play this weekend, there are only three other matches on the fixture list.

One features second-placed Manchester United visiting Molineux Stadium to face relegation-battling Wolverhampton, with United moving to the top of the league with a win, while bottom-half sides West Ham and Bolton square off at Upton Park, and Everton goes for its third win in four games when they entertain Hull City on Sunday.

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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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