Temple crushes Rhode Island in A-10 semis

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - Atlantic City, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Brooks scored 16 points as 17th- ranked Temple cruised past Rhode Island, 57-44, in an Atlantic 10 semifinal.

Juan Fernandez added 14 points and dished out seven assists while Lavoy Allen had nine points and 10 rebounds for the Owls (28-5), who advance to face the winner of Richmond/Xavier in Sunday's final and have a chance to claim their third straight conference crown.

Keith Cothran had 11 points and three steals for the Rams (23-9), who had beaten Saint Joseph's and Saint Louis in the tourney and whose prospects for the NCAA Tournament have diminished somewhat.

Delroy James and Will Martell each added nine points in defeat.

Temple scored the first seven points of the contest, and it was 11-2 after a Fernandez bucket a little more than five minutes in.

Brooks hit a three for an 18-7 game with over nine minutes played, then his shot from the right corner gave Temple a 24-12 cushion with 6:55 left in the half.

Brooks also contributed the final two buckets of the half, and the Owls led 34-17 at the break.

A 7-1 run to start the second half had Temple ahead 41-18, before a brief URI run closed the gap to 46-31 on a Martell dunk with 9:47 to play.

Brooks then hit a pair from the line and Jefferson connected on 1-of-2 for an 18-point game with 7:33 left, and Temple led by a comfortable double-digit margin the rest of the way.

Game Notes

Temple has won 54 of the 69 all-time meetings, including all three this season...The contest was delayed for almost 10 minutes early in the first half after water began to pool near midcourt...The Owls improved to 51-19 in the A-10 tourney.

Waskjeeves NCAA Basketball Betting News

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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.