Pacers, Thunder exchange second-round picks

Basketball Betting Lines

06/25/2010 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder exchanged second-round picks in Thursday night's NBA Draft.

Louisiana Tech forward Magnum Rolle was drafted No. 51 overall by Oklahoma City and acquired by the Pacers for the No. 57 pick and cash. That 57th pick was forward Ryan Reid out of Florida State.

Last season, Rolle finished second on the team in scoring at 13.9 and first in rebounds at 8.4. He also led the WAC with 2.1 blocks per game.

Reid averaged 6.8 points and four rebounds for the Seminoles last season.

Pddsmaker Basketball Betting News

<< Clippers get Bledsoe from Thunder
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers acquired the draft rights to Kentucky guard Eric Bledsoe in a deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Bledsoe was selected 18th overall by the Thunder, who will receive a protected first

<< Suns pick up Gentry's option for 2011-12
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phoenix Suns managing partner Robert Sarver has exercised head coach Alvin Gentry's contract option for the 2011-12 season. Gentry's contract was already partially guaranteed for that season after guiding t

<< Blazers fire GM Pritchard
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers fired general manager Kevin Pritchard just before the NBA draft began Thursday night. Pritchard was promoted to general manager in March of 2007. The draft was actually Pritchard

<< Suns exercise option for Gentry, sign 3 assistants
PHOENIX (AP) -The Phoenix Suns have exercised the option year of coach Alvin Gentry for the 2011-12 season.Gentry guided the Suns to a 54-28 regular season, third-best in the West. Phoenix eliminated Portland and San Antonio in the playoffs before f

<< Suns select Georgia Tech's Lawal with 46th pick
PHOENIX (AP) -The Phoenix Suns, working with a general manager who will walk away from his job next week, have selected Gani Lawal of Georgia Tech with the 46th pick overall in the NBA draft.Lawal left college after his junior season, when he averag

Wizards, T'Wolves make draft-night deal >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Wizards acquired the draft rights of forward Trevor Booker and center Hamady N'Diaye from the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for the rights to Lazar Hayward and Nemanja Bjelica. "We are very

Pedroia hits 3 HRs as Red Sox slug past Rockies >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dustin Pedroia homered three times, including a two-run blast in the top of the 10th inning, and drove in five runs overall, as the Boston Red Sox avoided a sweep and outslugged the Colorado Rockies, 13-11,

Heat deal second-round pick Williams to Oklahoma City >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat traded the draft rights to forward Latavious Williams to the Oklahoma City Thunder during Thursday night's draft. Williams was chosen in the second round, 48th overall. The Heat get a 2011 prot

Dodgers finally solve Angels >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Furcal's two-run double fueled a five- run fourth inning, as the Dodgers notched their first win this season in the Freeway Series with a 10-6 decision over the Angels. Casey Blake and Jamey Carroll

Inside the NBA Draft: CBA is league's biggest problem >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Television productions tend to embellish on a fairly regular basis so I must confess snickering a little bit when I overheard the Worldwide Leader call the 2010 NBA Draft historic from my perch above its set at M

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW 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