Turner, Buckeyes drop Illini in 2-OT to reach Big Ten final

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Evan Turner continues to steal the show in Big Ten Tournament, scoring 11 of his game-high 31 points in a pair of overtime sessions to lead No. 5 Ohio State to an exciting, 88-81, victory over Illinois to advance to the conference finals.

Turner, who drained a 37-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to beat Michigan on Friday, also had 10 rebounds and six assists, though he did turn the ball over 10 times and fouled out in the second OT.

The top-seeded Buckeyes (26-7) have won six straight and will next play the winner of the Purdue/Minnesota matchup.

William Buford chipped in 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Jon Diebler and David Lighty netted 14 and 12 points, respectively, for Ohio State.

Illinois (19-14) had chances at the end of regulation and first overtime to win the game but failed to get a shot off on each occasion.

Demetri McCamey posted 22 points, D.J. Richardson scored 15 and Mike Davis contributed 13 points and 18 rebounds for the Fighting Illini, who knocked off Wisconsin in the quarterfinals on Friday to pad its precarious NCAA Tournament resume.

Down 50-39 in the second half, Turner and Diebler fueled a 20-point rally that appeared to knock the air out of Illinois. Buford's three-pointer at the eight-minute mark capped the spurt for a 59-50 cushion.

Mike Tisdale ended Illinois' seven-plus-minute scoreless stretch with two free throws, and McCamey's floater made it a one-possession game, 59-56, with 4 1/2 minutes left.

After a Davis bucket cut it to 62-61, McCamey followed a Lighty turnover with a go-ahead three-pointer with 1:16 to play in regulation.

Lighty answered with a tying layup while drawing contact but missed the ensuing free throw. McCamey was fouled on the next possession and hit both free throws to put Illinois in front with 31.5 seconds remaining.

Turner countered with up-and-under layup after taking his defender off the dribble from the baseline.

Illinois wasted valuable time bringing the ball up the court and called timeout with 3.1 ticks left. Those missed seconds proved costly, as McCamey drew two defenders at the foul line, leaving Davis open underneath. The 6- foot-9 forward failed to get the shot off before the buzzer sounded, though he missed the gimme anyway.

McCamey hit a three-pointer midway through the first extra session for a 73-69 Illinois lead. Turner then hit a pair of free throws around a Bill Cole tip-in before tying the game on a layup with 22.0 seconds left.

Without calling a timeout, McCamey dribbled away the clock, finally passing with one second remaining to Tyler Griffey, who foolishly swung the ball to Cole on the left wing as time expired.

Diebler opened the second OT with a three-pointer and Ohio State led from there. With a minute on the clock, Turner committed his fifth foul on Griffey, who hit 1-of-2 free throws to pull the Illini within 84-81.

Lighty sealed the dramatic win with an acrobatic driving layup and a steal and fastbreak lay-in.

Ohio State, which swept Illinois in the regular season by a combined 35 points, jumped out to an 8-2 lead on Turner's steal and slam a little over three minutes into the game.

After going up 15-7 with 13 minutes left, the Buckeyes went the next six minutes without scoring. Illinois' subsequent 14-0 run, highlighted by a McCamey-to-Davis alley-oop, provided the underdogs with a 21-15 lead.

The margin was still six points in the Illini's favor at halftime, 37-31, and reached double digits, 45-35, when McCamey's bucket went down five minutes into the second half.

Game Notes

Illinois' last conference tourney title came back in 2005, while Ohio State's last taste was 2007...Griffey and Tisdale had 13 and 10 points, respectively, for Illinois, which was outscored in the paint, 38-26...The Buckeyes made just 15-of-24 free throws.

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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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MySportsbook.com Releases World Series Championship Lines

New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox early favorites to win 2008 World Series
The Major League Baseball season starts this weekend and MySportsbook.com, a leading online sportsbook for over 8 years, is the first to offer baseball sports betting lines on who will win the 2007 World Series.

"The World Series is the biggest baseball event in the sports betting world and MySportsbook.com is excited that we are first to market with betting lines on every team," says Tim Dalton, Marketing Director, MySportsbook.com. "We are getting things ready for a great baseball season and our members are looking forward to our Player Payback Bonuses, as well as Dime Lines, all season long."

Going in to this weekend, MySportsbook.com's favorites to win the World Series are the New York Yankees at 7-2 and last year’s winners the Chicago White Sox at 9-2.

"These betting lines are ripe for the picking," Dalton added, "baseball fans know that the season is long and many factors, including players staying healthy, will affect these Future odds as the baseball season progresses. Betting on your favorite team in the beginning of the season could prove quite lucrative. We are seeing examples of this right now in the NCAA College Basketball Tournament with a lucky few that placed pre-season bets on George Mason to win it all. Anything can happen."

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