Kansas downs rival Mizzou

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/06/2010 - Columbia, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tyshawn Taylor led a balanced scoring attack with 13 points while delivering six assists, as second-ranked Kansas closed out its regular season with a sound 77-56 defeat of Missouri at Mizzou Arena.

Marcus Morris and Sherron Collins each scored a dozen points, with Morris adding 10 rebounds.

Cole Aldrich checked in with 10 points and seven boards for the Jayhawks (29-2, 15-1 Big 12), who wrapped up the Big 12 regular-season title with Wednesday's triumph over fellow rival and fifth-ranked Kansas State.

Kim English put in a game-high 16 points for the Tigers (22-9, 10-6), who had won four of their last five coming in and should prove to a dangerous opponent in the Big 12 Tournament set to kick off March 10th.

Laurence Bowers donated 10 points and six rebounds, and J.T. Tiller scored nine in defeat.

A closely contested first half had the game tied up at 24 nearing four minutes left after Keith Ramsey hit on back-to-back layups for Missouri.

Kansas, though, scored the final 16 points of the half to go up 40-24 with Collins recording the last eight, including two three-pointers. Aldrich opened the second half with a layup and less than three minutes in threw down a dunk to keep the margin at 15.

The Jayhawks wouldn't score another point for the next five minutes, and Missouri used a 16-2 run to close the gap to 44-40 on Tiller's three-point play with just under 13 minutes remaining.

Kansas responded with a game-clinching 22-5 run from there. Tyrel Reed sank consecutive three-pointers along the way and Taylor finished off the stretch with the last nine points to gain a healthy 66-44 advantage with close to 6 1/2 minutes to go.

The closest Missouri would get from there was 19.

Game Notes

The win was Kansas' 1,999th in the history of the program. Only North Carolina and Kentucky have eclipsed 2,000 NCAA hoops wins...Reed had 11 points on 3- of-5 three-point shooting...Talented freshman Xavier Henry, averaging 14.2 points on the season coming in, was 2-of-6 shooting for seven points...Ramsey contributed eight points and six rebounds...Missouri shot 35.4 percent from the field, compared with Kansas' 52.6 percent shooting performance.

Bettingfootballgamble NCAA Basketball Betting News

<< Downey sparks South Carolina's road win over Vandy
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Devan Downey drained four three-pointers en route to a game-high 26 points, as South Carolina used a second-half surge to upend 13th-ranked Vanderbilt, 77-73. Down nine midway through the second half, Br

<< Purdue downs PSU, captures share of Big 10 title
University Park, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - JaJuan Johnson finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds, as seventh-ranked Purdue claimed a share of the Big Ten title with a 64-60 victory over Penn State. Keaton Grant added 17 points for the Boile

<< Temple downs George Washington to grab share of A-10 title
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Micheal Eric led the way with 18 points, as 20th-ranked Temple defeated George Washington, 70-57, in Atlantic 10 action from the Liacouras Center. Ryan Brooks posted 14 points for the Owls (26-5, 14-2

<< Bruins remain hot with road win over Isles
Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Thomas stopped 37 shots as Boston clipped the New York Islanders, 3-2, at Nassau Coliseum. Milan Lucic, David Krejci and Marc Savard tallied for the Bruins, who have won five of six. Josh Bailey and Ma

<< Burins remain hot with road win over Isles
Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Thomas stopped 37 shots as Boston clipped the New York Islanders, 3-2, at Nassau Coliseum. Milan Lucic, David Krejci and Marc Savard tallied for the Bruins, who have won five of six. Josh Bailey and Ma

Nancy clips Nice in stoppage time >>
Nice, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Substitute Issiar Dia scored in stoppage time to hand Nancy a 3-2 win over Nice at the Municipal du Ray on Saturday. Djamel Bakar scored five minutes into the game for Nancy, but the hosts answered tw

McCourt: Divorce not affecting team >>
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt says divorce proceedings with his wife are not affecting the team's finances.McCourt was visiting his team for the first time this spring.He has had only brief interaction with the media

Falcons sign CB Robinson >>
Flowery Branch, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Falcons announced the signing of free agent cornerback Dunta Robinson Saturday to what is reported to be a six-year contract worth $57 million. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution rep

NAC halts PSV's unbeaten run >>
Breda, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PSV Eindhoven suffered its first league defeat of the season on Saturday at NAC as Robert Schilder scored the winning goal in the 72nd minute. Orlando Engelaar put PSV in front after 18 minutes, bu

Awesome Act gets Gotham Stakes victory >>
Ozone Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Post-time favorite Awesome Act, ridden by Julien Leparoux, scampered away down the stretch to capture Saturday's $250,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct. The 1 1/16-mile Gotham is the final local p

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.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional basketball lines can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

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