The Roads to the Final
Every year in March Madness betting, we key in on the roads that the teams took to get to where they're at in the tournament. It's always amazing to see how a team reached its current destination, and quite frequently, analyzing those previous games is quite often the telling sign for who is going to cover the betting lines. We'll take a look at the paths traveled by both the Duke Blue Devils and the Butler Bulldogs on the night of their championship tussle at Lucas Oil Stadium.
There are a few things that immediately stand out for the Horizon League champions. First of all, if you just look at a composite schedule, you see a whole heck of a lot of 'W's in a row. In fact, it's 25 straight wins for the Bulldogs at this point, which is easily the longest winning streak in the country. They haven't lost since a few days before Christmas, which included a remarkable 20-0 run through the Horizon League (one of which came before this winning streak), a BracketBusters triumph over Siena, and now five wins in the tournament.
The next thing that should catch your eye is the fact that no team has scored more than 60 points against this squad since February 26th. Teams are only averaging 53.7 points per game against Butler since the Horizon League Final against Wright State, and since then, it is a stellar 5-1 ATS (including a 4-1 ATS mark in March Madness betting action this year). The Bulldogs aren't just the first Horizon League team to make it beyond the Sweet 16 in the dance, but they're also now the first team in NCAA Tournament history to make it to the finale without allowing a team to reach the 60-point barrier against them.
On the road to the March Madness final, Butler dismissed #12 UTEP 77-59, #13 Murray State 54-52, #1 Syracuse 63-59, #2 Kansas State 63-56, and #5 Michigan State 52-50.
Duke's route to Indianapolis was a significantly easier one, but no one is confusing the Dookies as paper tigers any longer. The Blue Devils, who in spite of winning the conference championship, entered the big dance off of a 0-3 ATS performance in the ACC Tournament. Now, they're a perfect 5-0 ATS in March Madness betting festivities, and they're trying to match the accomplishment of the North Carolina Tar Heels of a year ago, who ran the table to a title by going perfect ATS all six steps of the way.
The Blue Devils seem to be getting stronger as this tournament progresses even though the foes have gotten tougher and tougher. They took care of #16 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 73-44, #8 California 68-53, and #4 Purdue 70-57 without any real hassles, but they have really stepped on the gas pedal by ousting #3 Baylor 78-71 and crushing #2 West Virginia 78-57.
Watching Duke kick it into gear has to be a frightening proposition for the Bulldogs. They may be on that massive winning streak, but they also might've lost F Matt Howard and/or G Shelvin Mack with injuries against the Spartans. You can't play against Duke without being at full strength, and it really might show on Monday night as long as the Dookies don't forget that this is a National Championship game even though the opponent may not be the same type of foe that they were expecting to see at the outset of the dance.
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Matt Rivers Free Pick in March Madness
Favorites ruled most of the Sweet 16 college basketball games on Thursday and Friday, leaving Butler as one of arguably two true Cinderella teams remaining in the 2010 NCAA tournament. The fifth-seeded Bulldogs were one of just two underdogs to pull off straight-up wins following Thursday's 63-59 upset of #1 seed Syracuse. The other dog was #6 seed Tennessee, who will face #5 Michigan State for the Midwest Region title on Sunday. The Volunteers knocked off #2 seed Ohio State 76-73 on Friday, taking advantage of the most busted part of the bracket in recent memory. Meanwhile, the Spartans have the best chance of any team (65.27%) to make a repeat trip to the Final Four after losing last year's national championship game to North Carolina.
Gone are March Madness darlings Northern Iowa, St. Mary's, Cornell and Washington, all of whom had a less than 3% chance of winning the national championship heading into the Sweet 16, according to AccuScore. Instead, the Year of the Underdog must now pin most of its hopes on a tiny school from Indianapolis which "wants to go home" to the Final Four according to Kansas State point guard Jacob Pullen while "we don't want to go back to school." The odds of Butler going to the Final Four are 45.71% compared to 54.29% for favorite Kansas State.
There are no surprises in the East and South Regions, where #1 vs. #2 matchups will play out between Kentucky and West Virginia on Saturday and Duke and Baylor on Sunday, respectively. The top-seeded Wildcats (21.34%) and Blue Devils (14.42%) own the best chances of cutting down the nets April 5th even though they could potentially meet in the Final Four next Saturday.
Favorites ruled most of the Sweet 16 college basketball games on Thursday and Friday, leaving Butler as one of arguably two true Cinderella teams remaining in the 2010 NCAA tournament. The fifth-seeded Bulldogs were one of just two underdogs to pull off straight-up wins following Thursday's 63-59 upset of #1 seed Syracuse. The other dog was #6 seed Tennessee, who will face #5 Michigan State for the Midwest Region title on Sunday. The Volunteers knocked off #2 seed Ohio State 76-73 on Friday, taking advantage of the most busted part of the bracket in recent memory. Meanwhile, the Spartans have the best chance of any team (65.27%) to make a repeat trip to the Final Four after losing last year's national championship game to North Carolina.
Gone are March Madness darlings Northern Iowa, St. Mary's, Cornell and Washington, all of whom had a less than 3% chance of winning the national championship heading into the Sweet 16, according to AccuScore. Instead, the Year of the Underdog must now pin most of its hopes on a tiny school from Indianapolis which "wants to go home" to the Final Four according to Kansas State point guard Jacob Pullen while "we don't want to go back to school." The odds of Butler going to the Final Four are 45.71% compared to 54.29% for favorite Kansas State.
There are no surprises in the East and South Regions, where #1 vs. #2 matchups will play out between Kentucky and West Virginia on Saturday and Duke and Baylor on Sunday, respectively. The top-seeded Wildcats (21.34%) and Blue Devils (14.42%) own the best chances of cutting down the nets April 5th even though they could potentially meet in the Final Four next Saturday.
Copyright (c) 2005 - 2010 AccuScore
Duke Blue Devils March Madness Friday Schedule and OddsOhio State will be back in action on Friday as will Duke.
While the first set of NCAA basketball games in the Sweet 16 will begin on Thursday, Friday also promises a lot of fantastic action. Four games are on the slate and any four teams could advance. Here are the odds, where available, and spreads for all games on Friday followed by betting tips for where the value appears to be:
Tennessee (+175) vs Ohio State (-210)
Game time 7:10pm ET
Spread: Ohio State favored by 4.5.
St Marys (+145) vs Baylor (-165)
Game time: 7:30pm ET
Baylor favored by 3.5.
Northern Iowa +1 vs Michigan State -1
Game time: 9:40pm ET
Purdue (+305) vs Duke (-370)
Game time: 10pm ET
Duke favored by -8.
The Purdue vs Duke game is the toughest one to bet. While you have to pick Duke if you are just filling in a bracket for a second chance pool you can't really bet the Blue Devils at -370 (10/37). +305 does not look so bad on Purdue but if there is value there it is just minimal and the spread, at -8, should be giving you headaches as well.
The best value bet in the above four games is to take the Michigan State Spartans to cover the spread. Tom Izzo, head coach of the Spartans will not be taking Northern Iowa lightly in the face of their victory over Kansas. That does not mean that Bill Self took Northern Iowa lightly but the Jayhawks players may have done just that as they did not put full energy into the game until the second half and by then they were down by too many points. Expect Izzo to have his guys better prepared mentally and pound the Spartans to cover at -1.
The other pick that you should certainly be entertaining is St Mary's straight up. St Mary's vs Baylor is a very interesting game because two schools that are not known for basketball success are going head to head and one of them is guaranteed to go to the Elite 8. While conventional wisdom says that you should pick the Big 12 over the WCC if you applied a similar logic in the St Mary's vs Villanova game then you would have missed a great opportunity to top up.
Still you can't count Baylor out by any stretch but you definitely want to sprinkle St. Mary's because this game looks like it could be a one possession game and in those situations you want the underdog's odds.
crunchsports.com
Duke Blue Devils vs Miami Florida
Duke may have the shortest odds of the day in college basketball.
The Duke Blue Devils face Miami Florida on Saturday in the ACC semifinals. Duke have crushed the betting market in this game as they are priced at -700 (1/7) to win in the straight up market.
Miami Florida must be delighted that they are still playing basketball this year as they are the 12 seed in the ACC and had to pull of a couple of fairly large upsets to advance to the semifinals. They will likely need to win the ACC tournament to enter the field of 65 teams that will contest the March Madness national championship tournament that starts next week.
If you want to bet the upset then Miami Florida are +500 underdogs although that is not our recommendation. The spread for Duke to cover has been set at -11 and our recommendation is to take Miami Florida to play within that spread.
Miami Florida have been tough with their season on the line and the huge win against Wake Forest was quite impressive. Duke did not put a full game together in the ACC quarters and they might get caught off-guard by this 12 seed before they seal victory.
Prediction: Duke by 9.
crunchsports.com
The Big East men's tournament: best of 30 years
Once the young buck on the college basketball scene, the Big East is nearing middle age. The conference is preparing for its 31st postseason tournament this week, its 28th at Madison Square Garden.
Syracuse appears to be the best team in the league this year, though we know from studying history that is no guarantee that the Orange will win the championship.
Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds appears to be in line for league player of the year -- though Notre Dame's Luke Harangody may slip by him -- but it's not a given that Reynolds rules the roost in the Garden this week.
Calling MSG the world's most famous arena might be stretching the truth just slightly and calling the Big East by far the best conference in America could be using a bit of hyperbole.
But putting the two together for a week in March usually results in some of the most exciting basketball of the season.
Let's take a look back at some of the best moments from the previous 30 years of Big East tournament action:
Best individual performances
5. UConn forward Donyell Marshall's 42 points against St. John's in 1994 would have been higher on the list, but it was only in the quarterfinals.
4. Georgetown's Allen Iverson scored 38 in a 1996 quarterfinal game against Miami, and teammate Victor Page went for 34 the next day against Villanova.
3. Boston College guard Dana Barros hit eight 3-pointers and scored 38 points against St. John's in 1989.
2. Derrick Coleman had 25 points and 23 rebounds for Syracuse in a semifinal win over Villanova in 1990.
1. Patrick Ewing was the best player in the country on the best team in the country in 1984. He proved it with 27 points and 16 rebounds in the championship game against Syracuse that season as the Hoyas won the title.
Best teams not to win the league tournament
5. The 1985 national championship team from Villanova and Syracuse's 2003 title team are too easy to pick. They tie for fifth.
4. Apologies to the 1996 Georgetown crew of Allen Iverson, Jerome Williams, Othella Harrington, et. al. It was great, but UConn was a bit better.
3. The 1985 Chris Mullin-led St. John's squad went 15-1 in regular season Big East play but didn't win the Big East tourney and now is remembered only as the third-best team from the league that season.
2. There are two schools that have been victimized more times than others. UConn had by far the league's best team in 2006 but was taken down by the red-hot Gerry McNamara and his Syracuse teammates. The Huskies were also head and shoulders above the rest of the Big East in 1994, winning 16 regular season games behind Donyell Marshall, Ray Allen and Co., but fell to Providence in the semifinals.
1. There is no school that has seemed destined for the tournament title more times than Syracuse, however. The Orange won at least a share of the title in 1986, 1987, 1990 and 1991 but didn't win the postseason event in any of those seasons (though they did in 1988).
Best games
5. UConn and Pittsburgh met in the championship for three straight seasons in the early 2000s, and none was better than the 2002 clash. Queens native Taliek Brown beat the shot clock and broke the Panthers' hearts with a 35-footer in the second overtime to help the Huskies win 74-65.
4. Before we had to look up "sextuple" in the dictionary, Syracuse's triple overtime final against Villanova in 1981 set the standard for extra sessions. A Leo Rautins' tip in the closing seconds gave the Orange an 83-80 win.
3. Only because it was in the quarterfinals does the UConn-Syracuse classic six-overtime game from last season not claim the top spot. The Orange, after not leading in any of the first five OTs, pulled away behind Johnny Flynn in the sixth to win 127-117.
2. It wasn't just Ray Allen (UConn) against Allen Iverson (Georgetown). There were future pros all over the floor and the finish was as exciting as it was perhaps controversial. Allen may have traveled on his game-winning shot, and may have broken the nose of a UConn manager with his celebration of the 75-74 win.
1. The 1986 final featured some of the league's all-time greats at their best. Syracuse's Pearl Washington had 20 points and 14 assists in the championship game against St. John's, one game after netting 21 in a 75-73 win over Georgetown in the semis. But Washington's attempt at a game-winner in the final seconds was blocked by St. John's star Walter Berry.
All-time Big East tourney team
PF Alonzo Mourning circa 1992, who scored 76 points in three games for the second-place Hoyas.
C Patrick Ewing in 1984. The Georgetown junior had 69 points in three games, including a 27-point, 16-rebound effort against Syracuse in the title game.
PG Sherman Douglas in 1988. The Orange point guard won the MVP (Dave Gavitt Trophy) in '88 and could have won it again in '89 even though Syracuse lost in the championship game to Georgetown.
SG Ben Gordon in 2004 when he set a tournament record with 81 points in three games as he led UConn to the title.
G Gerry McNamara in 2006. No one has put a seemingly average team on his back quite like McNamara did that year. Coach Jim Boeheim's fiery defense of his star -- who had been termed "overrated" before the event -- in postgame interviews only added to the drama.
Big East champs to lose in NCAA's first round
Syracuse (2006), Syracuse (2005), Villanova (1995), Providence (1994)
Big East champs to national champs
Georgetown (1984), UConn (1999), UConn (2004)
Most tournament championships
Georgetown 7, UConn 6, Syracuse 5, St. John's 3, Boston College 2, Pittsburgh 2, Seton Hall 2, Villanova 1, Providence 1, Louisville 1.
Most consecutive wins in tournament
9, UConn (1998-00)
Most consecutive losses in tournament
8, UConn (1980-87)
(c) 2010 Hearst Communications Inc
Oakland enters Summit League tournament as top seedELMHURST, Ill. -- Oakland University will enter the Summit League Men's Basketball Championship as the top seed for the first time in school history.
The Golden Grizzlies and seven other teams will begin play at the tournament in Sioux Falls on Saturday and continue through to the title game that determines the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on March 9.
The Golden Grizzlies (23-8 overall, 17-1 Summit League) secured the No. 1 spot with a week remaining in the regular season and finished with league records for victories (17) and winning percentage (.944). Oakland will face No. 8 seed UMKC (12-17, 6-12) in the first quarterfinal on Saturday. Following that game, No. 2 seed IUPUI (22-9, 15-3) will meet No. 7 Western Illinois (13-16, 6-12.
No. 4 South Dakota State (14-15, 10-8) will meet No. 5 IPFW (15-14, 9-9) in a Sunday quarterfinal game, followed by No. 3 Oral Roberts (19-12, 13-5) taking on defending champion, and sixth-seeded North Dakota State (11-17, 8-10).
The Summit League will be playing its tournament in Sioux Falls for the second consecutive season after setting attendance and corporate sponsorship records at last year's event. This season, all men's and women's tournament games will be televised, including five men's contests that will have a national reach via ESPN Full Court plus the title game that will air nationally on ESPN2.
(c)Copyright 2010, rapidcityjournal.com
CR men wins another on grueling road trip
The College of the Redwoods men's basketball team's march towards a Golden Valley Conference title turned into a foot race as they ripped College of the Siskiyous 72-51 on Saturday.
Chris Jackson led the way with 13 points while Sam Osofsky added 12. Xavier Carpenter and Lorenzo Rawls eached added 11 points.
For head coach Rich Mendoza, the play of Carpenter and Dom Brinson (eight points) made the difference.
"Carpenter and Brinson did a great job leading the team at point guard. They got everyone involved," he said.
Redwoods gets a break on Monday from the five-day, four-game road trip. The team is now 5-2 in the conference and is tied for second place with Shasta.
WOMEN
Siskiyous 85, Redwoods 54
Danielle Bonney met the CR coaching staff's expectations on Saturday scoring a career-high 17 points, 15 of which were from 3-point land.
But in the end, it was another loss in a whole pile of them, for Redwoods.
Shylo Wantt added 12 points, all of which came from beyond the arc.
"Siskiyous shot just lights out," said CR boss Kara Newman.
Copyright (c) 2008 - Times-Standard
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