Wichita State visits Creighton in MVC showdown

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

02/11/2012 - Omaha, NE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top two teams in the Missouri Valley Conference square off in Omaha this evening, as the Wichita State Shockers have come calling on the 17th-ranked Creighton Bluejays.

Both teams are 21-4 on the year, with Wichita State sporting a 12-2 conference mark, good for first place, while Creighton comes in at 11-3 against league foes, obviously just a game off the pace.

The Shockers have won their last three games, 11 of their last 12 and 19 of their last 21 overall. Wichita State is a stellar 7-1 in true road games this season, with its only loss so far in 2012 coming in a tripe-overtime clash at Drake on January 28.

The Bluejays had been flying high since a conference-opening loss to Missouri State, as they won 11 in a row before heading to Northern Iowa last Saturday. Creighton wound up on the losing end of a 65-62 final in that contest, and must have still been reeling a bit as the team then paid a visit to Evansville on Wednesday, where the Purple Aces pulled off the 65-57 upset.

The Bluejays claimed a 68-61 win at Wichita State back on New Year's Eve to take a 53-43 lead in the all-time series, and history is clearly on Creighton's side in this contest as it is 17-1 at home versus the Shockers since 1993.

Wichita State blasted Northern Iowa on Tuesday night, shooting 55.9 percent from the floor, making good on 12-of-19 three-point attempts and limiting the Panthers to 39.2 percent field goal efficiency. Joe Ragland led the Shockers with 19 points, and he nailed five treys, and David Kyles came off the bench to hit four triples to finish with 16 points. Toure' Murry added a dozen points and handed out five assists, while Garrett Stutz logged a double-double consisting of 10 points and 12 rebounds. It was something of an off-night for Stutz, as he was an offensive machine in the previous four games, scoring a total of 99 points during that span. The Shockers' starting center (14.3 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 26 blocks) continues to pace the club in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots, while shooting 57.5 percent from the field and 82.5 percent at the charity stripe. Helping Stutz keep Wichita State moving in the right direction is the backcourt duo of Ragland (12.8 ppg, 3.4 apg) and Murry (12.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 3.1 apg), but really it's been a complete team effort as the Shockers have a total of six guys averaging at least 8.8 ppg -- the team as a whole putting up 77.9 ppg in hitting 48.0 percent of its total shots, while giving up just 62.9 ppg on typical shooting outputs of .398 overall and .303 from beyond the arc. A +6.2 rebounding margin has also helped matters.

Producing at an even higher rate than Wichita State's Stutz is Creighton standout Doug McDermott, he of 23.3 points and 8.4 caroms per contest, as the sophomore forward is a lock to be the MVC Player of the Year, and garner some consideration for the Wooden Award as well. Unfortunately for the Bluejays, they have only one other double-digit scorer, but Antoine Young's 11.4 ppg isn't going to scare anyone, so foes have tried their best to focus on McDermott and let the rest of the roster try and beat them. That plan has backfired for the majority of opponents this season, but both Northern Iowa and Evansville proved that even when Creighton's star gets his, the Bluejays can be beaten. Case in point being the recent clash at Evansville, a game in which McDermott went 7-of-16 from the floor to tally 21 points, but the rest of the team scored a total of 36 points. Austin Chatman netted 11 off the bench, while Gregory Echenique chipped in 10 for the Bluejays, who connected on only 40.4 percent of their field goal attempts, missing 18 of their 22 three-point tries along the way. With both McDermott and Echenique securing eight rebounds apiece, Creighton won the battle on the boards (37-30). An 18-11 deficit at the foul line proved costly.

Wwwquam NCAA Basketball Betting News

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Marlins could start season without No. 2 starter Johnson

JUPITER, Fla. -- The Foorida Marlins are preparing for the likelihood that right-hander
Josh Johnson won't be ready when the season starts April 2.

Grapefruit League action starts Wednesday, but Johnson, penciled in as the No. 2 starter, hasn't even thrown off a mound at full speed since September. He's experienced some soreness in his right forearm.

MySportsbook.com have the Marlins listed with baseball betting lines at +800 to win the NL East this season .

''You guys know the math. If he's not on the hill then he becomes an opening day roster issue,'' manager Fredi Gonzalez said Saturday. ''We're borderline now.''

Johnson, who finished 12-7 with a 3.10 ERA in 2007, was supposed to throw on flat ground Saturday. That was canceled when he woke up with pain.

He played catch on Wednesday with no pain but felt discomfort in a throwing session on Thursday. He's expected to try again Sunday.

''Like we always said from the very beginning, we're going to take it easy on him,'' Gonzalez said. ''He didn't feel right, so we shut him down. We're going to take it back to step one and see where we're at.''

Among the candidates to take Johnson's spot in the rotation are left-hander Chris George and right-handers Yusmeiro Petit and Jose Garcia.

Right-hander Sergio Mitre, who missed most of last season with arm and shoulder problems, also is behind.

With Johnson's status doubtful, Gonzalez said right-hander Ricky Nolasco will stay in the rotation and no longer will be considered a candidate for closer.

Additional basbeall odds can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

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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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