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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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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